Q.1
Which is fairly clearly the WEAKEST of these approaches to individual Bible-study?
  • Start at the front, with Genesis and its stories of Creation and 'how it all went wrong' ... and then just keep going
  • Find and use Bible-reading notes at an appropriate level for your age and experience, written by expert commentators and published through respectable organisations or online
  • Find somewhere calm, settle down and pray before starting to read
  • Try and find a group (perhaps via church), or at least a spiritual partner, with whom you can discuss points and issues arising from your study, so as to share and enrich and deepen one another's appreciation and faith
Q.2
Which ONE (only) of the following is generally and Biblically true, with regard to the prayer-life of Christians?
  • Serious Christians are required to pray a fixed number of times per day
  • A Christian cannot expect God to listen to prayers until the person has been to confession at church
  • Christians are welcome to pray whenever they feel the need
  • Only a set series of words, and sequence of prayers, is acceptable
Q.3
There have, down the years, probably been countless illustrations of how a person's Christian faith ought to characterise their behaviour ~ in other words, how they should 'witness'. One widely valued example (by the late Revd. John Eddison) starts from the seemingly unlikely premise in the Psalms, where the Psalmist ~ clearly at a low point in life, such as most of us have at least once in a while ~ comes before God and says, 'I am a worm, and no man'. Yet Eddison pointed out that the humble worm can still be extremely useful. Thinking about it a bit, which of these types of worm would NOT belong in a 'typical three-point sermon' on the topic of wholesome Christian witness?
  • An earthworm
  • A glow-worm
  • A bookworm
  • A slow-worm
Q.4
'For people whose faith is supposed to be about 'good news', a lot of Christians seem to be so miserable! They take the woes of the world so seriously, and they seem to spend half their time giving things up and disapproving of other harmless, enjoyable things.' While there may well be certain Christians who on principle avoid some behaviours, which ONE of the following should most mainstream Christians be certain to avoid?
  • Drinking alcohol
  • Intimate (i.e. sexual) relations ~ and any attempted preludes to these ~ with someone they are not formally committed to in marriage
  • Enjoying screen-based media such as films and the Internet
  • Playing competitive sport
Q.5
Is it true that most Christians 'give up something for Lent'?
  • Probably not
  • Unlikely, because it's hard these days to actually implement that old tradition
  • Quite possibly, but at least equally important is with what positive behaviour one fills that gap
  • Absolutely true
Q.6
For a Christian seeking to consolidate and advance in their personal faith, which of the following would you reckon to be the LEAST important or helpful habit during their daily Time of Quiet?
  • Memorising key / helpful verses from the Bible
  • Focusing on recommended Bible passages, rather than just plucking them at random
  • Controlled posture and breathing while doing one's spiritual exercises
  • Keeping a diary about Bible passages studied and matters prayed-about
Q.7
Perhaps it is no surprise that in Christian witness and pilgrimage, there are occasional 'outstanding performers': one such might be St Simeon Stylites (active around 400 AD): the more he craved solitude for his prayers, the holier he was held to be, and the more people flocked to meet and consult (and interrupt) him. So the story goes, where did he therefore spend the last 37 years of his life?
  • On top of a pillar
  • In a cave
  • On an island
  • In a pit
Q.8
However, in 'closed houses' (monasteries and the like), those who have individually devoted themselves to God will meet collectively for worship several times per day (and indeed, during the night) as a key part of their shared spiritual life. A monk within the Order of St Benedict ~ probably the most famous and widely-established Order ~ would meet for worship and collective contemplation ... how often?
  • 7 times daily during the week, 9 times at weekends and on other Holy Days
  • 6 times daily during the week, 7 times at weekends and on other Holy Days
  • 5 times daily during the week, 6 times at weekends and on other Holy Days
  • 3 times daily during the week, 5 times at weekends and on other Holy Days
Q.9
Historically, at least in much of Britain, everyone was 'tithed', i.e. they were obliged to pay a proportion of their income to the church (some of which went, in the direct form of produce, into 'tithe barns'). Many Christians try to maintain this principle by setting aside a portion of what life brings them ~ their pay, and anything else ~ and contributing it to specifically Christian, or at least generally charitable causes. What is the generally reckoned proportion at which a serious believer should aim, as a minimum?
  • 5%
  • 10%
  • 15%
  • One-seventh
Q.10
Some way into the 21st century, it may well seem old-fashioned and reactionary (not to mention 'cultural imperialism') for enthusiastic Christians to be sending 'missionaries' anywhere ~ overseas, or indeed into places within their own country where they believe God is calling them to support compassionate work in tough circumstances (e.g. with high unemployment, crime, homelessness etc.). At time of writing, each of the following quite long-established missionary organisations is still going strong and doing good useful work, with the exception of ONE (well-intentioned!) fake: which is the odd one out?
  • Gospel Guild of Africa and the Levant
  • Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK)
  • Baptist Missionary Society (BMS World Mission)
  • The Mission to Seafarers
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