Guess the preacher didn’t have enough faith, right, son? Or perhaps God means it when He says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Luke 4:12)
FYI pings..
A whole lot of wrong thinking going on here.
Sadly its exactly what the show producers were looking for so they can use it to show the failure of Christian faith in God. While I personally think snake handling is foolish, I do understand the faith behind it.
My message for liberals over this is that God doesn’t guarantee that I won’t be harmed or that life will be perfect. God’s guarantee is for the afterlife and I have to try to keep up my end of the bargain in this world.
Kind of a “Hold ma Bible and watch this!” thing...
This sums up a lot of what is wrong with contemporary America and contemporary Christianity. I'm sorry the man died but participating in some staged, sensationalized reality show is not the way to get a message across. Especially when, as a prior poster pointed out, the producers aren't doing this to promote Chrisitanity but rather, to make Christianity out to be a backward freak show.
When I was in Vietnam, we had “one step” and “two step” Vipers amongst many others. The number of steps were what you took after being bitten before falling on your face. Rest his soul, but this guy was a total moron.
And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. 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. (Mark 16:17-18)*********************Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)
And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.( Acts 28:1-6)
“Two of the great legacies of the Reformation were the principal of private interpretation and the sharp focus in the sixteenth century. Hidden beneath the famous response of the Reformer to the ecclesiastical and imperial translation of the Bible into the vernacular……. It was Luther himself who brought the issue of private interpretation of the Bible authorities at the Diet of Worms was the implicit principal of private interpretation.When asked to recant of his writings, Luther replied, “Unless I am convinced by Sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I cannot recant. For my conscience is held captive by the Word of God and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me.” (of course Luther never said “Here I stand…….” –Topper) Notice that Luther said “unless I am convinced…….” In earlier debates at Leipzig and Augsburg, Luther had dared to presume to interpret Scripture contrary to interpretations rendered by Popes and by church councils. That he would be so presumptuous led to the repeated charge of arrogance by church officials. Luther did not take these charges lightly but agonized over them. He believed that he could be wrong but maintained that the Pope and councils could also err. For him only one source of truth was free from error. He said, “The Scriptures never err.” Thus, unless the leaders of the church could convince him of his error, he felt duty-bound to follow what his own conscience was convinced Scripture taught. With this controversy the principal of private interpretation was born and baptized with fire.”
R.C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture, pg. 33-4
These guys must not have seen the movie “Snakes On A Plane”.
I’m not going to question that this guy was legitimately saved, but I can well imagine him showing up in Heaven and St. Peter smacking him across the face and going “What’s wrong with you?!”
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I bet that hurt for a bit.
1. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. - Galatians 6:7
2. These kind of people use Mark 16:17-18 as their basis for such antics. But, a) we don't read about people in the Bible intentionally playing with poisonous snakes to prove their spirituality (in fact, the whole message of the New Testament is that our spirituality is based on what's inside, not what we do outwardly); and, b) I don't recall reading about any of these folks drinking poison very often.
3. The son said something to the effect that "It must have been God's will." Ignorance, sickness, and death (even from poisonous snakes) came into the world because of man's decision to sin - until that time, creation was perfect!
3. The world just loves it when Christians make fools of themselves.