Pam Padgett ... teacher
I was raised in the Catholic church where we were taught that "lay people" (those who are not members of the clergy) should not read the Bible, and that anything we needed to know would be taught to us by the
Catholic church. This was fine with me before I was born again.
But
after I was born again, I had such a thirst to read the Bible that I didn't consider that we'd been taught not to do this. I found a
very small New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs and read it secretly
at night after the rest of my family had gone to sleep. The reason I read it secretly, for a time, is that I didn't think my family would understand my doing this (eventually I spoke openly with them what God showed me, even about the Catholic church). But I "knew" it was not wrong to read the Bible. I believe this was put in my heart by God when I was born again ...
Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
When I went to college I met another student who told me she was a
born again Christian. As we talked, various doctrines I had been taught in the
Catholic church would sometimes come forth, and she would simply ask "Where is that in the Bible?" As I started proving various doctrines by the Bible, I saw that
many were not according to what we're told in the Bible. I started a list of these, and began wondering how we could have been taught things that are so clearly different (sometimes even opposite) to what is in the Bible, or not in the Bible at all?
Having also been taught that the Catholic church is the only true
church made all of this especially puzzling. I'm sure I prayed fervently about this.
Although the college I attended was not affiliated with any church
group, one of the other students was a Catholic nun. One day I asked if I could
speak with her, and took the list of doctrines together with what is in
the Bible. I started reviewing these things, but before getting through the list the
nun stopped me. She was visibly shaken by what I was presenting, had
even turned quite pale, and told me that "this" is why lay people
should not read the Bible. She said she couldn't help me and suggested I talk with someone like a priest.
Seeing
this nun's reaction made everything much clearer for me, especially when she mentioned that lay people shouldn't read the Bible. I hadn't thought of that teaching in years, and knew so strongly that this teaching was wrong. God had been teaching me and showing me truth by His Spirit. One of the ways the Holy Spirit was working with me was as I read the Bible.
And that the nun couldn't even discuss the various doctrines being different than the Bible confirmed to me that we had, in
fact, been taught doctrines that are not according to what is in the
Bible. The problem wasn't that I had misunderstood the doctrines taught.
All of this strengthened my desire to read the Bible and believe what we're told in the Bible, to have my faith established in what God has said. This also helped me leave the Catholic church.