The Ultimate QoD Challenge -- Week 5, Friday

[Pastor Fireball]

I don't advocate gambling... but since only points are changing hands instead of money, it's fine.

Bob Juch - 100% of 118 = 118
earendel - 100% of 80 = 80
jarnon - 61.8% of 62 = 38.32
franktangredi - 30% of 90 = 27
Bob78164 - 10% of 66 = 6.6
smilergrogan - 2% of 72 = 1.44
kroxquo - 0% of 12 = 0
ShamelessWeasel - 0% of 90 = 0
themanintheseersuckersuit - 0% of 12 = 0

Bob J is going back to the well. ear also wants to bet it all, which is no surprise.

I couldn't decide which question to use today, so I'm using all of them. Ten of them, in fact. As I said yesterday, all you have to do to win your bet is give me more correct answers than forfeit answers. If your forfeit answers outnumber your correct answers, you lose your bet. An equal number of both will keep your score as it is. As usual, abstentions and non-obvious wrong answers will not affect your score. So you can try all ten questions, some of the questions, one question, or none of the questions. Your fate is in your own hands.

Your answers are due by Monday at 4 PM EDT.

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth?
2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus?
3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?
4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden?
5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?
6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible?
7. What is the root of all evil?
8. What is the number of the beast?
9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?
10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"?

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[Bob Juch]

Spoiler

1. September 11 but the bible doesn't explicity give the date
2. The bible doesn't say but traditionally it's 3.
3. The bible says either 4000 or 5000 men and an unknown number of women and children.
4. The bible doesn't say but traditionally it's an apple.
5. 14
6. Methuselah
7. The love of money.
8. 666 or 616
9. Genesis
10. neither appears

[jarnon]

Spoiler

4. fruit of the knowledge of good and evil
6. Methuselah
7. the lust for money
8. 666
9. Psalms

[franktangredi]

Spoiler

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth?

This is not specified in the Bible.

2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus?

This is not specified in the Bible.

3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?

The exact number is not given in the Bible. One gospel says "about" 5,000

4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden?

This is not specified in the Bible.

5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?

Two

6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible?

Methuselah

7. What is the root of all evil?

Love of money

8. What is the number of the beast?

666

9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?

Psalms

10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"?

Liberal

[smilergrogan]

Spoiler

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth?
Nobody knows?
2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus?
Two - the other two guys thought Balthazar was an idiot
3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?
653, but they all skipped out on the bill
4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden?
pomegranate
5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?
40
6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible?
Methuselah's older brother Larry King
7. What is the root of all evil?
Eve
8. What is the number of the beast?
666
9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?
Kings
10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"?
Both appear 0 times

[kroxquo]

Spoiler

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth?
2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus?
3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?
4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden?
5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?
6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible?
7. What is the root of all evil?
8. What is the number of the beast?
9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?
10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"?

I think the answer to all of these is "unknown" or "unspecified"

[Bob78164]

I really haven't got a prayer with many of these.

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth?
2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus?
3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?
4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden?
5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?
6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible? Adam
7. What is the root of all evil? The love of money
8. What is the number of the beast?
9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?
10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"? Liberal

--Bob

[ShamelessWeasel]

Since I bet nothnig no answer will not affect me

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

Spoiler

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth? No one knows
2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus? 0
3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?
4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden? John McPhee says it could have been an orange but nobody knows
5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?
6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible?
7. What is the root of all evil? Love of money
8. What is the number of the beast?
9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?
10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"? neither appears

[earendel]

I don't advocate gambling... but since only points are changing hands instead of money, it's fine.

I couldn't decide which question to use today, so I'm using all of them. Ten of them, in fact. As I said yesterday, all you have to do to win your bet is give me more correct answers than forfeit answers. If your forfeit answers outnumber your correct answers, you lose your bet. An equal number of both will keep your score as it is. As usual, abstentions and non-obvious wrong answers will not affect your score. So you can try all ten questions, some of the questions, one question, or none of the questions. Your fate is in your own hands.

Your answers are due by Monday at 4 PM EDT.

Spoiler

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth?
No one knows. Given the gospel account of shepherds in the fields, it was probably in the spring; however the Romans practiced a celebration known as "Saturnalia" around the 25th of December. Also the feast of Mithras Invictus occurred on or about that date - Christians believed that they could celebrate the birth of Jesus safely by doing so when other celebrations were already occurring.

2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus?
No one knows. Matthew just says that "wise men from the East" came to visit - and it's likely that Jesus was 2 years old or so, hardly a baby. Indeed the Matthean passage says that the magi found "the child and his mother"; the Greek word paidion usually refers to a toddler or young child, whereas brephos (the word found in Luke) refers to an infant. Tradition establishes 3 magi because there were three gifts presented to the child.

3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?
No one knows. The only miracle recorded in all four gospels, the number is generally set at 5000; however this is at best a round number estimate and probably did not include women and children, so the number could have been much larger.

4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden?
No one knows. The type of fruit grown on the Tree of Knowledge, Good and Evil, isn't specified. Various traditions indicate it was a pear, a pomegranite or some other fruit indiginous to the Middle East.

5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?
It depends. According to the Yahwistic tradition, Noah took 2 of every kind of animal. However the Priestly account states that Noah took 7 pairs of animals that were suitable for sacrifice.

6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible?
Just going by the account in Genesis, Methuselah lived for 969 years, longer than any other antediluvian patriarch - in fact, he was alive when the Flood occurred, and since he wasn't included on the passenger manifest for the Ark, he drowned like the rest of humanity.

7. What is the root of all evil?
The love of money is the root of all evil.

8. What is the number of the beast?
Traditionally it is 666; however there are early manuscripts that have the number as 616.

9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?
There are 150 psalms, but I don't consider them to be "chapters" as such, although they are marked in the same way as chapter divisions for the other Bible books. After that, Isaiah has 66 chapters.

10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"?
It depends. The KJV has 6 occurrences of "liberal" and no occurrences of "conservative". However the modern English translations don't use the word "liberal" alone - the NRSV does contain the word "liberally".

[Pastor Fireball]

OK, let's see who is a Bible scholar and who needs to be kicked out of Sunday school.

1. What was the month and day of Jesus' birth?

Every theologian and historian in the world agrees that Jesus was not born in December. Especially not December 25. In the early third century, Hippolytus of Rome was the first to suggest December 25 as His birth date. The Bible gives only one vague clue about the approximate time of the year of birth. Grazing sheep in the Gospel of Luke is evidence that the birth was not at any time during the winter. He could have been born any time between spring and early fall. The plurality of theologians and historians go with September.

2. Exactly how many Wise Men visited the baby Jesus?

The Bible doesn't tell us this, either, but the correct answer is definitely not three. Everybody assumes there were only three because of the three gifts--gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The assumption began from a Greek manuscript written around the year 500 A.D. and was perpetuated through various media, such as the artworks known as "Adoration of the Magi" and the Christmas carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are". The traditional number of Magi in Eastern religions was twelve, although there may have been more.

3. Exactly how many men, women, and children did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?

This miracle is known as the "feeding of the 5,000", so it has to be 5,000, right? Wrong. All four of the Gospels very clearly state that 5,000 men ate, but there is no indication on the exact number of women and children who ate with the 5,000 men. We know there were women and children there because it says so in Matthew 14:21: "And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children." The real number of people who ate was likely over 10,000.

4. What type of fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden?

"Apple" is the wrong answer because apples didn't even exist until at least 3,000 years later. The myth came from Renaissance painters who equated the forbidden fruit of Eden with the golden apples in Greek myth. Again, the Bible doesn't give us the exact answer to this question. Theologians and historians have suggested at least ten different things. The two common theories are the fig (obviously) and the pomegranate (which actually existed in the area at that time and, in fact, comes from the same Latin word as "apple").

5. Exactly how many sheep did Noah take onto his Ark?

"The animals went in two by two. Hurrah! Hurrah!" Except that applied only to the unclean beasts. Sheep are most definitely not "unclean beasts". God ordered Noah to take seven or seven pairs (depending on which Biblical translation you go by) of each clean beast and bird. Genesis 6 says two of each animal, but the beginning of Genesis 7 makes the distinction between clean beasts and unclean beasts.

6. Who was the oldest person in the Bible?

Methuselah was 969 years old when he died, but he is the wrong answer. His father, Enoch, is the correct answer because of the simple fact that he is technically still alive today. He never died. He walked with God, and God took him up so that he may never die. (Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5)

7. What is the root of all evil?

You know the old saying "Money is the root of all evil"? Don't believe it. 1 Timothy 6:10 says "the love of money is the root of all evil"--something completely different. It's not a sin to have money. You just can't love money more than you love God. That's where all of the traditional Christians get it wrong. They change the meaning by dropping the important "love of" part of the verse.

8. What is the number of the beast?

First of all, you get a forfeit if you answered 13 because that's the obvious joke answer (reference to the Bored's own "beast"). And I hope that nobody thought about giving me Mark Labbett's personal cellphone number, either. Although the Bible gives the number as 666, that probably came through a mistranslation hundreds of years ago. If you believe one of the earliest Greek papyruses (or papyri--either one is acceptable) of the New Testament known to man (papyrus 115, written some time before 275 A.D.), then the real number of the beast is 616.

9. Which book of the Bible has the most chapters?

The book of Psalms has 150 chapters, right? No, the book of Psalms has 150 psalms. The text of the Bible never calls them chapters. They've always been called something like "Psalm 23" or "the 23d Psalm". Isaiah is the correct answer, which has 66 actual chapters. Another semantics argument.

10. Which word appears more often in the text of the KJV Bible: "conservative" or "liberal"?

It has to be "conservative" because they're the party of God, doesn't it? Not exactly. The word "conservative" doesn't appear anywhere in the text of the King James Bible. In fact, if you go through the texts of all 40+ English translations of the Bible--Amplified, New Life, Douay-Rheims, etc.--you won't find the word "conservative" one time. In the King James Bible, you will find "liberal" six times--three times in Isaiah 32:8 and once each in Proverbs 11:25, Isaiah 32:5, and 2 Corinthians 9:13. If you count other forms of "liberal", the number goes up to ten--two appearances of "liberally" (Deuteronomy 15:14 and James 1:5) and two appearances of "liberality" (1 Corinthians 16:3 and 2 Corinthians 8:2). Don't get mad, conservative voters. I'm only showing you what the Bible says.

Although some of these Bible questions have no definitive correct answer, I merely ask them only to test whether or not you give the common (and incorrect) answers.

jarnon was the only person who gave more forfeits than correct answers (2 up and 3 down), but he did the right thing not to risk all of his points. That means all nine players receive a bonus 2 points.

See you next week!

Week 5 Scores
Bob Juch - 14 + 20 + 20 + 64 + 118 (+ 2) = 238
earendel - 0 + 0 + 0 + 80 + 80 (+ 2) = 162
franktangredi - 10 + 12 + 12 + 56 + 27 (+ 2) = 119
ShamelessWeasel - 8 + 14 + 12 + 56 + 0 (+ 2) = 92
smilergrogan - 4 + 8 + 8 + 48 + 1.44 (+ 2) = 75.44
Bob78164 - 4 + 6 + 8 + 48 + 6.6 (+ 2) = 74.6
jarnon - 6 + 8 + 0 + 48 - 38.32 (+ 2) = 25.68
kroxquo - 8 + 4 + 0 + 0 + 0 (+ 2) = 14
themanintheseersuckersuit - 6 + 6 + 0 + 0 + 0 (+ 2) = 14

Total Scores After Week 5
Bob Juch - 527.3
ShamelessWeasel - 342.44
smilergrogan - 280.17
franktangredi - 268.62
plasticene - 171.8
earendel - 162
Bob78164 - 159.54
jarnon - 158.52
themanintheseersuckersuit - 135.14
kroxquo - 122.13
MarleysGh0st - 31.8
Appa23 - 21
christie1111 - 12.1
Vandal - 5.2
silverscreenselect - 0

[jarnon]

jarnon was the only person who gave more forfeits than correct answers (2 up and 3 down)

Sorry, but I have to protest. Methuselah was the wrong answer; I forgot about Enoch. But 666 is the number of the beast in every edition of the Bible I've ever seen. 616 could be the misprint; there are lots of errors in ancient manuscripts.

In the King James Bible, Psalms has no chapters, just psalms:



Most Hebrew Bibles I've seen say "Psalms chapter ##", not "Psalm ##":



But after searching, I did find some that say "Psalm ##" as in English. You're the Pastor, and it's your game, so you make the rules, but I hope you'll consider my arguments.