Monday, May 9, 2011

Serious Question

Mark 16:17-18 (King James Version)

17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.


Okay so I am rereading the new testament and here's a puzzle. What exactly does this tell us?

I know that some who call themselves Christians do play with snakes and some have died. So if they misunderstood this verse then, what does it mean?

8 comments:

Rick B said...

In the book of Acts they were building a fire on the island after the shipwreck, and a poisonous asp fastened on Paul? And the natives said, "Wow! He must really be a wicked man. Because even though he escaped the judgment of the storm and the shipwreck, yet the gods aren't going to let him live." And they waited for Paul to roll over in convulsions and die. And after awhile Paul just shook the thing off into the fire. And after awhile when nothing happened to Paul and he didn't go into convulsions and die, they said, "He must be a god." And they were ready to worship him as a god. There are those cults today who foolishly gather rattle snakes and they get into some kind of a spiritual frenzy, speaking in tongues and all, and then they take the rattlesnakes and they begin to pass them around the circle. Down in the hills of Kentucky, there are quite a few of these snake handlers. And actually, they are not all in Kentucky; there were some people over in Long Beach who were involved in this cult. So it's close to home.

Another radical pastor took poison around and had each one of his board members drink the poison to prove their faith, whether or not they had enough faith to serve on the board of the church. Some of the board members did not have enough faith, and the pastor was charged with second-degree murder. When Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, he said unto Him, "Jump! For it is written, 'He will give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways, lest at any time you dash your foot against the stone.'" And Jesus said, "It is written again, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.'" The Lord never intended anybody to deliberately put themselves into jeopardy to prove anything. He doesn't expect you to go out and take up rattlesnakes to prove that you have faith, or to drink poison to prove that you have faith. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." You are not to do any foolish rash act to make a proof of your faith.

Interested said...

I didn't think so but what is the purpose of those verses? What is the lesson one should glean from such writings?

Rick B said...

I dont believe their is a lesson to learn from every single verse we read.

I mean I could take two different verse and say this.

1. Judas hung himself.

2. Jesus said, what ever you do, do quickly.

No lessons their.

we also know that Jesus said we all will die at some point. So even in these cases we know we could still die. I believe it is a matter of, if we are really serving the Lord and we some how pick up a snake or get bit not knowing, or some one try to poison us it will not harm us.

Interested said...

" if we are really serving the Lord and we some how pick up a snake or get bit not knowing, or some one try to poison us it will not harm us."

You seriously believe this? So if the most pious person you know is bitten by a snake he will not be harmed?

But more than that, I just do not understand the point of a passage like this.

You say it does not teach a lesson, okay what purpose does it serve. If the bible is inspired, it must be important and I just don't understand.

Rick B said...

I believe it's not a matter of, if I pick up a snake with out knowing it, I think I would know that I picked one up.

I think it is more a matter of, if I was out in a place preaching the gospel and was bite all out of the blue, I would be fine. Like Paul in the Book of Acts.

I dont think the verse is teaching us something, it's more a matter of we as believers are being told not to worry about these things happening.

We see in the Bible everywhere, Believers being told not to worry, not to fear Etc. We have to be told these things because we do worry or have fear.

Rick B said...

Hello Interested,
Well about my internship. I cannot post pictures, But Check this out. One guy was plating a dinner, it was some braised beef, a beef bone with Marrow and dry aged beef with some sauces and other things. I said of everything on the menu, that is the one dish more than anything I want to try.

The Chef heard me and said, tomorrow you can have one. So the next day I asked the guy to make it for me, so he did. The Sous-Chef asked him why he was making it for me. We both told him the chef said I could have it. So the Sous-chef and two others asked me, what is it about me that the chef likes me so much?

I told them I dont know. I then went to the school to turn in my weekly paper work and was told the Chef at work told the school, I was and am the best intern he has ever had.

As if that's not good enough, the chef then asks me, can he change my work schedule, I said yes. I was working Wed-Sat, Plus Mondays by my choice in the pastry department.

The Chef started putting me down Mon-thur giving me every Fri-Sunday off. I had to ask if he did that because he thought I was not working out on the weekends and I wanted to know.

He said I am doing good on weekends, He decide to give them off to me because of two reasons.

1. He wants me to take weekends off to have time with family and friends.

2. He said everyone is dumping all their work on me and not doing it themselves and they need to learn to do their own jobs.

As too number two, thats what we interns are their for. But this Chef likes me so much after 5 weeks of working hard, he decided I am no longer a do everyone's job kinda guy. The Chef has never done this for any intern, Both Giving them A free meal or weekends off and telling the intern the people can do their own jobs.

So, I heard also yesterday, the sous-chef was telling me, their is one worker their, after two years he is starting to go down hill, the Sous-chef said, if he was the Chef, he would fire this guy and hire me. Well I still have 6 weeks left to go, who knows what will happen. God is really blessing me here.

Interested said...

Well take some of the credit yourself. You have worked hard and others are now recognizing those facts. Congratulations! I don't know a more deserving person. I wish you the best.

Rick B said...

If you make it up for some food at the place, I am working Mon-Thursday, from 1:30 to 10:30 right now. Just ask for me and I will come out and visit.