Serpent-handling pastor profiled earlier in Washington Post dies from rattlesnake bite

"Mark Randall “Mack” Wolford was known all over Appalachia as a daring man of conviction. He believed that the Bible mandates that Christians handle serpents to test their faith in God — and that, if they are bitten, they trust in God alone to heal them."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/serpent-handling-pastor-profiled-earlier-in-washington-post-dies-from-rattlesnake-bite/2012/05/29/gJQAJef5zU_story.html?tid=pm_pop



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2012 09:13AM by Numbers.
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He and other adherents cited Mark 16:17-18 as the reason for their practice: “And these signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

These guys should have gone for the hard evidence and chugged antifreeze.

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

I actually knew a few of these kooks many years ago. Even though this practice is supposed to be banned, 2-3 times a year they would break out the snakes and twirl them around for about 10 minutes during the service. The rest of the time they were speaking in tongues (mindless jibberish) and laying hands on people.

I thought it was hilarious, but the other people there were dead serious and jumping up and down and acting the fool.

At one of these "events", the Pastors wife was flirting with me the whole time. I could have easily pulled her into a nearby office and banged the living shit out of her. I just wanted to get out of there and go home.

Numbers Wrote:
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> I actually knew a few of these kooks many years
> ago. Even though this practice is supposed to be
> banned, 2-3 times a year they would break out the
> snakes and twirl them around for about 10 minutes
> during the service. The rest of the time they were
> speaking in tongues (mindless jibberish) and
> laying hands on people.
>
> I thought it was hilarious, but the other people
> there were dead serious and jumping up and down
> and acting the fool.
>
> At one of these "events", the Pastors wife was
> flirting with me the whole time. I could have
> easily pulled her into a nearby office and banged
> the living shit out of her. I just wanted to get
> out of there and go home.

I feel bad for the people who get suckered into stuff like this and the way they reinforce their own craziness. If the snake doesn't bite him, it's a sign of his faith in God. If the snake bites and he doesn't die, it's a sign of his faith in God. If the snake bites and he dies, it's a sign of his faith in God (in that God decided it was his time to die).

I have no problem with all things spiritual, metaphysical, or faith-based. It's religion that makes me cringe.

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

I suppose we all have our interpretation of the word "spiritual". I actually like the term when used in the "Spirit of Love" sense, or spirit of mind, or emotional spirituality, but I can't get behind any sort of Holy Spirit or talking spirits, or ghostly spirits.

To me, spirituality is all in our minds and sometimes it's a good thing.

Religion is probably the only thing in the world that could delude a person into fucking around with a poisonous snake and refusing medical attention.

Not even drugs can accomplish something so stupid.

Numbers Wrote:
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> At one of these "events", the Pastors wife was
> flirting with me the whole time.

Was she hot, or did she have that yucky Kate-Gosselin-type hairdo that you see on a lot of middle-aged southern evangelicals?

I'M A FIVE-STAR MAN!!

nomnomnom
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TheMeeper Wrote:
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> Religion is probably the only thing in the world
> that could delude a person into fucking around
> with a poisonous snake and refusing medical
> attention.
>
> Not even drugs can accomplish something so stupid.



Religion deludes a lot of people into doing a lot of dumb shit. Probably more than drugs and alcohol. It should be outlawed.

EDIT: This is a prime example of the fallacy of religion. This guy believed that he couldn't/wouldn't be harmed by the snakes because of his faith and devotion to some imaginary thing. When I read the article about him, my logical mind figured that the law of averages would catch up to that clown eventually. Logic 1, Religion 0

__________________________________
That's not a ladybug, that's a cannapiller.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2012 05:38PM by Warhawk.

Warhawk Wrote:
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>
> Logic 1, Religion 0

"Wolford was 15 when he saw his father die at age 39 of a rattlesnake bite in almost exactly the same circumstances."


Logic's going for the hat-trick!

I heard a guy tell a pastor that if it "wasn't his time" he could run around in I-95 during rush hour and that God wouldn't take him. The pastor said that if he was dumb enough to run around in rush hour traffic that his time had come.

Don't play with rattlesnakes.

Numbers Wrote:
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> I thought it was hilarious, but the other people
> there were dead serious and jumping up and down
> and acting the fool.

Religion LOL!



Religion is a good thing if it rids the world of dumbshits like the guy in the story.