Catholic's and Bible Study

I found this article on Parish World....It's the burning question of the week.  Whether or not it is ok for Catholics to participate in a non-catholic bible studies.  There were many opinions on this one!   Here are some excerpts from that site:

"Catholics who willingly participate in non-Catholic religious activities are sinning for two major reasons: They are exposing themselves to contrary faith positions which could cause serious doubt in their hearts about their own Catholic Faith, and secondly, they could be giving the bad example, "scandal" to those Catholics who know them as Catholics, thereby causing doubt in the hearts of those who witness these Catholics participating in Protestant things. So yes, it is a sin to participate in Protestant religious things. It has always been a sin, not just since Vatican II."

Really? It's a sin? Not sure about that one.

"I personally think it is not a good idea to attend a non-catholic bible study. The reason being that protestant faiths usually depend on the King James version of the bible. Their interpretation is in many times conflicting to ours. I know this from talking to a friend of mine who is Baptist. He is totally way out there. And who was King James anyway to declare himself an expert in rewriting the bible ? We as Catholics believe in the salvation of the cross . They usually do not put any kind of emphasis on our Lord's death."

Hmmmm................

"I personally feel it is okay to attend a Non-Catholic bible study, because frankly they read the bible and we as Catholic don't read the bible that much and know very little about the chapter and verses. I have read the Bible twice and it is an awesome tool for everday life."

I like what she said!

"As far as non-catholic bible studies go, if you go willingly you put yourself in a position (especially if you're not strong and grounded in your faith) to have an opinion of the bible pressed on you that the catholic church does not teach. because that's really what these bible studies are based on sometimes, opinions."

He has a point!

"This subject hits very close to home for me. I was co-leader of a bible study at St. Patrick Church and had a hand full attend. Clearly there is a need for Catholics to become more familiar with Holy Scripture. 

There is however a difference in how Catholic's and Protestants interpret Holy Scripture. Roman Catholic's have an "exegesis" interpretation and Protestant's tend to have a more literal interpretation. Also, there are passages that are strongly Catholic that our Protestant brothers and sisters gloss over or ignore altoghter. The one that stands out for me is "The bread of life discourse" in John chapter 6. Christ says many times in this discourse that you MUST eat his flesh and drink his blood to have life in you or to be "raised on the last day'. Our Protestant brothers and sisters feel and teach that Christ did not really mean that "literally" even though many of his disciples stopped following him because they could not accept this teaching. Christ did not correct them but then turned to the 12 and said do you want to leave as well. 

If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything. I feel that Catholic's should first have an understanding of Roman Catholic interpretation of scripture before attending bible study outside the Catholic Church."

I am on board with this guy!

What do you think?