Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Handling poisonous snakes in religious services is ``the kind of doctrine that will not stand,'' the Church of God, based in Cleveland, Tenn., said in 1917 in condemning the practice.
But 78 years and more than 70 deaths later, it is standing.
It is being kept alive, primarily in the hills and hollows of Central and Southern Appalachia, by people who believe the Bible directs them to handle the snakes as a sign of their obedience and God's power.
Their numbers are not large _ perhaps three dozen churches with 2,500 members _ but many have a strong conviction.
``I do it because it's what the Bible says,'' said Jamie Coots, 23, pastor at the Middlesboro church where the most recent fatal religion-related snakebite in the country occurred Aug. 6.
The death was one of two in Kentucky this year, both in Bell County. Police did not seek charges in the first case, and a district judge refused to issue a criminal summons in the second.
It has been illegal for half a century in Kentucky to handle poisonous snakes in religious services. Serious attempts to enforce the law ended in the 1950s, however, because of reluctance by authorities to prosecute people for their religious beliefs.
The primary text for the snake handlers' belief is Mark 16:17-18 in the King James Version of the Bible:
"And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Every time I hear about snake handling churches, it reminds me of a joke I heard years ago, think some comedian actually recorded it.
"Two good old boys found themselves in a chruch that was holding a snake handling session. About the time the vipers were brought out, one of them looks at the other and says "Where is the back door, I want out of here", to which the other says "They don't have one".. Well then, where do you reckon where they want one...........
Of all the particular verses of the Bible they could pick to focus on, why that one? Why not Mark 12:31 (Love thy neighbor as thyself)? Or James 2:16 ("If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?")? That's a good one.
Seeing them feed or clothe a poor person would be much more impressive than watching them get bit by a snake. Maybe not as entertaining, but still more impressive.
Last edited by Stavemaster; 03-08-2011 at 06:02 PM..
Natural selection at work - the number of snake handlers will gradually dwindle......and our average IQ will increase.
The endless demonstrations of thoughtless blind faith, even in the light of modern knowledge, is somewhat amusing but also embarrassing when one considers we're supposed to be of the same species as these types, but my biologist's/geneticist's mindset is ever more convinced there was probably a small genetic rift in our communal lineage a few centuries and generations back, as with, for example, coyotes and wolves, or lions and leopards. The functional result? An evolved distinctly different sub-species of human, easily detectable by behavioral anomalies and curiosities.
We atheist sub-species seem to have inherited an insatiable curiosity for applied common sense, intellectually coupled with a rational approach to solving the unusual, the unanswered question and the historic. Our other sub-species cousins seem to crave immediate answers to all life's questions, right now, even if those answers are patently absurd, unprovable or, in so many cases, illogical. This is precisely the approach provided by a literal belief in their bible's or Q'Ran's current translation(s). I suppose it temporarily drives out the fear quotient, huh?
BTW, it is also very curious, isn't it, that they will not partake in the other aspects of those religious doctrines, like the aforementioned drinking of poisons. If they're so danged convinced, why not sip at a snifter of Whiskey topped of with some strychnine or arsenic? Since God is watching over their mortal souls and all?
I mean, a man should have the strengths of his most devoutly believed spiritual convictions, would you not agree? And their adherence to a truly literal translation of their bible-book should provide for their safe passage through a small experiment in toxicology, no?
Well anyhow, if that Selective Beliefs Program is what floats their boat, so be it, huh? Makes for a highly compelling argument on behalf of god, to be sure!
The endless demonstrations of thoughtless blind faith, even in the light of modern knowledge, is somewhat amusing but also embarrassing when one considers we're supposed to be of the same species as these types, but my biologist's/geneticist's mindset is ever more convinced there was probably a small genetic rift in our communal lineage a few centuries and generations back, as with, for example, coyotes and wolves, or lions and leopards. The functional result? An evolved distinctly different sub-species of human, easily detectable by behavioral anomalies and curiosities.
We atheist sub-species seem to have inherited an insatiable curiosity for applied common sense, intellectually coupled with a rational approach to solving the unusual, the unanswered question and the historic. Our other sub-species cousins seem to crave immediate answers to all life's questions, right now, even if those answers are patently absurd, unprovable or, in so many cases, illogical. This is precisely the approach provided by a literal belief in their bible's or Q'Ran's current translation(s). I suppose it temporarily drives out the fear quotient, huh?
BTW, it is also very curious, isn't it, that they will not partake in the other aspects of those religious doctrines, like the aforementioned drinking of poisons. If they're so danged convinced, why not sip at a snifter of Whiskey topped of with some strychnine or arsenic? Since God is watching over their mortal souls and all?
I mean, a man should have the strengths of his most devoutly believed spiritual convictions, would you not agree? And their adherence to a truly literal translation of their bible-book should provide for their safe passage through a small experiment in toxicology, no?
Well anyhow, if that Selective Beliefs Program is what floats their boat, so be it, huh? Makes for a highly compelling argument on behalf of god, to be sure!
The average IQ is 100. That means there are about the same number with IQ's of 70 as there are with 130. I look closely at that fact when I am observing people who talk to god.
The fact that at some point the handling of poisonous snakes had to be banned, meaning that it wasn't just implied that that would a stupid idea, tells me everything I need to know about religion.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Natural selection at work - the number of snake handlers will gradually dwindle......and our average IQ will increase.
"Why not take all of me?"
