Ten Commandments for Studying the Bible
1. Christians treasure the Bible because it is the word of God.
2. Catholics believe that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, meaning that a special truth from God can be found in its writings.
3. The revealed truth of the Bible is found in what the various writers expressed about the meaning of faith itself.
4. Thou shalt not believe every historical, and scientific, detail in the Bible.
5. Thou shalt not take one passage from the Bible and make it an absolute.
6. Thou shalt not be surprised at finding conflicting opinions in the Bible.
7. Thou shalt learn something about history and the literary backgrounds of the various books of the Bible.
8. Thou shall read the Bible regularly to stimulate and nourish personal faith.
9. The Bible serves as a �religious conscience� for the Christian church and individual believers.
10. The Bible does not remove the responsibility of the reader to make conscientious and responsible decisions about faith.
(Adapted from and article by Matthias Neuman in PACE 16, October 1985, pages 20-24)