By the way, I have no intention of scoring anyone who answers, even though as the one who picked the questions, I do happen to know the answers. I figure anybody could ace a test if they got to pick the questions, so I won't use the quiz that way at all. But if you find yourself curious, please take a shot at it.
Here's how the quiz works: I have listed some things about various religions that are important either for understanding the life and character of their founder --or-- that are easily misunderstood and can be used to mis-represent the life and character of the founder. I've also added a few items about the early followers and their understanding of the founder. I believe that all of the answers about the founders can be verified in the official recognized source materials of each religion, though some of the "early follower" questions lead to wider reading in the early history of each faith. There may be more than one answer for a founder in the same category -- for example, the same person may have said more than one objectionable thing. Occasionally an answer will apply to more than one person, though that is rare. And there are a few "red herring" items that don't actually apply to anyone on the list. So for each, please answer:
B = Buddha
J = Jesus
M = Mohammed
N = None of the above
- Abandoned a wife and child
- Compared a woman who sought his help to a dog
- Defied the Temple authorities in the Temple
- Died of exposure in the desert after a pilgrimage
- Died peacefully of old age
- Early followers admired their leaders for conquering neighboring nations
- Early followers admired their leaders for their boldness in proclaiming good news, sometimes suffering torture, imprisonment, or death
- Executed as a criminal for treason and/or blasphemy
- Extreme ascetic practices affected his health
- Followers' mission: Bringing the world into submission to God, and, where the people are receptive, to do so peacefully
- Followers' mission: Condemning polytheism, including Trinitarianism
- Followers' mission: Proclaiming forgiveness to the world, preaching cleansing and rebirth
- Followers' mission: Seeking enlightenment, following the right path
- Got financial support from donations from supporters
- Got financial support from holding hostages for ransom
- Got financial support from raiding and looting / plundering
- Got financial support from working as a tentmaker
- Ordered the torture of a man who hid treasure from him and his army
- Ordered the assassinations of his critics
- Said that his followers must hate their father and mother and follow him
- Spoke of a future when his followers would succeed in armed conquests of other nations
- Vowed to mutilate 30 of his enemies
- Was executed as a criminal for treason and/or blasphemy
- Was poisoned by a woman he had enslaved
I know this is something off of the usual subject matter of this blog, but I am very curious which things are general knowledge and which are not. So if you're as curious as I am, I'd be glad to hear your response -- as much as you're willing to share.
6 comments:
Here's my answers:
Abandoned a wife and child
B
Compared a woman who sought his help to a dog
J
Defied the Temple authorities in the Temple
J
Died of exposure in the desert after a pilgrimag
M
Died peacefully of old age
B
Early followers admired their leaders for conquering neighboring nations
M
Early followers admired their leaders for their boldness in proclaiming good news, sometimes suffering torture, imprisonment, or death
J
Executed as a criminal for treason and/or blasphemy
J
Extreme ascetic practices affected his health
B
Followers' mission: Bringing the world into submission to God, and, where the people are receptive, to do so peacefully
M
Followers' mission: Condemning polytheism, including Trinitarianism
M
Followers' mission: Proclaiming forgiveness to the world, preaching cleansing and rebirth
J
Followers' mission: Seeking enlightenment, following the right path
B
Got financial support from donations from supporters
J
Got financial support from holding hostages for ransom
M
Got financial support from raiding and looting / plundering
M
Got financial support from working as a tentmaker
N
Ordered the torture of a man who hid treasure from him and his army
M
Ordered the assassinations of his critics
M
Said that his followers must hate their father and mother and follow him
J
Spoke of a future when his followers would succeed in armed conquests of other nations
M
Vowed to mutilate 30 of his enemies
M
Was executed as a criminal for treason and/or blasphemy
J
Was poisoned by a woman he had enslaved
M
I agree with Craig.
I'm not ignoring you guys, I'm just holding back on commenting til a business day has gone by, to see if anyone else will reply.
Take care & God bless
Anne / WF
Hmm, everyone else is going to skip, it looks like.
I have to say, even though I got to pick the questions, I managed to put one of them in there twice so I *still* managed to miss one, as it were. Amazing.
You guys are good. One of my red herrings did get through: nobody on the list died of exposure in the desert, so I know there was some guessing going on. Makes me wonder how often you were answering something you actually knew beforehand and how often it was odds-playing. And one of the questions (who accepted alms?) had more than one good answer. But basically you guys nailed it.
I'm just trying to figure out what to make of it all. The survey I saw as news had simple questions (name that holiday etc) and people were getting 1/3 of the questions wrong. Maybe people who blog on religion are more likely to know their stuff? Or maybe founders are more interesting than holidays?
And Martin, you're more political than a lot of the bloggers that I read, and (I hope you don't mind my mentioning) you consistently lean to the left (D) of the spectrum, much like a couple of the people on my blogroll consistently lean to the right (R). Most of the people I've spoken to on the (D) side of the house object to the idea that, when it comes to founders of religions being peaceful, "one of these is not like the others" as they say. How typical would you say it is for people in your circle to be aware that not everybody among the founders was really all about peace and brotherhood and really, not every religion that claims to be a religion of peace can say it without crossing their fingers?
I was really expecting at least one person to claim that nobody had ordered his critics be assassinated or had done armed looting/plundering as a fundraiser. Those are some facts that seem to get omitted when histories get passed along in our culture.
Anyway, not that I'm surprised coming from you two, but you guys know your stuff. :)
Take care & God bless
Anne / WF
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At the time of taking the quiz, I didn't really question my answer to that question. I remembered that Mohammad died after his final pilgrimage, but now that I look it up, it was several months after, not directly after. So this wasn't guessing; just a bad memory. :-)
In general though, people probably generally don't know the answers to these types of questions, especially if it concerns religions not their own. I have studied most of the major religions, just because it was the only was for me to accept the claims of Christ. It was a journey God led me on to find myself. So, yes, we are probably atypical by the fact that we read theology blogs and like to discuss theological topics.
That's interesting. Likewise, I read up on all the major religions, similar sort of quest.
Take care & God bless
Anne / WF
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