Treading (Carefully) Where Saints Have Trod Quiz

Answer: FunTrivia takes no position on religion

There is no way to know the number and variety of religions represented by players on FunTrivia. It is never safe to assume that the player taking your quiz shares your religious beliefs. It is always safe to treat every religion with great respect. The writer must be careful not to advocate for a particular religious position, belief or practice.

Answer: any of these spellings

The discussion about the proper name for this holy book arises from the difficulty of transliterating a word from its language of origin into another language. The name of the book means, literally, "the recitation." The name reflects the belief that the angel Gabriel dictated its contents to the Prophet Muhammad. The AP Stylebook recommends Quran. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends Koran with Qur'an as an alternative. The Arab American News uses Qur'an. The American American Heritage dictionary, Webster's New World College Dictionary dictionary, and Oxford English Dictionary all endorse Koran. Quiz writers are free to use whichever word they prefer but, once made, this choice should then be used consistently.

This rule holds true from any word that is transliterated from another language of origin, and, yes, this includes the Bible. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, translated to Greek, then to Latin, and finally to other world languages. Many different forms of the same name can be found, and all are acceptable.

Answer: Different biblical accounts may differ from one another

At times, when the same thing is described in two different places in the Bible, the accounts differ. The two accounts of creation in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 differ in many respects. They each use a consistently different name for God. They each have a somewhat different order of creative events.

The Lord's Prayer is found in both Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4. Only the version in Matthew includes the doxology (the part about the kingdom and the power and the glory). The Ten Commandments appear in both Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.

The two versions put some of the commandments in a different order. It is prudent to specify the chapter(s) and verse(s) to which you are referring in your questions and interesting information.

Answer: nothing, there are no clergy

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, "ordained" the Bible and her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" as the "Pastor" of her church in 1895. While other churches had/have ordained clergy, Christian Science has none other than these two books.

Some lay leaders called Readers conduct Sunday and mid-week services. Some other lay leaders called Christian Science Practitioners work with individuals who seek their counsel; these practitioners are paid by their clients and not be the church.

The Church of Christ, Scientist, is a lay church.

Answer: No, some Christians do not

Christians have celebrated Christmas since the 4th century. In 1659, the Puritan government in the Massachusetts Bay Colony actually outlawed Christmas, "whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon such accountants as aforesaid, every person so offending shall pay of every such offense five shillings, as a fine to the county." Jehovah's Witnesses, who do not celebrate any birthdays (including their own), do not celebrate Christmas. Quakers don't keep Christmas because every day is a holy day. Likewise Seventh Day Adventists.

Answer: sometimes, depending upon their meaning

The rule in English is to capitalize proper nouns and to leave common nouns in lower case. A proper noun identifies a specific particular individual person, place or thing. Common nouns refer to a class or genera of persons, places, or things. To determine whether or not to capitalize "heaven" or "hell," one must decide if they are being used as proper or common nouns.

In Islam, "Jannah" refers to a beautiful garden in the hereafter; it translates into English as Heaven. Luke 24:50 and Acts 1 describe Jesus' ascent into Heaven. Victor Hugo wrote, "... there is room in heaven for all the stars." Based on 1 Peter 4:6, Christian theology holds that Jesus descended into Hell to preach redemption to the departed. Finals week at university can properly be described as hell. [Not to worry: You won't go to Hell for getting this one wrong.]

Answer: No, but it is not their proper name

Mormons belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Despite this, the church is sometimes referred to as "The Mormon Church" or "The LDS Church." The nickname "Mormon" is derived from one of the church's holy books, "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ." That book identifies its author as Mormon, a prophet and historian in 4th century America who wrote the history of his people the Nephites. Most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not object to being called Mormons but a more respectful and formal way of identifying them is as "Latter-day Saints."

Answer: differences between various translations

The fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) is notoriously diverse as to what is being forgiven: trespasses, debts, sins or something else. When one compares several translations of Matthew, one finds "debts" in the American Standard Version, the English Standard Version, the King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, the New Revised Standard Version and the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible, "sins" in the New Century Version, the New International Reader's Version, and the New Living Translation, "trespasses" in Tyndale, and "shortcomings" in the Weymouth New Testament. An amusing example of this is in the Song of Solomon 2:11-12 where the King James Version says "the voice of the turtle is heard in our land" whereas the New International Version has it "the cooing of doves is heard in our land."

Answer: a kingdom hall

Jehovah's Witnesses call their meeting structures Kingdom Halls. In 1935, the president of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, first suggested the use of the term. The Watch Tower Society was a legal corporation which administered many of the programs of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Members do not refer to these buildings as "churches." They reason that the Greek word "ekklesia" as used in the New Testament, which is commonly translated "church," refers to a group of people rather than to a building. Out of respect for what the members call their own buildings, the term Kingdom Hall or a more generic term should be used, but not the word "church."

Answer: all of these are correct

In academia, all traditional stories which embody the early history of a group of people are called myths. There are as many examples as there are cultures: the "Kumulipo" Hawaiian creation chant, the Raven Tales of Pacific Northwest Coast Indians, stories of Viracocha in Incan religion, the two Judeo-Christian stories in Genesis, the Maori story of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, the Ainu of Japan creation stories, the Celtic "Lebor Gabála Érenn" with its creation poems written in Irish. But FunTrivia is not academia. Myth has a second popular meaning: it describes false beliefs, erroneous ideas, misrepresentations of the truth, a fictitious or imaginary story.

The use of the term "myth" in questions and interesting information is thus highly likely to cause distress for some players. Better terms are "sacred history," "holy stories," and "religious narratives."

Answer: any recognized Jewish translation

The King James Version (also known as the Authorized Version) was translated by committees of scholars and clergy in the Church of England. The Jerusalem Bible was translated by committees of scholars and clergy in the Roman Catholic Church. "The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language" was translated and paraphrased by Eugene H. Peterson, a Presbyterian minister and professor of theology.

There are a number of Jewish translations prepared by Jewish scholars and rabbis which are considered authoritative by various Jewish denominations. When asking how Jews understand their own scriptures, it makes the most sense to use the translation which they would most likely hold to be authoritative.

Answer: Both accept the Bible as being inspired.

A schedule of liturgical colours has been prescribed in the West since at least 1570. The East does not have a single unified system of determining the proper liturgical colour. Christmas is celebrated on 25 December in the West and on 7 January in the East.

In the Eastern Churches, a non-monastic priest is given the title protopresbyter as a mark of honour. In the Western Church, a prebendary is a member of the clergy with specific duties in a cathedral or collegiate church. In the Anglican Church, prebendaries are often canons. Both the Eastern and Western Churches accept the Bible as inspired, although they may differ a bit about how that happens.

Answer: No, it is an outdated and offensive term

There are several transliterations of a term to describe a follower of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad: Mohammedan, Muhammadan, Mahommedan, Mahomedan or Mahometan. None is particularly appropriate in the 21st century. These terms have been used to describe Muslims since the middle 16th century.

Modern Muslims object to these terms as misnomers in the sense that they suggest that Muslims worship Muhammad in the same way that a Christian worships Christ. "Mohammedan" was common in European literature in the 1960s when it was replaced by Muslim and Islamic.

At best, "Mohammedan" is considered archaic and, at worst, offensive. When referring to any religion, denomination, or sect, it is important to look up the proper term to refer to them. Keep in mind that we are talking about people and they all deserve respect.

Answer: No, it compromises objectivity/neutrality

The use of "OBL" to mean Jesus developed in much the same way as did the use of "BVM" to mean the Blessed Virgin Mary. The problem with OBL is in its use of the word "our." "Our" is a plural possessive adjective (although some may argue that it is either "possessive determiner" or even a "possessive pronoun"). "Our" is ambiguous as to its referent although this is most often made clear by the context in which it is used, e.g. "our house, our county, our name".

It is an adjective if one asks "Which canine is our dog?" and a pronoun if one asks "Which dog is ours?" To use OBL imports not only the notion that Jesus is the question writer's "blessed lord" (which may be objectively true) but the question reader's or quiz taker's "blessed lord," as well, which cannot be safely assumed.

Answer: any of these is better

Christians divide the books of the Bible into the Old Testament and the New Testament. These are distinctly Christian terms for these scriptures. There is no "Old Testament" from a Jewish perspective. The books which appear in the Christian Old Testament are divided into the Torah (the Law), the Nevi'im (the Prophets) and the Ketuvim (the Writings) and are known collectively as the Hebrew Bible or the Hebrew scriptures.

A short form of saying Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim is "Tanakh." "Old Testament" is acceptable in the context of Christians speaking to Christians. "Hebrew Bible," "Hebrew scriptures" or "Tanakh" are preferable when addressing audiences which include Jewish readers.