In my youth Sunday School class, I gave a quiz today. I’m starting a self-developed curriculum on the Bible, its stories and our ways of reading them. So I thought it would be helpful for me to see where they are at in terms of knowing the familiar Bible stories. The quiz had 5 two-part questions, where a correct answer to either part was worth a point. Essentially there were 10 possible points and it was being marked out of 5. The highest score was 3. See how you do.

Questions

1 a) Who/what convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden?
b) What type of fruit was it?

2 a) Joseph (the one with the technicoloured coat) had a dream where he, his brothers and his father were sheaves of wheat. What happened in that dream?
b) He had another dream about his father and brothers. What happened in that dream?

3 a) What was the name of the king who tried to kill David?
b) That king gave David his daughter as a bride, but for a price. What was that price?

4 a) When Jesus stormed the temple, he freed the animals. What else did he do?
b) What was he carrying in his hand?

5 a) Paul had a dramatic conversion experience on the road. Explain it.
b) What was the name of that road?


I’m not equating faith with knowledge of the Bible, and I wasn’t really surprised or fundamentally dissappointed by the results. I just know that I learned more in Sunday School than these kids did. As a teenager, I likely would have gotten at least 6 points, but I’m quite sure that my Sunday School experience was a bit more intense, or maybe I was just weird and sort of paid attention.

See how you do. Here are the answers: (Take them as they are, I don’t want a big theological discourse over some minute points, as much as I’d likely be tempted to do in your shoes.)

1. a) a snake/serpent/asp (or half a point if you said satan/devil)
1. b) The Bible doesn’t definitively say.
2. a) Everyone else’s sheaves bowed down to his.
2. b) They were all stars/moons/etc. and the rest all bowed down to his star.
3. a) Saul
3. b) 100 Phillistine foreskins
4. a) Overturned the money changing tables
4. b) a whip
5. a) He was blinded by a light (from heaven), fell off his horse, heard Jesus’ voice, led by his friends into town. (If you had any of this, give yourself a point)
5. b) Damascus Road

Feel free to post your score in the comments. There is no judgement here, unless you used an internet search to either find your answers or to verify mine, in which case, consider yourself judged.