You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

• Genesis 15:15

But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”

• Genesis 20:3

He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our people throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and pasturelands, to come and join us.

• 1 Chronicles 13:2

There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God.”

• 2 Chronicles 19:3

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.

• Psalm 136:1

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

• Psalm 111:10

I am not bragging in the title.  This is a quiz about verses containing the word “good.”  There is so much confusion with the crazy people that change the dictionary every five minutes that many people wonder what “good” is anymore.  But “good” must be a “good” topic when thinking of the things of God.  The word is mentioned, in various forms, 610 times in the NIV.  The word is mentioned in all but eight books of the Bible, four in each testament.  The four books in the Old Testament that do not use the word “good” in the NIV are Song of Songs, Joel, Obadiah, and Haggai.  In the New Testament, the four books that do not mention “good” in the NIV are 1 John, 2 John, Jude, and Revelation.  Of course, some of the mentions of “good” are in words like goods, goodbye, and goodness, but I will stick to “good.”

The questions are in biblical order.  Half the questions are from the Old Testament, all from one book in the Old Testament.  The other half of the questions are from the New Testament.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What is the first thing that God calls “good”?
2	When did God first say that what was created was very good?
3	What was the one tree that Adam and Eve were not allowed from which to eat?
4	When man ate of the fruit and was aware, knowing good and evil, what was God’s first concern?
5	When Esau was hungry, what did he say was no good to him at that moment?
6	When Jesus is called a “good teacher” how does He respond?
7	According to Hebrews, what is the law compared to the good things that are to come.
8	James asks what good is it if you tell someone to go in peace, keep warm and well fed, if what?
9	Peter tells those that suffer should commit themselves to their Creator and do what?
10	In the last reference to “good” in the NIV, John tells us to do good and not evil.  For those that do good are from the Lord, but those that do evil have not done what?

From the moment of the Fall of Mankind, we have known what is good and what is evil.  The modern dictionary changes and the constant changing of the language is a plot to keep us confused as to what words to use.  But Satan has already lost.

It is hard for us to avoid the enticements of evil.  Sometimes it is wrapped in such a pretty package that we see the momentary enjoyment without seeing the outcome.  But God gives us the strength to resist, if we are willing.

And thinking of those enticements, C. S. Lewis wrote the following:

“If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.”

• C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What is the first thing that God calls “good”?	Genesis 1:4
2	When did God first say that what was created was very good?	Genesis 1:31
3	What was the one tree that Adam and Eve were not allowed from which to eat?	Genesis 2:16-17
4	When man ate of the fruit and was aware, knowing good and evil, what was God’s first concern?	Genesis 3:22
5	When Esau was hungry, what did he say was no good to him at that moment?	Genesis 25:32
6	When Jesus is called a “good teacher” how does He respond?	Mark 10:17-18
7	According to Hebrews, what is the law compared to the good things that are to come.	Hebrews 10:1
8	James asks what good is it if you tell someone to go in peace, keep warm and well fed, if what?	James 2:16
9	Peter tells those that suffer should commit themselves to their Creator and do what?	1 Peter 4:19
10	In the last reference to “good” in the NIV, John tells us to do good and not evil.  For those that do good are from the Lord, but those that do evil have not done what?	3 John 1:11

The concept of good deeds is in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  People were recognized for having done good deeds.  James questions what worth our faith is if there are no good deeds.

Good deeds cannot save us.  I have had that asked of me many times in Sunday school.  People constantly drift back to the belief that their good deeds have to outweigh their bad deeds.  This does not mean these people are lost, but many of them may be.  When you start to get a bit of dementia, you get a little confused.  God will judge, but it may be possible to have a life-saving relationship while being confused by what you learned as a child from people who truly had no idea what they were talking about.

As for my wife, however, the closer she got, the more confident she became in her salvation.  And she wondered why God had not already taken her.  She had cooked for the homeless and cooked and entertained groups with her Indonesian cooking and stories of growing up in Indonesia.  But with all her health issues that was a thing of the past.  Her biggest contribution in her last years, one she was not really aware of, was her ever-present smile.  That may not sound like much, but when that is about all you can do while your husband rolls you into church in your wheelchair, people notice when you do not have a snarl on your face, and it warms their heart knowing you are probably hurting.  And she was, but you would never know.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What is the first thing that God calls “good”?	Genesis 1:4	Light
2	When did God first say that what was created was very good?	Genesis 1:31	When everything was created, and the last thing being mankind
3	What was the one tree that Adam and Eve were not allowed from which to eat?	Genesis 2:16-17	The tree of the knowledge of good and evil
4	When man ate of the fruit and was aware, knowing good and evil, what was God’s first concern?	Genesis 3:22	They mustn’t eat of the tree of life and live forever.
5	When Esau was hungry, what did he say was no good to him at that moment?	Genesis 25:32	His birthright
6	When Jesus is called a “good teacher” how does He respond?	Mark 10:17-18	No one is good except God alone
7	According to Hebrews, what is the law compared to the good things that are to come.	Hebrews 10:1	Only a shadow of those good things.
8	James asks what good is it if you tell someone to go in peace, keep warm and well fed, if what?	James 2:16	If you do nothing to take care of the person’s physical needs.
9	Peter tells those that suffer should commit themselves to their Creator and do what?	1 Peter 4:19	Continue to do good.
10	In the last reference to “good” in the NIV, John tells us to do good and not evil.  For those that do good are from the Lord, but those that do evil have not done what?	3 John 1:11	Seen God

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video.  Here are the Asidors singing Goodness of God.

And here are the Asidors Kids singing It’s a Beautiful Day.  Our son sang this at the reception after my wife’s ashes had been left in the hands of an Air Force Honor Guard.  We need to remember that every day is a beautiful day in which we can choose to do good in the world.

And here is Rosemary Siemens singing a medley of Jesus Loves Me and I Am so Glad that Jesus Loves Me.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.