Dumbass bitten by snake. People shocked for some reason.

[syaoranvee]

A "serpent-handling" West Virginia pastor died after his rattlesnake bit him during a church ritual, just as the man had apparently watched a snake kill his father years before. Pentecostal pastor Mark Wolford, 44, hosted an outdoor service at the Panther Wildlife Management Area in West Virginia Sunday, which he touted on his Facebook page prior to the event.
 
"I am looking for a great time this Sunday," Wolford wrote May 22, according to the Washington Post. "It is going to be a homecoming like the old days. Good 'ole raised in the holler or mountain ridge running, Holy Ghost-filled speaking-in-tongues sign believers."
 
Robin Vanover, Wolford's sister, told the Washington Post that 30 minutes into the outdoor service, Wolford passed around a poisonous timber rattlesnake, which eventually bit him. "He laid it on the ground," Vanover said in the interview, "and he sat down next to the snake, and it bit him on the thigh."
 
Vanover said Wolford was then transported to a family member's home in Bluefield about 80 miles away to recover. But as the situation worsened, he was taken to a hospital where he later died.  Jim Shires, owner of the Cravens-Shires Funeral Home in Bluefield, told ABC News that Wolford died Monday. Wolford's church, the Apostolic House of the Lord Jesus in Matoaka, will host a viewing Friday and a funeral service Saturday morning. Wolford will be buried at the Hicks Family Plot in Phelps, Ky.

..

Snake-handlers point to scripture as evidence that God calls them to engage in such a practice to show their faith in him. Mark 16: 17-18 reads, "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
 
Wolford told the Washington Post magazine in 2011 that he is carrying on the tradition of his ancestors by engaging in snake handling.  "Anybody can do it that believes it," Wolford said. "Jesus said, 'These signs shall follow them which believe.' This is a sign to show people that God has the power."
 
Wolford said watched his own father die at the age of 39 after a rattlesnake bit him during a similar service.
 
"He lived 101/2 hours," Wolford told the Washington Post Magazine. "When he got bit, he said he wanted to die in the church. Three hours after he was bitten, his kidneys shut down. After a while, your heart stops. I hated to see him go, but he died for what he believed in.
 
"I know it's real; it is the power of God," Wolford told the Washington Post Magazine last year. "If I didn't do it, if I'd never gotten back involved, it'd be the same as denying the power and saying it was not real."

http://news.yahoo.com/serpent-handling-west-virginia-pastor-dies-snake-bite-173406645--abc-news-topstories.html

Darwinism at work, ladies and gentlemen!

[Witchyjoshy]

What's sadly funny about this is that the verse that mentions snake handling is probably the most out of context, non-sequiter verse in the entire Bible.

No, I didn't mean it was taken out of context, I mean that it literally did not fit the context that it was placed in.

It's like... "Blah blah blah, YOU CAN HANDLE SNAKES AND NEVER GET POISONED, blah blah blah"

It's sad to see someone die, but he brought it upon himself, and unfortunately, he probably brought it on others, too.  Whether now or in the future.

[SpaceProg]

I'm a snake handler.   



Using appropriate caution and tools with venomous species, and even with some ornery non-venomous species (like water snakes, man those critters have sharp teeth and hard bites.  Makes sense though, since they're mostly fish and frog eaters).

Religious snake-handling... ehh... no.

[ThunderWulf]

Okay, after watching the same damn thing happen to your father, why would you even attempt that?!

[jumpingjackflash]

"Like father, like son" in just about the saddest way imaginable.

[Fpqxz]

The whole snake-handling thing never made much sense to me.  I know it's based on some obscure New Testament verse, but seriously, they think snake venom won't harm them because of their faith?  WTF?!

[Yaezakura]

You'd especially think it'd be proven bunk by now considering how many hundreds of these idiots have died to the snakes by now. Hell, this guy watched his own dad die from getting bitten, but still didn't learn anything from it.

[Vypernight]

The whole snake-handling thing never made much sense to me.  I know it's based on some obscure New Testament verse, but seriously, they think snake venom won't harm them because of their faith?  WTF?!

Regarding the 'protected by their faith' part, someone should inform these Einsteins that the Pope drives around surrounded by bullet-proof glass for a reason.

[erictheblue]

Does this mean he didn't REALLY believe..?

[Xotan]

It's sad that anyone should die.  But the edge is taken off this sadness by the idiotic and irresponsible behaviour of handling venemous snakes.

Didn't they even have antivenin handy, just in case, y'know?  Or would that show a lack of faith?

This sort of behaviour ought to be illegal.  It has nothing to do with religion when it puts lives at risk.  Ban it!

[Shane for Wax]

Inb4 everyone starts calling snakes evil and dangerous and that they should all die.



I love snakes. I had a pet ball python for a while. You need to respect the animal. I wouldn't handle a venomous snake unless I had someone there with me, I had plenty of 'body armor', etc.,

[The Illusive Man]

You'd especially think it'd be proven bunk by now considering how many hundreds of these idiots have died to the snakes by now. Hell, this guy watched his own dad die from getting bitten, but still didn't learn anything from it.

Their situation in a nut shell.

[Witchyjoshy]

Inb4 everyone starts calling snakes evil and dangerous and that they should all die.

Snakesie was defending himself (or... herself) from idiot.  I don't blame the snake at all.

The superstitious folks, however... -_-

[MrsYoungie]

They can't learn because that would involve testing their hypothesis (snake bites won't kill me because I have faith), observing the results (people I knew to have faith died from snake bites) and reaching a conclusion based on repeated observations: Snake bites kill regardless of faith.
They end up bypassing all that with:  It says in the Bible so if someone dies they didn't have enough faith. 
Any other conclusion would be scientific and therefore blasphemous.

[ironbite]

You'd especially think it'd be proven bunk by now considering how many hundreds of these idiots have died to the snakes by now. Hell, this guy watched his own dad die from getting bitten, but still didn't learn anything from it.

Their situation in a nut shell.

Ouroboros?