pentecostal preacher earns darwin's award

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goodwithoutgod
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pentecostal preacher earns darwin's award

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Jamie Coots, one of the stars of National Geographic‘s reality show Snake Salvation, died Saturday of a poisonous snake bite. According to reports he refused medical attention after being bitten in his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, Kentucky and died shortly thereafter in his home. The show debuted last Fall centered on two Pentecostal preachers who handle deadly snakes as part of a century-old Appalachian practice originating from a Bible passage that suggests those anointed by God will not be harmed by a poisonous snake bite. Coots had previously been bitten nine times and lost a finger to a rattlesnake bite. He starred on Snake Salvation alongside Tennessee Pastor Andrew Hamblin, both of whom claim serpent handling is their First Amendment religious right. The pair have come under fire from authorities for hunting and collecting deadly snakes for their church services. Last year Coots pled guilty to illegally possessing and transporting three rattlesnakes and two copperheads in Tennessee after the state seized them in a traffic stop as he was driving them from Alabama to Kentucky.

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/natgeo-snake-s ... 10245.html

lol.

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Ooberman
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Post #2

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There couldn't be a finer representative of the Darwin Award.


Of course, many Christians will come up with excuses. They will admire his Faith (in the same way Muslims admire the 9-11 %*^wits Faith in Allah).

In the end, this is a clear example, of why blind devotion to a religious text is not just intellectually stupid, but actually deadly.


Of course, some Christian will say "Well, it was his time. God decided it!" Then they'll ask me to disprove this is true.
Thinking about God's opinions and thinking about your own opinions uses an identical thought process. - Tomas Rees

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Post #3

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Ooberman wrote:
Of course, many Christians will come up with excuses. They will admire his Faith (in the same way Muslims admire the 9-11 %*^wits Faith in Allah).

Of course, some Christian will say "Well, it was his time. God decided it!" Then they'll ask me to disprove this is true.

This Christian says the guy was an idiot. The statement in the Bible about snakes biting believers and not dying comes from a text (Mark 16:9-20) that scholars say was added much later. There is footnote explaining that in modern Bibles. Therefore, the passage is regarded as spurious by the majority of people in Christendom.

Secondly, even if it were a valid piece of God's Word, the passage doesn't say that we should go out and purposely handle deadly snakes and let them bite us to show we're Christians. And anybody who does it is, quite frankly, a fool.

What bothers me is how the secular media likes to put these people on display, implying that they represent Christianity. They don't. They're considered as bizarre in Christian circles as they are in non-Christian ones.

goodwithoutgod
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Post #4

Post by goodwithoutgod »

Overcomer wrote: Ooberman wrote:
Of course, many Christians will come up with excuses. They will admire his Faith (in the same way Muslims admire the 9-11 %*^wits Faith in Allah).

Of course, some Christian will say "Well, it was his time. God decided it!" Then they'll ask me to disprove this is true.

This Christian says the guy was an idiot. The statement in the Bible about snakes biting believers and not dying comes from a text (Mark 16:9-20) that scholars say was added much later. There is footnote explaining that in modern Bibles. Therefore, the passage is regarded as spurious by the majority of people in Christendom.

Secondly, even if it were a valid piece of God's Word, the passage doesn't say that we should go out and purposely handle deadly snakes and let them bite us to show we're Christians. And anybody who does it is, quite frankly, a fool.

What bothers me is how the secular media likes to put these people on display, implying that they represent Christianity. They don't. They're considered as bizarre in Christian circles as they are in non-Christian ones.
Good point, and every demographic group of believers and nonbelievers there are always that small fringe group of fanatical, literal interpretation idiots, that make the group they belong to look foolish. You make a valid observation that we must all remember those idiots do not truly represent the whole group.

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Ooberman
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Most Bible experts do agree the passage is added later.

Fundi's don't like to admit this because then it - legitimately - allows people to question all the text.

It then allows experts, like in the Jesus Seminar, to question large portions of the text.


However, as has been mentioned, that may be closer to the Christianity that Jesus preached than the monstrosity depicted by all the later writers, Paul included (later meaning, any one after 33 CE).

Perhaps Marcion was right?
Thinking about God's opinions and thinking about your own opinions uses an identical thought process. - Tomas Rees

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Nilloc James
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Post by Nilloc James »

That really bites.

I guess he gets points for taking his belief really bloody seriously?

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Re: pentecostal preacher earns darwin's award

Post #7

Post by connermt »

[Replying to post 1 by goodwithoutgod]

While I believe religion plays to, and even goes after, the lowest common denominator as a general rule, stupid people exist in all aspects of life. Belief causes people to say/do some really ignorant, even stupid, things.

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