Multiple Choice

“Please take out your sharpened #2 pencil.”

How many of you have ever had a teacher say something like this to you? If you have you knew exactly what was coming. Scantron.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Scantron, it was (and maybe still is?)  a type of test where you used the aforementioned sharpened #2 pencil to fill in a tiny rectangle on a Scantron test sheet. Each rectangle corresponded with a letter which in turn corresponded with answer choices on the actual test paper. And woe unto the child that got outside the lines when filling in said rectangle, which only occupied about .000012 square in. of actual paper.

As tedious as this task could be, there was a silver lining. Scantron tests were multiple-choice tests, with the only choices being A, B, C, D, or E. This meant you had a 25% chance of getting each answer correct (nobody ever used the “E” option)

The great thing about multiple-choice tests is that you don’t have to know what the answer is as long as you know what the answer isn’t. You could usually throw away two of the four choices right off the bat, narrowing it down to two possibilities and giving you a 50% chance of getting it right. This is called the process of elimination.

This is a great approach to testing, but it doesn’t translate to Bible study well. I have caught myself trying to use this strategy while trying to nail down my theology. “Well if it’s not A, C, or D, then it must be B.” This can easily lead to wrong conclusions. Let me explain.

When given a multiple-choice test, you know for sure that one answer is the correct one. Therefore eliminating the wrong answers inevitably leaves the right one. But when trying to understand God and His word, do we know for sure that we have all of the available choices in front of us? Do we even know for sure that one of our available choices is correct?

If I don’t agree with all points of Arminianism does that mean I’m a Calvinist?

If I find errors in the NIV does that mean all modern translations are full of errors and leave me with only one option remaining, the KJV?

What if I can’t come to terms with amillennialism? Is my only other choice pre-millennialism?

These are all just examples to prove a point. There was a time in my life when I only considered one option. I was right, if you disagreed with me you were wrong, case closed! It was easier this way, after all, who wouldn’t love a test with only one choice for each question. Then I began to see the value in sincerely listening to others’ beliefs and how they came to believe them, and the test got harder.

I presented some of my friends with a question concerning the Bible the other day. I gave them two possible answers, “A or B”. These were the only two answers I thought possible. After much discussion, I came away thinking the answer was “C – a little bit of A and B”.

Adding more options to your question might seem like it lowers the likelihood of getting the correct answer, but consider this; if the correct answer is not one of your choices to begin with, then you have a 0% chance of choosing correctly.

But most importantly, remember to stay inside the lines!

God bless!

I look forward to your questions, comments, and corrections below.