[govman6767]

Yahoo today

Woman fatally bitten by snake in church Wed Nov 8, 12:54 AM ET



LONDON, Ky. - A woman who was bitten by a snake at a church that neighbors say practices serpent handling died of her wounds hours later, a newspaper reported.

Linda Long, 48, was bitten Sunday at East London Holiness Church, where neighbors said the reptiles are handled as part of religious services, The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Tuesday.

Long died at University of Kentucky Medical Center about four hours after being bitten, authorities told the newspaper.

"She said she was bitten by a snake at her church," said Lt. Ed Sizemore of the Laurel County Sheriff's Office.

Handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky. Snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a $50 to $100 fine.

Police said they had not received any reports of snake handling at the church.

Snake handling is based on a passage in the Bible that says a sign of a true believer is the power to "take up serpents" without being harmed.

Church officials could not be reached for comment.

This article does not go into great detail about the churches beliefs so it's hard to form a real idea about what happened.

But according to the article the church believed that passing the serpent was = to your faith in god..bible whatever.

So if you were a member of that church and this is what you believed in would you in any way feel sorry for the woman who died ?

If you were a member of this church would you be compelled to think this woman was a false believer and deserved what she got ?

What if you were this womans best friend in the world or a family member who attended the same church do you think they are sad she died ?

IMO she died because of a stupid idea and a stupid act. But if her own mother was in this church would she be mad that her daughter did not have the faith in god she would have needed to not be bitten by the snake ?

Any opinions ?