(February 25, 2014 at 9:53 am)discipulus Wrote: Having faith that God will protect you while you are in His will is one thing. Misinterpreting scripture and as a result, handling dangerous creatures is another.
Many in this particular denomination no doubt are convinced that what they are doing is God's will. But just because one is sincerely convinced that something is God's will, does not mean it is so.
But you are getting into an extremely grey area here. Scripture interpretations and just what God's will consists of are highly contested and vary vastly. Given that handling poisonous snakes is an expression of his religious beliefs and that he is doing what he believes is God's will, who gets to say that he is wrong in what he is doing?
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
