Snake handling pastor dies from snake bite.

That was just a very unfortunate event. God had better plan for him in the after life. I have great respect for their way of practicing religion.

Brother Samuel
Church of the Javelin Catchers

You don't ever see them playing with water moccasins

My religion doesn't require me to handle snakes to display my faith. No Thanks.

Amen!

But it's IN the Bible. Just saying

Mark 16

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

I'll pass on the snakes. Just meet me in church this Sunday for a good handshake and a quick testimony. That speaks volumes.

Yeah,
I think one of Gods greatest gifts is common sense. One of the greatest misconceptions that people have is faith. Snake handling is not a measure of faith. God can surely prevent that snake from biting you but the same God can allow that snake to latch on. If you think that God didn't cause that snake to bite him then your faith is weak because by default you automatically assume that God couldn't prevent it as well. No snakes for me. My faith is strong and is reaffirmed every time I see my two-year-old son bow his head in the morning, before we eat, and before bed to humble himself in prayer to that same God. Faith is quantified differently by everyone.
Hebrews 11 gives us one of the best descriptions of faith. This write-up details and defines, somewhat, that passage. It's a long read but I like it.
Hebrews 11

Good Daddy right there! I had a preacher explain the snake handling issue one time to me and it made alot of sense. He said it was like walking on a frozen pond to demonstrate your faith. If the ice was 5" thick anyone could walk on it with even no faith. If the ice was 1/2" thick you are going to fall through no matter how strong your faith. Not walking on the thin ice is called common sense and not trying God. Made alot of sense to me and it is something I live by.

Natural selection at work. Leave nature alone and let it work. It will cull the dumb@$$es from the herd.

I posted about this on another site but I will give my view here.

When Jesus was tempted by satan,he was asked to throw himself off the temple to prove the scripture that angles would lift him up.His reply was not to tempt God.

I do believe Mark 16 literally,but I find the example of it working in Acts 28 when Paul shook off a deadly snake with no ill effect.

It is my understanding,that scripture must be interpreted with other scripture.When scripture seems to contridict it'self,you have missed the true meaning.There is an old story about a man who swore to God that he would do what he read in the Bible.He opened his Bible and read the scripture,"Judas went and hanged himself." Then he opened his bible to another place and read,"Go and do thou likewise."

Many fail to understand the context of Mark 16:17ff and limitations of today. Jesus was giving the Great Commission to his apostles in this passage... their "marching orders" so to speak. In the 1st Century, the apostles had no copies of the Bible to prove their message was truly authentic - from God. Thus, God allowed supernatural miracles to be done through the hands of the apostles and on people apostle's laid their hands upon. When someone could perform a supernatural feat (casting out demons, speaking unlearned languages, etc.), people were convinced the message was from God... not man.

A very interesting study is to go to the book of Acts and look up the instances where Mark 16:17ff relate... see where demons were cast out, people spoke in unlearned languages, healing of the sick, etc. You will find inevitably that when a miracle like this was performed, the occasion provided a teaching opportunity... and people were afforded a chance to hear the gospel.

The point of doing these miracles was never to confirm/validate faith in the person performing the miracles... it was for the purpose to validate their message as truly being from God. A couple more places that offer insight into this topic is John 20:30-31 and 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. The first indicates one major purpose of miracles in the 1st Century... the second indicates the time frame when those miracles would be able to be done.

It says take up serpents and drink any deadly thing. Why ain't they drinking cyanide while handling snakes.

I agree with many of you. Timbers are very docile snakes but their bite is very dangerous. Someone typed that they need to handle water moccasins!!! Ha!! There would be a lot of dead preachers! Don't purposefully test our great God.

Snakes don't have handles, I ineterpret that as they weren't meant to be held. But then again, I'm terrified of snakes. I won't even hold a rubber snake.

While I agree that miracles,signs and healings are not to prove faith,I disagree that these things passed away and were only given to the 11 in Mark 16.

We see miracles performed by Paul,Stephen and Ananias in Acts.Using 1 Cor.13 to say that God's miracles have passed away,is just taking it out of context.I suppose knowledge is also passed away,in which case neither of us know what we are talking about.

1 Cor 13 is simply talking about Charity,which is God's kind of giving love.It is telling us that this kind of love is the prevalent nature of God and as such will never pass away.When we meet God face to face there will be no need for prophecies,and tongues ,which only give us a glimpse into God.When we meet God we shall know him as we are known by him and his charity(love)shall remain.

Some of them actually DO do that...lol

When you look at examples in the book of Acts, ability to do miracles were given when an apostle laid hands on someone (i.e. Acts 8:17, Acts 19:6). The only exception to this is found in Acts 10:44-48 with the case of Cornelius... and the explanation for why it didn't follow the normal "method" is found in Acts 11:1-18 (showed God's willingness to accept Gentiles into the faith).

In 1 Corinthians 13, the context is most certainly about the ability to exercise spiritual gifts (miraculous gifts). The preceeding chapter (12), deals with the subject... as does the subsequent chapter (14). Reading the three chapters as a group, brethren at Corinth were divided over spiritual gifts (gifts which allowed them to do miraculous things). Those possessing the gift of tongues/prophesy/faith to perform a miracle evidently thought they were superior to those with a "lesser gift". Note the reference to supernatural gifts in chapter 13:
* 1 - speak with tongues
* 2 - the gift of prophecy
* 2 - faith to move mountains (perform miracles)
* 3 - goods to feed poor (Romans 12:8 indicate it was gift)
* 8 - prophecies will fail
* 8 - tongues will cease
* 8 - knowledge will vanish away

Your reference to knowledge is also incorrect. The knowledge referred to in verse 8 was a partial knowledge (see verse 9). At the time of the writing, "knowledge" came from direct revelation from God... no copies of the New Testament were present in that time. Thus, church gatherings often consisted of prophets speaking direct messages from God (see 1 Corinthians 14). However, the "knowledge" people possessed was only a partial knowledge... it was not complete. The best we can see from the Bible is that it was "progressive"... God would give more to people as time went along.

1 Corinthians 13:10 indicate that performing miracles in the way they were done in the 1st Century would end... when "the perfect" would be come. Being that miracles were utilized to confirm a message and to help equip the church, something was going to supplant these supernatural gifts. That "something" was the completed New Testament (the Bible). When God's word could be read, the need for supernatural miracles ceased... and remember that when all the apostles died, the ability to pass the gift along died with them.

I'm not saying that "miracles" don't happen today... but they don't happen the way they occured in the New Testament. That is why you don't see people raising folks from the dead... or going to hospitals healing the sick. And, as someone said earlier, why you don't find people drinking poison.

But, but, but...the TV preachers heal people during their services.