Monday, July 6, 2009

interpretation quiz

We did a little exercise in my "how to study the Bible" class this last week that roused some lively discussion. We began by taking a quiz that asked whether or not certain commands from the New Testament were intended to be universally applied, culturally applied (as in just for the original audience) or if they were figurative commands. The goal of the exercise was to see how we bring preunderstanding to certain passages before we really study them.

Check Out the Quiz and see where you land:
Commands of the NT. Cultural (C) or Universal (U) Figurative (F)

___ 1. Gouge out your eyes if it causes you to sin (Matt. 5:29).
___ 2. *[Jesus’ teaching on divorce in Matt. 5:32)
___ 3. Do not pray in public, but only in secret (Matt 6:5-6).
___ 4. Make disciples, baptize, and teach all to obey Christ (Mt 28:18-20).
___ 5. Anyone desiring to be an elder must be the husband of one wife (1 Tim 3:2)
___ 6. Give to everyone who asks of you (Luke 6:30).
___ 7. Wash one another’s feet (John 13:14).
___ 8. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
___ 9. Abstain from food sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:29).
___ 10. Go sell all you have and give to the poor (Mark 10:21)
___ 11. Greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom 16:16).
___ 12. Women should pray with their heads covered (1Cor. 11:5).
___ 13. Men should not have long hair (1Cor 11:14).
___ 14. Everyone should speak in tongues and/or prophecy (1Cor 14:5).
___ 15. Do everything in love. (1Cor 16:14).
___ 16. Stop drinking only water and use a little wine (1 Tim 5:23)
___ 17. Allow no one to eat if he will not work (2 Thes. 3:10).
___ 18. Do not allow a woman to teach over men (1Tim 2:12).
___ 19. Do not love the world or anything in the world (1 John 2:15).
___ 20. God will plague anyone who changes the words of scripture (Rev. 22:18).
___ 21. “Love your enemies” (Mt 5:44)
___ 22. Wives are to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Jesus (Eph 5.22)
___ 23. Anyone claiming to love God but doesn't care for his brother is liar (1 Jn 4:20)
___ 24. The form of baptism (whatever form you think it ought to be).
___ 25. The form of communion (whatever form you think it ought to be).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, it's been a while since I've done something like this. I like the addition of "F" (I remember there being just two options). I'm still not comfortable with pinning some of these down to one or the other and I'm sure that without being able to explain my answers some will seem strange, but here goes: F C F U C F F U C C C C C U U C U F U C U U C

Unknown said...

Michael-

You think the form of baptism is universal but the form of communion is cultural. Why?

Michael DeFazio said...

Two reasons I said that:

1) I'm not sure what the "form" of communion is. Flesh that out for me a bit and then I may change my answer.

2) To me the form of baptism so perfectly aligns with the meaning of the act that the two were meant to remain inseparable. Going down into the cold, dark, quiet water and coming back up out of it beautifully illustrates the death and resurrection in which we are participating.

Unknown said...

Michael I think your second reason is very good. I don't know that there is any kind of agreement about what the form was in the NT. So, since the NT doesn't specify the form I think it is another reason why the form is cultural.

Thom Stark said...

There are 25 questions but Michael only has 23 answers. ???

01. F
02. C
03. C
04. U
05. C
06. F
07. F
08. U
09. C
10. C
11. C
12. C
13. C
14. U
15. U
16. C
17. U
18. C
19. U
20. F
21. U
22. C
23. U
24. C
25. C