Christmas Story Quiz

Answer the following questions without opening your Bible (answers at the bottom of this page)

1) Jesus was born...

a. at night
b. in the morning
c. at an unknown time

2) Jesus was born...

a. in a stable
b. in a manger
c. at an unknown place

3) The shepherds found Jesus...

a. in a stable
b. in a feed-bin
c. in a house

4) The Magi found Jesus...

a. in a stable
b. in a feed-bin
c. in a house

5) Angels...

a. sang a beautiful song
b. terrified farm workers
c. told the wise men to go home another way

6) A star...

a. appeared on the night of Jesus' birth
b. guided shepherds to the manger
c. led the Magi westward

7) The animals mentioned at the manger included:

a. ox, donkey, sheep, cows, doves
b. pigs, lobsters, shrimp
c. none of the above

8) The weather at the birth of Jesus was...

a. not mentioned
b. moderate to warm
c. snowy

9) When the shepherds arrived, Jesus was...

a. asleep on the hay
b. wrapped like a mummy
c. not crying

10) The posture of the shepherds when the angel appeared was:

a. seated on the ground
b. lying in the fields
c. not mentioned

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Answers:

1. c—The time of the birth of Jesus is nowhere mentioned. Many carols seem to suggest he was born at night, including "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night"
2. c—The exact place of the birth of Jesus is nowhere mentioned. He was placed in a manger, but that does not mean he was born there (very unlikely—nearly physically impossible!) or even in a stable (stables would have been unlikely in a town).
3. b—A "manger" is a feed-bin.
4. c—Matthew’s account mentions only that Jesus was born somewhere in Bethlehem and that the wise men found him in a house.
5. b— Luke says that the heavenly host SAID (not sang!) "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to people of good will." The Magi were warned by a dream to go home another way. "Angels We Have Heard on High" says the angels sang this. "Silent Night" has the angels singing something that at most one angel said—"Christ the Savior is born." No angels are recorded to have said or sang "Alleluia" (also attributed to them in "Silent Night") in the biblical birth stories.
6. c—The Magi were from the East, and depending on how one translates the Greek, the star was either in the eastern sky, or the Magiwere describing the fact that they saw it "at its rising" (astrological term). In either event, since they were from the East, they had to go west (counter to the star if it was in the East!) to get to Judea.
7. c—No animals are mentioned as being at the manger. We are not told what the shepherds did with their sheep. "What Child Is This" and "Good Christian Friends, Rejoice" mention "ox and ass." "The Friendly Beasts" mentions the others listed in a. The animals in b were unclean and would not have been anywhere near a Jewish settlement.
8. a— The Bible says nothing directly about the weather. Snow would have been unlikely if sheep were out in the fields; but other than this, we are not told. "Snow had fallen, snow on snow," and "a cold winter’s night that was so deep" are both Northern hemisphere fictions.
9. b—Swaddling clothes were rather like a "body wrap." There is no mention in Scripture what else was in the manger, if anything. Scripture also never says Jesus never cried as a baby. "Away in a Manger" says both a and c.
10. c—"The First Noel" says the shepherds are "in the fields where they lay keeping their sheep," and "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night" has them "all seated on the ground." The Bible doesn’t tell us.