Snake Handlers and Faith

It seems that a preacher was bitten and killed by a rattle snake. He is part of that group which takes Mark 16:8 ("they will pick up snakes in their hands") literally. It is easy to ridicule such behavior and certainly any number of comedians have had their chance to make disparaging remarks, mocking the faith of the man. It is inviting to mock such faith as wrongheaded and silly. It is the type of faith which would seem at home in the setting of the Hatfields and McCoys.The exhuberance and frenzy of such worship can easily be laughed at, especially by those of more sedate religiousity. I think such ridicule is often arrogant and shallow.

I do not advocate snake handling. I would argue the people who do are misreading the Scriptures. Yet, this is not the first time the preacher was bitten and he certainly handled the snakes for many years. The people doing this are very serious. And honestly, there are lots of religious practices which I do not engage in which others advocate... {Read more here} http://www.getreligion.org/2012/06/handling-snakes-in-the-washington-post/

The issue this raises for me is how we read the Bible. If one looks at this section of Mark 16, it is not crammed with "silly things"
14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

We believe in and practice healing prayer here. While many of our members are reluctant to actually do it, we are publicly in favor of evangelizing. The idea that faith in Jesus is determinative of one's relationship with God is solidly Christian. So it isn't until v18 that things get dicey, and that is the problem. Pick-n-choose!

At our National Convention I heard an advocate for "LGBT inclusion" dismiss the chapters in Leviticus which directly addressed these behaviors. An hour or so later, I heard the "social justice" advocate for all manner of social behaviors based on the next chapter from Leviticus, the chapter which confirmed all her beliefs. Consistency anyone?

That is the issue. We are confronted with a Biblical text which is sometimes agreeable to and at other times disagreeable to our beliefs. We read along when our beliefs are confirmed and then twist and turn and maneuver when the text goes in a direction we do not like (or think is wrong). The snakehandler does what he does to emphasize his faith in God's word. I like to think people like me who would not do such a thing have an equal faith and an equal share in the Kingdom. Even so, we do well to reflect on how we pick-n-choose. What is the criteria? Do we have a reasonably consistent model for reading and incorporating God's Word. What is the meaning of the text before us? How should one reasonably and faithfully actualize it? Think, question, self-challenge, be humble and listen...Whatever else this exercise produces, it should certainly diminish our arrogance!