No Faith or No Brains

[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 ?

[CaseS87]

You would have to think if believe that someone who gets bitten by a snake is unfaithful, they would have to consider this woman didn't have full faith in God... I'm not sure they wouldn't be sad that she died, but I bet they are all praying pretty hard to get her soul into heaven. This belief seems pretty far fetched even for religious standards, you'd have to be a pretty big moron to buy into it. Sounds like this church is basically just a breeding ground for ignorance and utter stupidity. Its a good thing natural selection will eliminate those who think handling snakes is a good idea if your only protection is "faith."

[revots33]

[ QUOTE ]

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.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol bible literalists

[FortunaMaximus]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

Having a giggle somewhere, aren't you, Lazarus? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

That's no better and no worse than half the things Timothy Leary did. If handling a snake makes you feel closer to God. Well, she sure is now, isn't she.

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] the US.

[Speedlimits]

Darwin won.

[jogsxyz]

Faith with no brains.

[mindflayer]

No faith?
you mean

All Faith No Brains
There is a good joke that goes with this..

A flood came and a man had to climb onto the roof of his house. As the waters rose a neighbor in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in. "No," replied the man on the roof, "the Lord will save me." Then a firefighter appeared in a speedboat. "Climb in!" shouted the firefighter. "No," replied the man on the roof, "The Lord will save me." A helicopter appeared and the pilot shouted that he would lower a rope to the man on the roof. "No," replied the man on the roof, "the Lord will save me." Eventually the man drowned and went to heaven, where he asked God why He hadn't helped him. "I sent a neighbor, a firefighter, and helicopter," said God. "What more do you want?"


All faith, No brains.

[mindflayer]

Which leads me to ..
December 1996 XVIII/4

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS & LIFE SAVING THERAPY

Last month in the Saint Louis area, a 40 year old woman and her son died after the woman refused a blood transfusion. As a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, Bettye Joyce Beal believed that blood transfusions are prohibited by her religion. When she slipped and fell in her home, she was quickly losing blood. After entering a hospital, it was determined that the baby in her womb was not getting the blood and oxygen he needed. According to medical opinion offered in the press, both mother and child might have survived if blood were transfused at the proper time. The rights of Jehovah's Witnesses to refuse blood transfusions for themselves or for their children is often posed in ethics classes as a problem in applying the principle of informed consent. But this actual case provides some controversial aspects and an impetus to look more closely at the fundamental and related issues arising from the refusal to utilize a seemingly innocuous and successful life prolonging therapy.
full discussion here

Is this the same
all faith no brains question?

[govman6767]

I find it more amazing that bible defenders and religion defenders never post when a story like this is posted.

It's hard to beat the argument that if god is so perfect why did he create such a stupid race.

Duuuurrrrr I'll hold the cobra now the bible and my faith will protect me!!! DEE-DEE-DEE

[AlexM]

While they seem pretty silly to me, I don't have sufficient evidence for or against these beliefs, so as a practitioner of science, I cannot form a valid opinion.