the church is actually violating the law(assuming they owned the snake), venomous reptiles are banned in KY

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~Jason Richardson

I'm not going to express my opinion on this, I would just like to ask the religious people here if they feel it wouldn't be enough if the concept was "if your faith is strong enough, you can handle snakes and not be bitten"?

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

Not sure if I'm understanding you, rbl, but I think you're saying perhaps it would be safer to practice with non-venomous snakes, and see if one could avoid being bitten at all (as opposed to handling venomous species and seeing if one survives a bite). That would certainly be safer for the humans involved. But I still am concerned about the snakes... I am hoping that the fact that the species involved is likely a native one will provide the animal protection from being destroyed. (But how often in situations like this are the snakes given proper care -- are they returned to the wild after they are used?) The woman who died was certainly a victim, and I am so sad for her family, but I think the snake was a victim, too. And the fact that some of the news pieces that I saw on this were using pictures of garter snakes to accompany the text was really strange. Are some people now going to think that the next garter snake they see in their yard is a timber rattler and kill it?

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Amy

natural selection

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I remember seeing this, it may have been on the discovery channel, I can't remember.

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"If you're not falling, you're not trying." - Sonni Trotter

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

a shame on both sides, the women and the reptile(if they choose to destroy it)it just goes to show that one rarley wins when going against nature.

I've read the bible, and whether you read it as a christian, jew, atheist, etc. no where does it say "venemous" serpent. I have seen things like this practiced, if this practice must happen, why not just use rat snakes, they bite at everything, and will not kill you and you can probably catch one right before service, and let it go again right after. People really are just stupid, like a wise man once said "Religion is the opiot of the masses." I am not insulting religion, but people take faith over common sense because "The bible says...", and tend to lose. That poor snake was probably stressed out of its mind and was just wanting to get away and was forced to bite, and is probably either on its way to euthenasia or has already been killed.

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“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…'"
- Isaac Asimov



TKE:TT:118

My hometown station here in Knoxville! Represent!!!!

As a strong, Bible believing Christian, I will give you my take on this... Again, not to argue religion, but rather this practice.

The earliest manuscripts we have of the letters/books which make up the Bible do not have that passage in them. Most Bibles will have a reference stating such - NAS, NIV, NKJV generally. These were probably "snuck in" during translation by scribes who worked for King James. To Christians, this does not negate the validity of the Bible as a whole, as everything else is held up 100% when compared to the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient artifacts containing copies of Biblical writings.

So, I believe this practice has zero biblical foundation. It is practiced mainly by small, pentacostal churches in rural areas.

(Some also drink strichnine - I probably flubbed that spelling - , as that obscure passage references not being harmed by poison as well).

I agree with you Knox. Some of these off-shoot religions base their entire beliefs on a scripture taken entirely out of context.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa