An Introduction to Bible Quizzing (JWH)

Whereas many of the next several blog entries will most likely be about the North American Bible Quizzing Tournament (frequently called NABQT), and whereas some of the readers of this blog may not know much regarding this subject, I will attempt to resolve these two seemingly frustrating facts by explaining a little about the ministry of Bible Quizzing.

Bible Quizzing is essentially a game consisting of two teams of three individuals, who vocally answer a series of questions asked by a quizmaster, in order to gain points, in order to gain victory. But calling Bible Quizzing a game is an extreme oversimplification; it's more like a way of life. The level of preparation required to quiz successfully might be compared to taking ten or twelve credits at your local university.

Why? First of all, the Bible Quizzing ministry was founded as a way to encourage youths to study and memorize the Scripture, an obviously beneficial activity for any Christian. As such, quizzers are required, or strongly encouraged, to memorize the year's selected portion of Scripture verbatim. This selected material is usually around five-hundred verses. This year's material is a large portion of the Gospel of Luke.

The quizmaster will ask questions like "Only one verse of study contains the word 'ravens.' Quote this verse," or "As found in which verses of Luke chapter ten, what did Jesus say about 'the Holy Ghost?'' And the quizzer who first 'buzzes in' will have thirty seconds to answer. Oh, and most quizzers depress their handheld buzzer before the quizmaster even finishes the question--in this case, they will have to finish the question exactly and then answer. Oh, and the quizzers don't know or see the questions beforehand.

It's a fairly intense activity, drawing the cream of the crop among Apostolic young people. These quizzers give up hours a day quoting their verses and cross-referencing and interpreting, etc. But they love it. It's not all competition. In fact, quizzers only quiz about five percent of the time. The rest of the time they are intently studying the Word of God. They know the whole quiz game aspect is just a head-fake. The real reason they are involved is so they might know their Creator in the days of their youth.

There really is a lot more to quizzing than this, but I hope this brief introduction has been beneficial in some way.

P.S. The North American Bible Quizzing Tournament continues until Wednesday. If you arrive for NAYC a bit early, and if you have never seen a quiz, it would behoove you to drop by the Renaissance Convention Center some time between Ten O'clock and Noon. The finals will take place at this time.