What does The Bible mean to YOU?

As I am getting increasingly frustrated with people who inexplicably think Trump (who the BBC falsely claimed that Poroshenko paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet him, BBC pays damages to Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko over report)  is Pro Moscow (though, I don’t think he supports Ukraine enough, this does not mean I think he is Pro Putin.  Wrong, but not Pro Putin).  Poroshenko is probably THE most Pro Ukraine, Pro European integration president Ukraine had before Zelensky. 

Ukraine isn’t a political bargaining chip.  It’s a real country, with real people being killed.  And I talk more about that, here;Trump's biggest flaw, the absurdity of libertarianism, and JD Vance's ignorance about Russian persecution of Catholics

What I wanted to talk about, primarily, was this.  What does The Bible mean to you?  So many times, I see Catholics say, “We don’t go by The Bible alone”, and, sometimes Protestants will hear you saying “we don’t go by The Bible”.

Of course, it doesn’t help, when I hear some older Catholics claim they were “discouraged” from reading The Bible.  Oddly enough, I’ve talked to MANY older priests, and the common refrain is always; read your Bible, read your Bible, read your Bible.

Gee, it’s almost like these people claiming they were told not to read The Bible, seemed to have misunderstood what they were being told. 

How would I even know the Gospel if it wasn’t for The Bible?  I am aware that the term “gospel” is not a synonym with “canonical gospels”. 

But, here’s the thing, knowing The Bible is the entire reason that I KNOW the gospel. 

In the Eastern and Western Church, we stand during the gospel (well, I stand on one leg because I am physically disabled at the moment).

While the word “gospel” has changed meaning over time, I do know this;  

That Jesus preached the gospel, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of sickness and all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people”. (Matthew 4:23)

Jesus commands us to preach the gospel, “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all that I have commended you: and lo, I am with you alway (editor’s note, yes, that’s what it says, but I should probably still type “always”, I don’t know if this version of the Bible usually says it that way, but it does in this Bible), even to the end of the world.  Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

And Paul is not ashamed of the gospel; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”.  (Romans 1:16), and neither am I.

So, what does the Bible mean to YOU?

Adam Charles Hovey is host of the weekly Bible Study, Coffee and Christianity, and founder of the Catholicism, news, and whatever community on Locals. 

*All verses are from the King James Version.