Correct Answer: C. Live Baby

Correct Answer: D. God blesses people who have pure heart

Explanation

In 1 Kings 3:5-14, when God appeared to Solomon in a dream and offered to give him anything he asked for, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern the people of Israel. God, pleased with Solomon's request, not only granted him wisdom but also gave him wealth, honour, and long life because of the purity of Solomon's heart and his desire for wisdom to govern justly. Therefore, option D reflects how God blesses those with a pure heart.

Explanation

People trooped out every Sabbath and other ceremonial days to all the worshipping centres, e.g. Bethel, Dan, Gilgal and Bersheba to worship God falsely. Amos found out that their actions amounted to lip service owing to multiplication of sins and trangressions. This attitude, Amos condemned totally. Amos also frowned at the worshippers' attitude that the places which were supposed to be sacred were turned to where they shared clothes, take people's pledges and also for cult prostitution with the main aim to profane the name of God.

Amos also saw that the solemn assembly of the people was pretentious. They did this in order to practice the heathen orgies from foreign nations. They danced to the music of these foreign gods under the camouflage that they were worshipping true God. They made free will offerings and paid their tithes. These items were those that they got from the poor and because of that, God pronounced that He would no longer accept their (false) assemblies. All the holy days were no longer kept holy.

The Sabbath, the festival of the new moon and other holy days were no longer meant for such. Instead. the days had been turned to time of acquiring wealth and oppressing the poor. It was the wish of the people that the days were increased, so that they could acquire more wealth. Because they had made contact with foreign religion, they could not but swear in the names of the heathen gods. The Lord would definitely punish them for this sinful act since God could no longer tolerate it.

Amos, considering the religious practices in Israel, made the following recommendations:

(i) They must come back to God in order to make national survival possible.

(ii) The people should do away with foreign religions and their practices which were not the ways of God.

(iii) The day of the Lord would be for them a day of gloom and darkness and not of glory if they failed to do the wishes of God.

Correct Answer: B. He rent his clothes

Explanation

A. KING JOSIAH'S RELIGIOUS REFORMS IN ISRAEL (2 KINGS 23:4-25

i. After the discovery of the book of the law in the temple, King Josiah initiated some religious reforms.

ii. Josiah ordered Hilkiah, the priest to bring out all the vessels made for Baal and Asherah and all other gods.

iii. He burnt them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and took the ashes to Bethel.

iv. He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the king of Judah had ordained to burn incense in high places to honour Baal and other gods.

v. He broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which had taken over the house of the Lord.

vi. He went all over the city and defiled and chased out the high priests from the temple where they burned incense to the gods.

vii. He defiled Topheth to prevent people from sacrificing their sons and daughters as burnt offering to Moloch.

viii. He removed the horses the king of Judah had dedicated to the worship of the sun god at the entrance of the temple and burned them.

ix. He destroyed all the altars put in place by Manasseh, Solomon, Jeroboam and other kings before him.

x. Josiah carried out his reforms up to the Northern Kingdom; he removed the shrines of the high places that were in the city of Samaria Bethel which the Israelites had made.

xi. Josiah killed and burned the bodies of all the priests of the high places.

xii. He restored the Passover feast and the Sabbath and commanded the people to keep it as it was written in the book of the covenant/He restored the ancient faith.

xiii. He abolished idolatry, witchcraft, sorcery, soothsaying, divination from Judah! Jerusalem.

xiv. Altars at the high places were demolished and worship was centralized in Jerusalem.

B. WAYS CHRISTIANS CAN MAINTAIN PURITY OF THEIR RELIGION

i. Always have faith in God! Repudiation! abandonment of syncretism.

ii. Daily study of God's word and scriptures/The need to maintain high moral standards.

iii. Following the moral teachings of the religion! Bible i.e. caring for the poor! needy, etc/obedience to the word of God.

iv. Proper training of religious leaders.

v. Monitoring of the moral standards expected of believers.

vi. Asking for forgiveness whenever one transgresses.

vii. Avoiding idolatry/occultism.

viii. Acknowledging Jesus' presence in every activity/ prayer, fasting and preaching.

ix. Avoiding sin immorality.

x. Maintaining peaceful co-existence.

xi. Change of negative attitudes to the environment eg. sanitation, work ethics! time management/ developing positive attitude to life.

xii. Encouraging religious tolerance e.g. through dialogue.

Correct Answer: B. killed by Pharoah of Egypt

Correct Answer: A. he wanted to avenge the death of his brother

Correct Answer: A. declaration of Jesus' claim to be the king of the Jews

Correct Answer: B) to create understanding

Explanation

Jesus often taught in parables, which are simple stories that illustrate a moral or religious lesson. The question is asking which of the options is not a reason why Jesus taught in parables. Option B, to create understanding, is the correct answer. This means that Jesus did not teach in parables simply to create understanding.

The other options are incorrect. Option A suggests that Jesus taught in parables to fulfill the prophecy in Psalm 78:2, which says, I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old. Option C suggests that Jesus taught in parables to help people learn the unknown through the known, using familiar examples to explain unfamiliar concepts. Option D suggests that Jesus taught in parables to demonstrate his omniscient power, or his ability to know all things.

It is important to note that while Option B is not a reason why Jesus taught in parables, it is still an important aspect of his teaching. Jesus wanted to create understanding among his followers, and he used parables as one way to do this. By telling stories that people could relate to, he was able to convey complex ideas in a way that was easy to understand.

Overall, the correct answer to this question is Option B, to create understanding. To learn more about this topic, please read the relevant sections of your Christian Religious Knowledge textbook.

Correct Answer: D. male and female