Just noting to myself that I’ve seen two (not one, but two) stories of people doing exactly what the Bible says, with disastrous or horrifying consequences.
The first was this:
Serpent-handling pastor profiled earlier in Washington Post dies from rattlesnake bite
Mack Wolford, a flamboyant Pentecostal pastor from West Virginia whose serpent-handling talents were profiled last November in The Washington Post Magazine, hoped the outdoor service he had planned for Sunday at an isolated state park would be a “homecoming like the old days,” full of folks speaking in tongues, handling snakes and having a “great time.” But it was not the sort of homecoming he foresaw.
Instead, Wolford, who turned 44 the previous day, was bitten by a rattlesnake he owned for years. He died late Sunday.
Yep, the Bible says that if you’re a believer, you can pick up snakes and they won’t harm you. So what happened? Did he not believe enough? Or is the Bible full of crap? Is anyone in that congregation asking these questions? Probably not; the news story tells how Wolford’s father died the same way.
The other story is, of course, this video about a four-year-old singing a charming ditty: “Ain’t No Homos Gonna Make It to Heaven”. I won’t embed it — I can’t even watch the whole thing.
People are up in arms about it, but isn’t he just quoting Paul?
Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind…shall inherit the kingdom of God.
One criticism I get here on the blog is that I go after the extremists. Not true. These are people who believe what the Bible says. If that’s extreme, it means that more ‘moderate’ believers are picking and choosing what they like from the Bible, using their own moral sense. Which makes the actual Bible kind of extraneous. Why not skip a step and ditch the Bible entirely? You get bitten by fewer snakes that way.
At any rate, if you’re horrified by these items or find them distasteful, don’t blame the believers — blame the Bible.
7 June 2012 at 3:02 am
Can I quote that second last paragraph? Complete gold.
7 June 2012 at 3:30 am
One of my better ones.
I wanted to add: Moderate believers tell me faith is a wonderful thing, but when they find someone who has it, they say, "Well, that person's craaaazy!" Isn't that revealing?