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On Sunday, December 16th there was a quiz in the middle of our worship bulletin. The questions and answers from that quiz are shown below. (We would encourage you to go read the Christmas stories in Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 1:5-2:40. It won't take long and after you read them you'll be an expert and none of the quiz answers below will shock you!) 1. (True or False) Mary and Joseph were already married when Mary became pregnant. False -- according to our standards. Scriptures say they were "betrothed" -- some translations of Matthew 1:18-23 do say they were "married." But scripture also makes it clear that they hadn't shared a household (or a bed) yet. So, according to their tradition they were married. According to our standards we would say that they were engaged. 2. (True or False) Mary was still a virgin when she delivered Jesus. True -- See Isaiah and the prophecies for this one. 3. When Joseph and Mary first found out that Mary was pregnant with Jesus, what things did they do? a. They got married. b. Joseph wanted to break off the relationship. c. Mary left town for three months. d. An angel told them to go to Bethlehem. e. No reference or none of the above. b. Joseph did want to break off the relationship but an angel told him not to. And Mary did leave town but there is no mention of how long she was gone. 4. Who told Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem? a. An angel b. Mary's mom c. Herod d. Caesar Augustus e. Elizabeth f. the Bible g. No reference or none of the above d. Caesar Augustus -- it was a forced census that took Joseph and his family to their ancestral home. 5. Where was Joseph from? a. Bethlehem b. Jerusalem c. Nazareth d. Egypt e. Bethany f. No reference or none of the above a. Bethlehem -- at least that was his ancestral home. 6. How did Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem? a. Camel b. On foot c. Donkey d. Mary rode, Joseph walked e. No reference or none of the above e. No reference -- we just don't know the answer to this question although we do love the story of the donkey that brought Mary to Bethlehem - that story totally doesn't come from the Bible. 7. What did the innkeeper tell Mary and Joseph? a. "There's no room in the inn" b. "I have a stable you can use" c. "Come back after the busy season" e. No reference or none of the above e. No reference -- there's actually not a reference to an innkeeper at all so it's definitely a trick question. 8. Which animals were present at Jesus' birthplace? a. Cows b. Sheep c. Donkeys d. All of the above e. None of the above or no reference e. No reference -- although we have imagined all kinds of animals being present and we may be able to infer that there were sheep present because Luke's version of the story has shepherds coming to visit the baby there is actually no mention of animals in the Bible. |