Snake Salvation

[Tonus]

Always wondered if the thought of the kind of cunt they're worshipping ever crossed their mind? A god that gives a preacher and it's congregation power over a snake....and yet...botflies.

Yahweh is all about balance. For example, he tempers his mercy with dickheadedness.

[Drich]

Paul tells us the Holy Spirit does not all give us the same gifts, and we should not judge one another in accordance to the gifts we've been given.

While it tend to spend most of my free time with a brood of vipers, I don't think I would like messing with snakes.

[Huggy Bear]

In other words, if you happen to get bitten by accident, like Paul did for example, that scripture applies. But the Bible also clearly states not to "test" God.

Mybold

The trouble with this is that the holy writ doesn't specify what constitutes a "test."
Is it to demand a specific vision/outcome/event?
Or can a test be anything the result of which confirms the existence of God? e.g. babble fish.
Keep it vague and you can square any event as being confirmation of God.
This is the same non-specificity that protects prayer from dis-confirmation as the answer yes/no/wait covers all cases.

The simple explanation is a "test" is essentially trying to force God to do something whether it is his will or not.

Jesus for example had the power to raise the dead, why not raise everyone from the dead then? Because Jesus only did what he was told to do by God (John 5:19). If Jesus had gone around raising whoever he wanted from the dead, that would be testing God.
God granted those powers to the church for emergency type situations, not to show off.

Keep in mind that the word is "Tempt" in the KJV as in to "provoke" God or "test" his patience.

Is it to demand a specific vision/outcome/event?

Asking God for something will not provoke him, demanding it will.

Another example is Moses, whom God told to speak to the rock to recieve water, but instead he struck the rock with his staff (showing off) and "provoked" God.(numbers 20:8)

[downbeatplumb]

The wife and I found it on Netflix.



Venomous snakes, speaking in tongues, missing body parts and dead buddies.

Atheists, what's your opinion?

Theists, would you try it?

Extremely disturbing image of a now dead pastor's shriveled finger:

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You are warned.

These are the sort of people the Darwin awards were set up for.

[jesus_wept]

I quite admire these people because they at least have the faith to stand by their beliefs. They may be insane and a danger to themselves but at least they're not christian keyboard warriors, whose every word is god god god but every action stinks of fear and hypocrisy.

[Norman Humann]

How does it work, though? Get bit by snake, go to heaven?

[jesus_wept]

How does it work, though? Get bit by snake, go to heaven?

I don't know. The usual excuse for chrstians not to do this is because "it'd be suicide and suicide is a sin", but I think that might just be an excuse because they have no faith and just like to talk the talk.

[h4ym4n]

These are the sort of people the Darwin awards were set up for.

Seems like a clear definition of a *true christian*.

[Tonus]

I quite admire these people because they at least have the faith to stand by their beliefs.

I suppose, but you're talking about a book that is very open to interpretation and for which there is a reasonable case to be made that Paul wasn't telling them to go jumping off of metaphorical cliffs so that god could hand them wings. It might even be taken as an analogy, Paul telling them not to fear circumstances that might seem deadly because god was on their side.

It could still run into some issues, notably the problem of what to think when bad things happen to good people, but once you've started down the personal interpretation road, lots of things become possible.

[jesus_wept]

I quite admire these people because they at least have the faith to stand by their beliefs.

I suppose, but you're talking about a book that is very open to interpretation and for which there is a reasonable case to be made that Paul wasn't telling them to go jumping off of metaphorical cliffs so that god could hand them wings. It might even be taken as an analogy, Paul telling them not to fear circumstances that might seem deadly because god was on their side.

It could still run into some issues, notably the problem of what to think when bad things happen to good people, but once you've started down the personal interpretation road, lots of things become possible.

To be fair I did say I thought they were insane before you quote mined me. I'm not endorsing them, I'm just saying that I find them more admirable than the typical keyboard warrior or cafeteria Christian you come across, or even a pope sitting behind his bulletproof glass.

And I think the snake verses can be found in Mark and Luke btw, not anything written by Paul but I could be wrong. edit: I was wrong, they're in Mark, Luke and Paul. I really should google things I'm not sure about before posting on the internet.