we managed to schedule some time in the studio, so Keith and Nathan discuss a special topic. Nathan tells us about what to think of handling serpents during a church service. The issue came up while his wife was watching tick-tock videos on the matter.
While Keith knows very little about the theology of it, he spent a little time researching the enter webs for information. Nathan dives into the ways that congregations take Scripture out of context. The passages most often cited are from the longer version of Mark 16, and also in acts where a viper bit Paul and he didn’t die.
The problem with the passage in acts is that it doesn’t prescribe that we should all be bitten by a viper. Instead, it is descriptive of an event that happened. Even at that time, God never commanded Paul to pick up the serpent, it simply bit him, and God used it for his glory to reach people for salvation.
Regarding the passage in Mark 16, we discuss briefly the reliability of textual criticism. The science of preserving the old manuscripts. Going on the basis that there is no reason to doubt the wording of this chapter, Nathan points out the five items that are commanded regarding spiritual gifts and testimony including handling serpents. The bottom line again, is that the Bible is 100% descriptive. It is not always prescriptive. We can count that everything in it is 100% true from a historical aspect. But every command, or account of something in Scripture is not a command for every believer to follow all the time. If that were the case, why should we all have 900 wives like Solomon did? That certainly would not be very wise. Why not kill your brother like Cain did? That would still be a sin that we would need to confront God for forgiveness.
The truth of the matter is always in context. While there are five signs mentioned in Mark to testify about the faith of a true believer, not every believer will have all five. Trying to force the signs, especially the one about snakes, could end up being quite deadly.
Keith mentions that in part, the reason why snake handlers are sometimes bitten and survived is not because of any intervention by God. According to zoologists who have an investigated the snakes that come from these churches, they find them often dehydrated, not fed and living in overcrowded conditions in their cages. His snake in it we can condition like this would not have a lethal bite. There we can condition would also make them more domicile and willing to let people handle them. It’s not so much a God thing, as it is an animal that has been subjected to abusive treatment.
How we set it enough? Don’t take the Bible out of context. It is not only potentially deadly; it could be eternally deadly. The teaching may not be intentionally heretical. Some people may be well-meaning, that they’re unwilling to acknowledge a bad doctrine and continue to pass it down to others. There is often too much emphasis placed on the experiential aspect of the ceremony whether it be snake handling, or even a baptism. Those physical acts are not what leads to salvation. They’re not even necessarily the true sign that the person has been saved.
Probably the best sign in evidence of salvation is the fruit that person produces. The evidence of a changed life. This is a test that last for the long haul. It’s not about a ritual, a ceremony or spiritual gift. It’s about loving your fellow believers, friends and family, and loving others by sharing the gospel with them.
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