The Christian Chronicle recently ran a story on Bible bowls: “Textual preparation or trivial pursuit?”
Now, what I know about Bible bowls is that the Christian Chronicle recently ran a story on Bible bowls. Really. I’ve never been in one. I’ve never seen one. My church doesn’t do these, and I don’t know that we ever have.
But when I was a teenager, I’d heard of these things. Distant rumors made their way to my ears. I thought … it might be a good way to meet girls from other churches.
I know people have strong feelings on the subject. Some argue that our Bible instruction during the teenage years is sadly lacking. Some think the cure is a return to the Bible bowl. I don’t know.
The article presents both sides of the argument, and I’ll not repeat that here. I do think competition is not inherently un-Christian. It’s a game, and it’s fine to try to win a game. Of course, competition can become sinful if it leads to arrogance or dehumanizing the opponent. But I would imagine that’s far more likely in football than in a Bible bowl. But like I said, I’ve never really experienced it.
So what do you think? Should churches encourage their youth ministries to participate in Bible bowls?
People in our churches play lots of kinds of games. Games centered around Bible knowledge are more worthwhile than most, if they encourage people to know their Bibles. For example, I learned to recite the books of the Bible when I was in middle school. My children could do it before they could read. But today I know plenty of adult Christians who can't do it. Somehow I think it is a useful skill.
Someone might view that as useless trivia. Knowing trivia about the Bible can't substitute for a deeper knowledge of scripture. But it can provide a framework and context for a holistic understanding of scripture. It would be a shame if we raised a generation that doesn't know their Bibles as well as they know subjects taught in public schools.
I grew up in Northeast Arkansas. We had a Bible bowl competition.. Me and a couple of buddies won it. They gave us an award which the the little CoC posted prominently in the foyer. It was training that I am thankful for even today. I think the concept was if you make learning fun one is more likely to learn. I would question the motivation of someone that says you can't have fun learning about God… Make up 2 questions per each book of the Bible and see how many adults or especially teenagers can answer them..shocking..
I was first exposed to Bible Bowl in the late1970's. My experience has always been good, but different formats give different results. I do not remember details of my first exposure in the Cincinnati area – except that my teen class learned a lot about Hebrews that year! The best I remember, teams received alternating questions. If one team missed, the other team could win extra points by successfully answering.
Later, in central Ohio, the format was teams of four with each participant answering every multiple choice question. Bonus points were awarded if all members of the team answered correctly.
When I moved to Michigan in 1984, the churches there had a Bible Bowl with a first responder system. They had an electronic system where the first person to press a button got the opportunity to answer the toss-up question. I did not like that as much, because one person could carry a team.
After discussing the matter with other team leaders, we decided to switch to the multiple-choice, every person answer format. My leadership in that ended about 1987, but the Michigan Bible Bowl still uses that format.
If Bible Bowl were the only study a person did, it would be insufficient. It does lead to virtual memorization of the text of the assigned section of Scripture, which is a strong good.
The debate between learning the details of the text as opposed to learning the concepts being taught will continue until the Lord returns. It is my feeling that concepts are hard to master without some factual material on which to base them.
My congregation is heavily involved with Bible Bowl. (In fact, Christian Church Bible Bowl's headquarters is here in Cincinnati!) The children and teenagers involved in it get a lot out of it. Although you still have to push them to study. 😉 I see it pay off later on with the veterans who have done it all through high school. They're intimately familiar with the texts that were covered. (One of my friends was reading a passage in Sunday School one time and at the end, she said that she definitely pronounced the names correctly because that was a Bible Bowl passage!) Some can quote passages years down the road. And I think that's the main point that sticks with them through their adult Christian lives. (Psalm 1)
When it comes to competition, if they're focused, they're VERY competitive. However, it's all done in love and i haven't seen or heard any poor sportsmanship.
Jerry wrote,
Amen! Bible knowledge is essential to Bible understanding and Bible reasoning. Of course, some knowledge matters more than others. I see no value in Bible trivia — such as the longest verse or the middle verse or the number of chapters in the Bible. But knowing who wrote Acts and when Isaiah fits into the biblical narrative are essential factual information.
I’ve never understood the educators who insist on teaching reasoning skills rather than facts. Reasoning about what? The facts matter, too. Good education teaches both the facts and the skills needed to understand and reason from the facts. If all a Bible Bowls does is communicate facts that matter, it’s a good program.
I don't know if this means anything or really shows anything, but the church where I minister has tons of trophies, etc. displayed in the fellowship/family center of past Bible Bowl wins from the late 80s and early 90s. I asked about it and found that only two of the many youth (about 30) from the past are disciples of Jesus, though they won 1st place in most every Bible Bowl in which they competed. In contrast, we are always baptizing our youth now, who are growing stronger daily, and we don't participate in any Bible Bowls. Dunno, that's just what I see here.