Yesterday John at Blogotional found, took, and wrote about a quiz titled How Sinful Are You? that seems to be based on the Seven Deadly Sins. John used it as a springboard for some introspection and reflection:

When I first ran across this little quiz at If I should fall from grace with god . . . I thought it a bit trivial – I took it on a lark. While it is not ultimately revealing or anything when the results appeared, my response was not giggles, but conviction.”

Being as I am, I focused not on where the springboard might take me but on the springboard itself, i.e., the quiz. I took it and wound up with 14% chance of going to hell (which gives me an 86% chance of not going, I guess), but then I wondered how Jesus would fare on the quiz. So, as best I could, I took the quiz for Him based on what I know about Him through Scripture and three decades of being His child.

Well, He didn’t do so well:



Jesus’ Deadly Sins
Envy: 40%
Gluttony: 20%
Greed: 20%
Pride: 20%
Lust: 0%
Sloth: 0%
Wrath: 0%
Chance You’ll Go to Hell: 14%
You will die at the hands of a jealous lover. How ironic.

To be fair, you have to give the quiz this much: Jesus did die at the hands of jealous lovers, and it was ironic that the people He came to save wound up killing Him. Too, I suppose, Jesus did go to hell (1 Pet 3.18-20) but it was more of a drive-by preaching than a house-shopping expedition. I think this quiz is looking at something different.

In short, this quiz is representative of so many quizzes (except the ones that are flattering to me) that slant the questions so as to achieve an inevitable response. There is no way, other than not taking the quiz, to avoid having a “chance to go to hell” and it reflects the bias of the person who designed the quiz.

John ignored the folly and used it profitably, but for those who might take it to heart I say: put down the whip and don’t indulge yourself with self-flagellation. Either Christ paid the price for our sins or He didn’t; the results are not relative. A better quiz might look like this:

(a) I have been saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ
(b) I have not been saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ

Scoring:

If (a), your chances of going to hell are 0%.
If (b), your chances of going to hell are 100%.”

A much better quiz, don’t you think?


2 Cor 1:13