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Topic: To the dearly departed, STAKE TO THE HEART! (Read 26916 times)
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Anonymous
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Personally, I find the Amish admirable. Snake handlers, not so much.
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Roac
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3338
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You're right - the belif isn't about not being bitten, it's about being immune to toxins. They bite, and God saves them from being killed from the toxin (snake/drink). "100 documented deaths from serpent bites" is a useless statistic - the church is supposed to be just over 100 years old. When did they start documenting this? How many "snake handlings" are there in a year? How many total churches are there? How many snake handlers are there? How often do they handle snakes? Not enough info. Regarding the person bit fourteen times - presumably this is without medical treatment, since that's part of the religious experience. It takes about 100mg of venom to kill a normal, healthy, adult. The typical dimondback injects in the neighborhood of 150-350mg per bite (but dry bites are possible). Rattle bites are serious, immediate, medical emergencies (but survivability is near guaranteed with treatment - mortality is around 1%). If they survived fourteen hits of that, I'm impressed. Impressed too, that there are only 100 documented deaths from it. fyi, there are around a dozen deaths due to snakebite per year in the US (just for comparison). Why does my understanding of their culture have ANYTHING do do with it? Because people often label what they don't understand as stupid (wrong, immoral, evil, primitive, barbaric, etc, depending on application). |
-Roac
King of Ravens
"Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us." -SC
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Roac
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3338
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Personally, I find the Amish admirable. Snake handlers, not so much. I don't know. I have issues with the text (there are historical issues with that passage), as well as their interpretation of it. On the other hand, it takes a lot of conviction to do what they do, and it is a conscious, thought-out act. It isn't out of disenfranchisement (which causes a lot of the Muslem suicide bombers to do what they do) - they are by community standards, and outside church by most of our standards, to be well adjusted. I don't agree with them, but damn. They've got balls. |
-Roac
King of Ravens
"Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us." -SC
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Anonymous
Guest
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So basically, you agree with me on the Amish. And for essentially the same reasons I have.
Huh. Why did you type anything again?
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WayAbvPar
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While I really really really don't want to join this argument, I don't understand something in your argument. Keep in mind that I'm not taking Roacs side or anyone's side for that matter, I think most everyone is stupid, snake religion people included; however, I just don't get this one thing.
I think that comes from several factors- the conflation of the original group (the Romanian vampire killers) with the Appalachian snake handlers and the Amish (with some Papua New Guinea aboriginals thrown in) being first among them. The discussion eventually veered into a 'primitive' culture debate in which I was attempting to use the numerous groups to make a specific point. Because people often label what they don't understand as stupid (wrong, immoral, evil, primitive, barbaric, etc, depending on application). I understand snake handling and the belief in vampires (and the subsequent practices to prevent their rising) reasonably well. I just happen to think both are: stupid, wrong, barbaric, and primitive. I don't find them particularly immoral or evil, however. |
When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM
Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood
Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42666
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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My mistake. According to Way's article, snake handlers aren't ignorant.
But yes, they are in fact stupid. If you know drinking hemlock will probably cause your death, and you aren't suicidal, and you still drink the hemlock because you think "God told you to," yes, you are, in fact, quite unbelievably stupid and do not deserve to be on this earth.
Maybe that's the secret. Maybe the test from God in the snake handlers' cases isn't that God wanted you to test your faith against the snakes. Maybe God was trying to test your faith in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you'll tell the man saying "God wants you to test the serpent" to go fuck himself. If you don't, and your self-worth is tied to your faith in God, or at least what your preacher says in God, then you fail the test, get bitten, and either die or nub your willy for the rest of your naturally-born stupid life.
EDIT: And since it was brought up, I put Muslem suicide bombers in the same category of stupid. Sure, it's ballsy, and takes conviction. Still stupid. God doesn't want you to kill yourself, or take ridiculous action to get yourself killed.
Unless, of course, you're stupid.
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