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Post by Rama on Apr 15, 2004 9:25:24 GMT -5
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familyjules
Proliferator of Blasphemy
Stop using Jesus as an excuse to be a bigoted, close-minded asshole.
Posts: 25
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Post by familyjules on Apr 15, 2004 11:37:15 GMT -5
Wow... just wow.
All in the name of God.
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Post by profdunebastard on Apr 15, 2004 16:33:14 GMT -5
I read a book for a religion class-Salvation on Sand Mountain, by Covington, on this very subject. Very interesting stuff. These people are on the fringes of society poverty wise, poorly educated, and maligned even by other Christians. They get what they do from the book of Acts-illustrating signs of the holy spirit-drinking poison and handling serpents-problem is-they interpret both being bitten and remaining safe as positive signs from god and while snake handling, get so caught up in moment-song, crowds,chants, adrenaline-that they bring themselves into an ecstatic, trance-like state that they interpret as the holy spirit. It is very interesting and tragic, because there is no way to teach them other wise or talk them out of it.
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Post by the anti-myrmidon on Apr 15, 2004 19:11:30 GMT -5
I don't recall Acts having any passages about snakehandling or poisons, though it might be in there too. It does appear in Mark 16:18, along with a passage about laying on hands for healing:
"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." (NIV)
The particularly interesting thing about the use of this passage is that Mark's gospel originally ended at 16:8 with the women fleeing an empty tomb, and no actual post-resurrection account of Jesus. The earliest manuscripts do not have verses 9-20, so this was a later addition to the story. In light of this fact, it is intriguing that snake-handler evangelicals use that particular verse as a primary source for their worship practices.
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Post by profdunebastard on Apr 15, 2004 19:48:02 GMT -5
Yeah, in my class we were told the Mark one too, there is an Act reference along the same lines, but I may have mixed it up abit-all I know is Acts is all about prothetylitizing and signs and what not and alot of snalehandling and related stuff stems from there.
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