On Quiz Bowl and Idleness

2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 

Here are some things I need to confess.  I'm not perfect. (I John 1:8-10)  I get distracted by worldly things.  This was even more so when I was younger (perhaps I wasn't even saved back then).

Here's what happened:  For the past 11 months, I have been without a night custodian.  In December 2023, I had to withdraw my participation in the high school's quiz bowl tournament as a moderator, because I had to work overtime as a custodian.  As of yesterday, I now have a night custodian (he's more of a floater, going to at least three schools to help, but hey, it helps).  So, I am able to participate in this year's quiz bowl tournament, and signed up. 

Yet...I have thought about that above verse (of which I have discussed before) pertaining to such an "extra-curricular" activity such as quiz bowl.  Was I sinning by participating in secular activities?  

Honestly, I don't know.  Quiz bowl is no sin in and of itself; how can the promotion of truth be sinful?  I've been wrestling with my participation all day today, and so far, I came to the present conclusion that my participation is better than the alternative: doing nothing (highly discouraged, if not sinful, in Proverbs 19:15:

Pro 19:15  Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. 

).  [Wait, seriously?  Am I lazy for not doing quiz bowl?  No, I'm lazy if I do nothing after work, chores aren't nothing.]

As of now, I'm writing this blog post.  Yet, on most days, I do jack squat when it comes to productivity.  I once said to myself, "I need to relax in order to get ready for the next day."  This is why I don't do any web development during the week, it racks the brain too much.  But other things?  Perhaps that's for another blog post. (That's probably a good idea, a critique of the 40 hour work week. (See Matthew 20:6,9 and the "eleventh hour".))

So what do I have to do to prepare for being a moderator of a quiz bowl tournament?  Not a whole lot:  Just look over the questions, and make notes on pronunciations, changes in current events (this happened in 2021 when Olaf Shulz took over for Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany), the acceptability of certain answers (Octavius vs. Octavian, accepting "Bryant" for "Vanessa Bryant"), etc.  Honestly, it doesn't take that long.

Even the event itself doesn't take that long.  As Sima Guang Hater, a critic of Kansas quiz bowl on hsquizbowl.org has said:

"KS quizbowl consists of 16 questions per round, which are one line long and sorted by category. And 3 of them are math calculation. This has the advantage of allowing tournaments to happen in the 3 hours between the end of school and dinnertime, but is otherwise quite terrible."

Now, does this mean that if something of greater importance comes up, that I'll abandon the quiz bowl event?  Of course.  But until then, I have pretty much committed to it, and barring that something of greater importance, it would be unbecoming of me to abandon it (Numbers 30:2, Romans 12:17).  Correct me if I'm wrong please. (Proverbs 6:23)

Hater, Sima Guang. What’s the Matter with Kansas?, 26 June 2011, hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11697.