WAEC Christian Religious Studies 2002 past questions and answers

"A man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).

God changed his name from Abram to Abraham as a sign of his new identity in the covenant (Genesis 17:5).

Moses threw the blood of the oxen on the people: "Behold the blood of the covenant" (Exodus 24:5-8).

It was named Massah and Meribah because Israel found fault and put the Lord to the proof (Exodus 17:7).

Eli's sons "would not listen to the voice of their father" (1 Samuel 2:25).

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18).

Gehazi said his master had spared Naaman, but he would run after him and get something from him (2 Kings 5:20).

"Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon", who besieged and destroyed Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:20–25:10).

Building shrines for his wives' gods was a sin that turned him from God (1 Kings 11:7-9), not a sign of wisdom.

"Your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven" (Isaiah 6:7).

Hosea shows God's lasting love for unfaithful Israel (Hosea 3:1; 11:8-9).

Amos' key message is justice and righteousness: "let justice roll down like waters" (Amos 5:24).

They confidently told the king their God was able to deliver them (Daniel 3:17, 28).

Daniel's jealous colleagues persuaded Darius to sign the decree in order to trap Daniel (Daniel 6:4-9).

Touching a man who might be dead would make them ritually unclean for temple service (Luke 10:31-32; Numbers 19:11).

He sent them "into every town and place where he himself was about to come" (Luke 10:1).

"Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say… the Spirit of your Father speaks through you" (Matthew 10:19-20).

Those who do good to be seen by men "have received their reward" and get none from the Father (Matthew 6:1-2).

"You received without paying, give without pay" (Matthew 10:8).

Jesus came to them on the stormy sea and the wind ceased, showing His power over nature (Matthew 14:25-33).

Moses and Elijah spoke of His departure which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31).

Jesus said this and then gave sight to the man born blind (John 9:5-7).

Riding in as the king of Zechariah 9:9 and accepting "Blessed is the King", Jesus openly claimed to be Israel's king (Luke 19:38; John 12:13-15).

The Jews told Pilate, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death" (John 18:31).

In Gethsemane Jesus prayed, "let this cup pass from me", before Judas came with the crowd (Matthew 26:39-47).

The two men in dazzling clothes asked the women at the tomb, including Mary Magdalene (Luke 24:1-10).

Their eyes were opened and they recognised the risen Jesus (Luke 24:30-35).

Their unity was for worship, love and witness (Acts 2:42-47; 4:32), not for fighting for rights.

The persecution scattered believers through Judea and Samaria, and they preached the word wherever they went (Acts 8:1-4).

Men from Judea taught that Gentiles must be circumcised to be saved, which led to the council (Acts 15:1-2).

"Yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life" (Romans 6:12-13).

We are "justified by his grace as a gift" through faith in Christ (Romans 3:24-25).

"If Christ has not been raised, then… your faith is in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:14).

Righteousness comes "through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe" (Romans 3:22, 28).

"The law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24).

Paul received their gifts from Epaphroditus (Philippians 4:18).

"No church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only" (Philippians 4:15).

Paul appealed to Philemon for his runaway slave Onesimus (Philemon 10).

Pure religion is visiting orphans and widows and keeping oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27).

James uses Abraham, Rahab and the demons' belief (James 2:19-25); he does not mention sin offerings.

Judgement begins with God's own people, so Christians must live rightly (1 Peter 4:17-18).

Peter urges sufferers to entrust themselves to a faithful Creator and stand firm in faith (1 Peter 4:19; 5:9).

Talents: dreaming and interpreting dreams (Genesis 37:5-10; 40:8; 41:16).
Wisdom and discernment: Pharaoh called him "discreet and wise" (Genesis 41:39).
Administrative/management skill (Genesis 39:4-6, 22-23).
Integrity and self-control: refused Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:7-12).
Application: he managed Potiphar's house so well that the Lord blessed it for his sake (Genesis 39:2-6).
In prison the keeper put him in charge of all prisoners (Genesis 39:21-23).
He interpreted the butler's and baker's dreams (Genesis 40).
He interpreted Pharaoh's dreams of seven good and seven lean years and advised appointing a wise man to store a fifth of the produce (Genesis 41:25-36).
As governor he travelled through Egypt, stored grain in the cities in the years of plenty (Genesis 41:46-49).
In the famine he opened the storehouses and sold grain to Egypt and all nations (Genesis 41:53-57).
He tested and then forgave his brothers, and settled his family in Goshen (Genesis 42–47).

Name his talents and show each in use with references.

(a) Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah king; Zedekiah did evil and rebelled against Babylon (2 Kings 24:17-20).
In his ninth year Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and built siegeworks (2 Kings 25:1).
The siege lasted until the eleventh year; famine was severe and there was no food (2 Kings 25:2-3).
The wall was breached; Zedekiah and his soldiers fled by night toward the Arabah (2 Kings 25:4).
The Chaldeans overtook him in the plains of Jericho; his army scattered (2 Kings 25:5).
At Riblah his sons were slain before his eyes; his eyes were put out and he was taken in fetters to Babylon (2 Kings 25:6-7).
Nebuzaradan burnt the temple, the king's house and all the great houses and broke down the walls (2 Kings 25:8-10).
The people were carried into exile; only the poorest were left as vinedressers and farmers (2 Kings 25:11-12).
The bronze pillars and temple vessels were carried to Babylon; the chief priests and officials were executed (2 Kings 25:13-21).
(b) Any four: bad leadership and corruption; poverty and unemployment; tribal and religious conflicts; election rigging; injustice and human-rights abuses; unequal distribution of resources; drug abuse; terrorism.

Narrate 2 Kings 25:1-21, then four causes.

(a) Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, a great man, was a leper (2 Kings 5:1).
An Israelite captive girl said the prophet in Samaria would cure him (2 Kings 5:2-3).
The king of Syria sent him with a letter and gifts to the king of Israel, who was alarmed (2 Kings 5:5-7).
Elisha sent for him and, through a messenger, told him to wash seven times in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:8-10).
Naaman was angry and turned away, preferring the rivers of Damascus (2 Kings 5:11-12).
His servants persuaded him; he dipped seven times and his flesh became clean like a child's (2 Kings 5:13-14).
He returned and confessed there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; Elisha refused his gifts (2 Kings 5:15-16).
(b) A foreign general confessed the God of Israel as the only true God; he vowed to offer sacrifice to no other god (2 Kings 5:17); God's power was shown to Syria; the king of Israel learnt there was a prophet in Israel (5:8); God's grace was shown to be free when Elisha refused payment; the faith of a little slave girl was honoured.

Narrate 2 Kings 5:1-16, then how God was glorified.

(a) The rich sold the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes (Amos 2:6).
They trampled the head of the poor and turned aside the afflicted (Amos 2:7).
Father and son went in to the same maiden (Amos 2:7).
They lay on garments taken in pledge and drank wine of those fined (Amos 2:8).
The rich women ("cows of Bashan") oppressed the poor and demanded drink from their husbands (Amos 4:1).
They built houses of hewn stone, winter and summer houses with ivory (Amos 3:15; 5:11).
They took bribes and turned away the needy in the gate (Amos 5:12).
They lay on beds of ivory, feasted on lambs and calves, drank wine from bowls and sang idle songs (Amos 6:4-6).
Traders cheated with false balances, made the ephah small and the shekel great, and sold the refuse of the wheat (Amos 8:4-6).
(b) Any four: bribery and corruption; oppression of the poor; cheating in trade; luxury and drunkenness; sexual immorality; injustice in courts; hypocritical worship.

Describe social life with references, then four vices today.

(a) After His baptism Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1).
He fasted forty days and forty nights and was hungry (Matthew 4:2).
The tempter said, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread" (Matthew 4:3).
Jesus answered, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
The devil took Him to the pinnacle of the temple and told Him to throw Himself down, quoting Psalm 91 (Matthew 4:5-6).
Jesus answered, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (Matthew 4:7).
The devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and offered them if He would worship him (Matthew 4:8-9).
Jesus said, "Begone, Satan! You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve" (Matthew 4:10).
The devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him (Matthew 4:11).
(b) Any two: He rejected the wrong kinds of Messiahship (material, spectacular, political); He proved His obedience to God; prepared Him for His ministry; showed He would rely on God's word; showed He can help those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:18).

Narrate Matthew 4:1-11, then two points of significance.

(a) A man had two sons; the younger demanded his share of the property (Luke 15:11-12).
He went to a far country and squandered it in loose living (Luke 15:13).
When a famine came he fed pigs and longed for their pods (Luke 15:14-16).
He came to himself and decided to return and confess his sin (Luke 15:17-19).
The father saw him far off, ran, embraced and kissed him (Luke 15:20).
The father gave him the best robe, a ring, shoes and killed the fatted calf to celebrate (Luke 15:22-24).
The elder son, returning from the field, heard music and learnt why (Luke 15:25-27).
He was angry and refused to go in; his father came out and entreated him (Luke 15:28).
He complained he had served for years and never received a kid, but this son who devoured property with harlots got the fatted calf (Luke 15:29-30).
The father said, "Son, you are always with me… it was fitting to make merry" (Luke 15:31-32).
(b) Any three: anger; jealousy/envy; self-righteousness; unforgiving spirit; pride; lack of love for his brother; disrespect toward his father.

Tell the parable, then three traits with evidence.

(a) Tired, Jesus sat by Jacob's well at Sychar at noon and asked a Samaritan woman for a drink (John 4:5-7).
She wondered why a Jew asked a Samaritan (John 4:9).
Jesus said if she knew the gift of God and who was speaking, she would ask Him for living water (John 4:10).
She asked how He could draw it without a bucket, and whether He was greater than Jacob (John 4:11-12).
He said whoever drinks the well water will thirst again, but the water He gives becomes a spring welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14).
She asked for this water; He told her to call her husband and revealed her past (John 4:15-18).
He taught that true worship is in spirit and truth and revealed He is the Messiah (John 4:21-26).
She went and told the town, and many Samaritans believed (John 4:28-29, 39-42).
(b) Any two: Jesus satisfies spiritual thirst; salvation is for all, regardless of race or sex; true worship is in spirit and truth; Christians should share the good news; Jesus accepts sinners and changes them.

Explain John 4:7-26, then two lessons.

(a) Saul, breathing threats against the disciples, got letters from the high priest to arrest followers of the Way in Damascus (Acts 9:1-2).
Near Damascus a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground (Acts 9:3-4).
A voice said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"; he asked "Who are you, Lord?" — "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:4-5).
He was told to go into the city and be told what to do (Acts 9:6).
His companions stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one (Acts 9:7).
He rose blind and was led into Damascus; for three days he neither ate nor drank (Acts 9:8-9).
Ananias, sent by the Lord, laid hands on him; scales fell from his eyes, he was filled with the Spirit and baptised (Acts 9:10-18).
(b) He changed from persecutor to apostle; he preached at once that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:20); he became the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Galatians 1:16); he suffered much for Christ (Acts 9:16; 2 Corinthians 11:23-28); he made missionary journeys and founded churches; he wrote many epistles; he always referred to this experience as his call (Acts 22; 26).

Narrate Acts 9:1-19, then its significance.

Some Thessalonian Christians believed the day of the Lord had already come or was about to come (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).
Expecting Christ's immediate return, some stopped working and lived in idleness (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 11).
They became busybodies, depending on others for food (2 Thessalonians 3:11).
Paul had already urged them to work with their hands and be dependent on nobody (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).
He reminded them that he himself worked night and day so as not to burden anyone, to give them an example (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9).
He repeated his command given when he was with them: "If any one will not work, let him not eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
He commanded the idle to work quietly and earn their own living (2 Thessalonians 3:12).
Others were to keep away from the idle and not associate with them, but warn them as brothers (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15).

Explain the idleness problem and Paul's response in 2 Thessalonians 3.

(a) The day will not come unless the rebellion (apostasy) comes first (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
The man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, will be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
He will oppose and exalt himself against every so-called god, taking his seat in the temple and proclaiming himself God (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
He is now restrained until the restrainer is removed (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7).
His coming will be by Satan's activity with power, false signs and wonders and wicked deception (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
The Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth at His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
The Lord will descend with a cry of command, the archangel's call and the trumpet of God; the dead in Christ will rise (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
It will come suddenly like a thief in the night when people say "peace and security" (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).
(b) Any three: do not be easily deceived or alarmed; be watchful and sober; hold firm to the teaching received; continue working and avoid idleness; live holy lives; comfort one another with hope.

List the signs from 2 Thessalonians 2 and 1 Thessalonians 4–5, then three lessons.

Paul delivered what he received: Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3).
He was buried and was raised on the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:4).
He appeared to Cephas (Peter) (1 Corinthians 15:5).
Then to the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:5).
Then to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom were still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6).
Then to James (1 Corinthians 15:7).
Then to all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:7).
Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to Paul himself (1 Corinthians 15:8).
Paul, though the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church, worked harder by God's grace (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).
All the apostles preached this, and the Corinthians believed it (1 Corinthians 15:11).

List the appearances in Paul's order with references.

(a) Christians are aliens and exiles who should abstain from passions of the flesh (1 Peter 2:11).
Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles so that they glorify God (1 Peter 2:12).
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, to the emperor and governors (1 Peter 2:13-14).
Governors are sent to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do right (1 Peter 2:14).
By doing right, silence the ignorance of foolish men (1 Peter 2:15).
Live as free men, but not using freedom as a pretext for evil; live as servants of God (1 Peter 2:16).
Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the emperor (1 Peter 2:17).
(b) Any three: obedience to the law; honesty and integrity; paying taxes; respect for leaders; patriotism; voting and taking part in community work; tolerance and peaceful co-existence; reporting crime.

Explain 1 Peter 2:11-17, then three qualities.