Quote:
Originally Posted by tv1a
I don't remember a huge blow up. I remember the discussion was... Don't tempt the Lord. I asked what part of picking up the snake is asking God to sin.. Then it was said, tempting means to test God and we were not supposed test God. Then I provided multiple scriptural evidence which God says to test him and prove him. My point is if your are going to take the signs and wonders mentioned in Mark 16 as literal, one should take the picking up snakes as literal. It makes sense. |
Gee... based on that logic, why not just jump off a building and ask the Lord to let you bounce harmlessly off the pavement??
I don't see any brave Apostolics doing that!
I think a better way to read that would be that if serpents attack a believer he could handle him safely and not be harmed, because of the Lord's protection. (As with Paul in
Acts 28):
3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." 5But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
I don't think Jesus was advocating for saints to go around grabbing snakes as a way of testing their faith, or testing God's power.
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