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God Verses Snake God 0 Snake 2


doggie

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Covington actually moved there. I knew someone who knew someone who knew Covington and that's how I got to see the folks at Sand Mountain.

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:shock: No, no no no no no no. No snakes with in 100 miles of me. I know I live in Colorado, I know there are deadly and harmless snakes less than 1 mile of me and could encounter one at any time. But I refuse to go to some place that parades one of my biggest phobias around willynilly. Nope, no way, not going to happen in this lifetime. :snooty: :snooty: :snooty:

Even think about this has given me the chivers*. :( :shock: :( :shock: :(

* chivers are a combined case of chills and shivers.

I'm with ladypuglover on this one - I HATE SNAKES! My damn cat used to bring live snakes in the house when we had a rip in our screen door. I fixed that screen fast.

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Here's my addition:

Five kids were orphaned after both parents die handling snakes, and their grandparents took them to snake-handling ceremonies. They possibly stopped after the court ordered that the grandparents could keep going to the rituals that left the kids orphaned, they just couldn't take the kids along. Eventually custody was split between three grandparents. By now, only one or maybe two of the kids is still under 18, and I assume their custody is still divided between those grandparents and their other grandmother, so I guess if the grandparents die from snake bite too, they'll still have a caregiver. Lucky things!

http://edition.cnn.com/US/9902/12/snake ... index.html

I found out about them years ago through whatstheharm.net, and the story really made an impact on me.

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I have a fear of snakes. In Qc we only have non-venemous ones, BUT there are rumours that a species of rattlesnakes is now making its habitat in the Eastern Townships. I don't remember the name but it's the same type of snake that is on the "don't thread on me" yellow flag that Tea Partyers use. I mean, snakes don't announce themselves to Canada Customs! That species also lives in New York state, so with climate changes some might have made themselves at home here. :o

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the verse says nothing about poisonous snakes and nothing about healing after bitten. is says drinking bad things not injecting them. So taking the bible literally but not following it literally is kind of silly. They should be fondling snakes drinking poison and trying to heal each other.

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Religious snake handlers and religious faith healers generally do not overlap. While I think snake handlers are certainly eccentric, I don't think they're stupid. They genuinely live that passage in Mark 16:17-18. Unlike many of the fundies we snark on such as the Maxwell's and Dougie, who would impose their beliefs on everyone, snake handlers do not and do not want to. As with speaking in tongues, one should do it only if one feels called to it.

I have no objection to it being made illegal, though there are those who would continue to do it anyway.

Not even their own kids? That's how this foolishness carries on, isn't it?

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I'm with ladypuglover on this one - I HATE SNAKES! My damn cat used to bring live snakes in the house when we had a rip in our screen door. I fixed that screen fast.

:o I would honestly die. Drop dead right there. Needless to say, I would not be interested in seeing snake charmers in person....

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Religious snake handlers and religious faith healers generally do not overlap. While I think snake handlers are certainly eccentric, I don't think they're stupid. They genuinely live that passage in Mark 16:17-18. Unlike many of the fundies we snark on such as the Maxwell's and Dougie, who would impose their beliefs on everyone, snake handlers do not and do not want to. As with speaking in tongues, one should do it only if one feels called to it.

I have no objection to it being made illegal, though there are those who would continue to do it anyway.

Right, and they do not believe that poisonous snakes can't kill them.

Since these people aren't trying to force it on anyone, and as far as Iv'e been able to find, don't allow children to handle the snakes, I actually have no problem with it being legal. They're not like the fundies who are forcing their daughters to remain so uneducated that they have no idea that there are options for women aside from being domestic servants to their husbands who are expected to "keep sweet" even when being abused, and for those who find out there are other options, they don't have those options because they were kept too uneducated to qualify to do anything. Fundies are also the ones who try to use laws to enforce their religious beliefs on the rest of us. I'd rather see fundamentalism outlawed than snake-handling.

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Right, and they do not believe that poisonous snakes can't kill them.

Since these people aren't trying to force it on anyone, and as far as Iv'e been able to find, don't allow children to handle the snakes, I actually have no problem with it being legal. They're not like the fundies who are forcing their daughters to remain so uneducated that they have no idea that there are options for women aside from being domestic servants to their husbands who are expected to "keep sweet" even when being abused, and for those who find out there are other options, they don't have those options because they were kept too uneducated to qualify to do anything. Fundies are also the ones who try to use laws to enforce their religious beliefs on the rest of us. I'd rather see fundamentalism outlawed than snake-handling.

Actually they do believe poisonous snakes can kill. Their belief is they will not kill you if you have the 'holy spirit' on or in you at the time of handling. It was my experience that even after some of the laws changed younger boys handled, if they had been baptized and were filled with the spirit. The youngest handler I ever saw had turned 14. I saw women in their 80's handling as well. I frequently saw women with babes in arms close enough to be in striking distance when the snakes came out. Once I saw a woman hand off an infant to it's grandmother so that the mother could drink strychnine. As to the poison drinking, I always found it suspect. But the snake handling was an amazing experience.

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"they do not believe that poisonous snakes can't kill them"

"Actually they do believe poisonous snakes can kill."

Exact same thing.

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There's also a great book, "Salvation on Sand Mountain," by Dennis Covington, published in 1995. Basically, Covington went to Appalachia to cover the trial of one of the snake handlers and got caught up in it. The book came out of that.

This book is about Glenn Summerford, preacher at Church of God with Signs Following in Scottsboro, AL. He supposedly forced is wife, Darlene, at gunpoint to handle snakes. But, that's not the whole story. He supposedly tried to kill her and make it look like a suicide because he wanted to marry somebody else. While he was waiting for her to die, he got drunk and passed out. Darlene somehow managed to call her sister who called an ambulance. She survived, and Glenn was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. The reason for the lengthy sentence was because of AL's "3 strike rule". Summerford had 2 prior convictions for burglary and grand larceny. This conviction was his 3rd, so according AL law it was mandatory life in prison. This is kind of ironic, because it was while he was in prison for crime #2 that he "got saved". When he was released he bought an old gas station and turned it into the church mentioned above.

This really had very little to do with the church or religion. It was a dysfunctional marriage with rumors of adultery, alcoholism, and abuse on both sides. Why he didn't just divorce his wife is not clear, because both had been married before and were divorced. AFAIK, there was no financial motive. I personally think he was just plain bat-shit crazy. Anyway, none of that prevented the media from here, there, and everywhere from descending on Scottsboro. This incident became nothing short of a 3 ring circus about snake handling churches and created tension between the people of Scottsboro and the media.

NOTE: I say "supposedly" because there were no witnesses to the crime and no physical evidence. It does not represent how I feel about the case.

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I adore snakes. I've handled plenty, though never venomous. I would love to see that in action, in person. I don't see a problem with what they're doing, as long as it's left up to the person as to whether they want to do it or not.

I am fascinated with snake handlers and spend some time on three different trips to Sand Mountain to watch the handlers and visit a Church of the Signs. I also spent some time in TN on two separate trips to visit CoS.

There are some good movies and videos about the snake handlers.

*snip*

That looks mighty interesting. Thanks for the vid. *adds to queue*

Also, so envious you got to see actual snake handling.

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I adore snakes. I've handled plenty, though never venomous. I would love to see that in action, in person. I don't see a problem with what they're doing, as long as it's left up to the person as to whether they want to do it or not.

That looks mighty interesting. Thanks for the vid. *adds to queue*

Also, so envious you got to see actual snake handling.

I'm a skeptic, and still have a fascination. I don't buy the poison drinking. There were supposedly some Pentecostal snake handlers in the Boregon coast range, but nothing I could pin down.

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I'm a skeptic, and still have a fascination. I don't buy the poison drinking. There were supposedly some Pentecostal snake handlers in the Boregon coast range, but nothing I could pin down.

Same. It's still quite fascinating. It's too bad you couldn't find them though. I have a few Pentecostals in my family, as well as briefly attending a Pentecostal church in my wayward youth. Kinda got duped into that by some kid at my school, heh. I saw a shitload of fainting and speaking in tongues, but never any snake handling. I know only certain ones do that.

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Same. It's still quite fascinating. It's too bad you couldn't find them though. I have a few Pentecostals in my family, as well as briefly attending a Pentecostal church in my wayward youth. Kinda got duped into that by some kid at my school, heh. I saw a shitload of fainting and speaking in tongues, but never any snake handling. I know only certain ones do that.

I attend some rural pentecostal tent revivals during the summer. I've been going to them since I was in college. I understand the transformational aspects of music and rhythms and how they can contribute to mass hysteria. I do like the music, I get fundied up and go and shake my tailfeathers and watch folks struck down by the spirit.

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I attend some rural pentecostal tent revivals during the summer. I've been going to them since I was in college. I understand the transformational aspects of music and rhythms and how they can contribute to mass hysteria. I do like the music, I get fundied up and go and shake my tailfeathers and watch folks struck down by the spirit.

That sounds like a blast. Especially getting all fundified. :lol: It's amazing what people are susceptible to, either from hypnotic music or putting yourself into a trance because everybody else is doing it. I'm sure there has to be a ton of studies done on that.

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That sounds like a blast. Especially getting all fundified. :lol: It's amazing what people are susceptible to, either from hypnotic music or putting yourself into a trance because everybody else is doing it. I'm sure there has to be a ton of studies done on that.

Its cheap entertainment an just another field study of fundies. I tend to :banana-stoner: a bit before I go 8-)

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:lol: :lol: Is there any other way to go? Little bit o' weed, little bit o' munchies, little bit o' nutty Pentecostals, fuck yeah! Hmmm, there should be a study done on the hypnotic effect of the baked dancing banana. *mesmerized*

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That sounds like a blast. Especially getting all fundified. :lol: It's amazing what people are susceptible to, either from hypnotic music or putting yourself into a trance because everybody else is doing it. I'm sure there has to be a ton of studies done on that.

There's an interesting memoir written by a woman who grew up in the Pentecostal tent revival scene: Holy Ghost Girl by Donna M. Johnson. I recommend it!

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There's an interesting memoir written by a woman who grew up in the Pentecostal tent revival scene: Holy Ghost Girl by Donna M. Johnson. I recommend it!

Thanks muchly for the recommendation! I checked out the description on Amazon and it's certainly intriguing. Added to my queue as well so I don't forget.

Cheers! :)

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Native Americans also have snake dance rituals, even today, although they are now closed to outsiders. I saw one in a Hopi village many years ago.

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We have snake handlers in the NC mountains. One day, I'd like to go to a service just to observe. I don't want to be disrespectful and stare like they're freaks but I'd like to see how they incorporate the snakes into their services.

edited: I keep writing their for they're. Honestly, I know the difference. :oops:

You might be interested in the 1967 film/documentary The Holy Ghost People. I remember watching it in one of my college anthropology classes and finding it fascinating. I have no clue how to embed films so here's a link:

http://archive.org/details/HolyGhostPeople

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