Amusing

[altivo]

Snatched right from quickcasey and frankly, not a difficult quiz. In fact, I think I spotted a couple of dubious questions in there, but probably finrod7 will find them for us and I was too lazy to go look things up and check.

You know the Bible 100%!

 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Hints: George Burns did not live 969 years. Mary and Martha did not live in San Francisco.

Comments

[delphinelicorne.livejournal.com]

Lol, the first time I read your Hints, i read "George Bush did not live 969 years." I'm soo biased XD

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I sincerely hope that your version is true also. ;p

[delphinelicorne.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I do hope so. Got 69% right on the quizz not too bad if I considered that the last time i read the Bible was 15 years ago. But the 696 years question was easy because there's a French saying about that guy ;).

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

Wow, 100%. You'll get express check-in at the pearly gates.

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

Just print this page, and bring it with you.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snicker* Even if there really is a pearly gate, somehow I don't think a quiz on bible trivia will qualify one for admittance.

[kakoukorakos.livejournal.com]

I got 100% too (and only had to make educated guesses on two questions), not that there was any question that I'd do so with my memory and the fact that I read the Bible cover-to-cover when I was younger, and then read most of it again with a critical eye about 12 years ago.

Now the irony is that heretics and heathens often know the Bible fairly well, whereas the evangelical types who loudly proclaim the 10 Commandments should be posted everywhere can't even recite half of them from memory, much less know more obscure Biblical lore. Could it be said that, in general, the more one knows about the Bible, the less one is likely to harbor the opinion that it's an interesting collection of mythology, but dangerous to take as gospel?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm having a bit of trouble disentangling that last sentence, but if I'm understanding your sense rather than exactly what it says, yes, I agree. I don't see how a thorough study of the bible can help but lead one to the conclusion that it's a mortal and flawed document created by flawed mortals. It can't be infallible because it contradicts itself so much. It can't all be literally true, because that would be simply impossible.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I think everything really started to go wrong when theologians came up with this "God is infallible and consistent" nonsense. The Bible really supports neither proposition.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, if those who came up with that were theologians at all. I suspect it was the simple need for a political lever that eventually caused that situation.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I suppose it is easier to put one's trust in a God who doesn't suddenly change His mind about something, whether it be Saul's kingly status, or locusts, or humanity's licence to live.

[calydor.livejournal.com]

Personally, I suspect it started to go wrong very shortly after God said, "Let there be light."

[kakoukorakos.livejournal.com]

Having re-read that sentence, I see that I got two possible phrasings that I was thinking of tangled up :)

"The more one understands the creepiness and bizarre crap in the Bible, the less one is inclined to actually believe any of it unquestioningly." I think that works a bit better.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's what I figured you meant, and we certainly agree.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

No, it can not be said. In fact the opposite is true. The more one's knowledge of the Bible is increased, especially in the context of modern scientific fact and archeological evidence, the more one sees how amazing and accurate the Bible really is. With increased understanding of the Bible in its entirety, a remarkably consistant theme and message is woven through 66 books written by 40 different authors in 3 different continents and over a span of 2000 years. Everything from Genesis to Revelation points to Jesus Christ and that is overwhelmingly obvious to anyone who has studied the Bible with open eyes. Behind all the minds who wrote the Bible, there seems to be one intelligence, one author guiding the story. I won't declare that the Bible, particularly versions translated from the original languages, is 100% flawless in every way but for the reasons stated above, I do believe that there is divine authorship.

From my experience, most people who criticize the Bible as mere myth are either ignorant of historical and literary context or unable to understand the deeper levels of meaning and only see the surface ones. If what you said held true, why are there theologians, scholars, and highly educated individuals who firmly believe in the Bible with confidence?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Fin, neither of us said it was "mere myth." We just don't see it quite the way you do. Clearly the historical context fits and the events chronicled have a basis in fact. I may dispute the significance of some of it, and I certainly dispute the editorial interpretations of some of the writers and some of the modern readers, but I never said that Babylon didn't exist or Nebuchadnezzar was a myth or anything of the sort.

[hrrunka]

Not particularly challenging, was it... ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No. I would have been seriously stopped by any genuine trivia.

I'd do it as essay questions: "Identify the four authors of Genesis and explain how we are able to distinguish between them..."

But then I'm mean that way. ;p

[hrrunka]

I always think it's a bit of a shame that Methuselah didn't make it to 1000, though he might have needed a spot on the Ark to survive that long... ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I sorta figured he was actually dead for centuries before that, but no one noticed. They just thought he was getting a bit slow.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

So what, he was a US Senator?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

May still be one, for all you could tell. ;p

[doug-taron.livejournal.com]

Way too easy, especially given that my last serious read of the Bible as a whole now dates back 30 years. For at least one of the questions, all of the answers except the correct one were obviously jokes.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Several people have noted at least one question with no correct answer: "How long did the flood last?"

The supposedly correct answer is 40 days. But that's how long it rained to cause the flood. I'm not sure you can determine the length of the actual flood, perhaps the length of time the ark was afloat is calculable.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm flattered by your assumption of my expertise but I'm suprised I even got them all right. Most of the questions were pathetically easy but a few of them I wasn't sure about and had to use logic and the process of elimination to answer them.

I agree that this quiz did not test real Biblical literacy or any kind of theological comprehension. Anyone who spend a lot of time in Sunday school or just went to church a lot would know most of the questions. They don't really demonstrate a genuine understanding of Scripture. Nor do they factor in authorship, translation and that kind of stuff (as you mentioned the supposed 4 authors (from 4 documents) secular scholars believe wrote Genesis).

All that being said, I didn't really catch any dubious questions (I'm not even sure what exactly you mean by that) and I am also too lazy to really put that much effort into a blog quiz.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I'm definitely not suprised you got a 100%

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Given the nature of the questions and answers, neither am I. If the thing had focused on more serious stuff, like distinctions between the OT prophets and when they lived, or the sequence of the Pauline epistles, I'd have been floundering. Too long since I studied that.

Nonetheless, I think that the majority of Americans who proclaim themselves as Christians definitely would NOT get 100% even on this easy test. That's kinda sad.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

George burns did alright!