Q 01/05

At what time does Mark 15:25 put the crucifixion, a detail that clashes with John's account of the trial?

A) Six in the morning

B) Nine in the morning

C) Noon

D) Three in the afternoon

Answer · why

B) Nine in the morning

Nine in the morning is Mark's 'third hour', while John 19:14 still has Jesus before Pilate at about noon. Mark then marks darkness at noon and death a...

Q 02/05

What did the women do on leaving the empty tomb in Mark 16:8, where the oldest manuscripts stop?

A) Ran to find the Eleven

B) Worshipped at his feet

C) Went home to Galilee

D) Said nothing to anyone

Answer · why

D) Said nothing to anyone

Said nothing to anyone, 'because they were afraid', is how the earliest text of Mark ends, with no resurrection appearance at all. Verses 9 to 20 were...

Q 03/05

What, says a promise found in Mark's disputed longer ending, 'will not hurt' believers at all when they drink it?

A) Bitter gall

B) Sour wine

C) Deadly poison

D) Unclean water

Answer · why

C) Deadly poison

Deadly poison, like picking up snakes, is promised in Mark 16:18 to do believers no harm, the verse that Appalachian snake-handling churches cite for ...

Q 04/05

What do the demons call themselves in Mark 5 before entering a herd of about 2,000 pigs?

A) Beelzebul

B) Legion

C) Abaddon

D) Belial

Answer · why

B) Legion

Legion, 'for we are many', is the name Jesus is given when he asks, and only Mark puts a number on the herd that then rushes into the lake, which Matt...

Q 05/05

What did the blind man at Bethsaida say people looked like after one touch from Jesus, in Mark 8?

A) Shadows on a wall

B) Sheep without a shepherd

C) Clouds drifting past

D) Trees walking around

Answer · why

D) Trees walking around

Trees walking around is what he saw until a second touch restored his sight fully, the only healing in the Gospels that takes Jesus two attempts. The ...