My challenge to all fundamentalist Christians

[Joey]

This is my challenge to all fundamentalist Christians, who believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible, literal Word of God.   Want to convert me to fundamentalist Christianity?   All you have to do is prove the veracity of the following verse in the Bible:

Mark 16:17-18:  "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."

According to this passage, anyone who "believes" will be able to drink any deadly poison and not be harmed.  You can prove this is true by doing the following:

Upload a video on YouTube of you opening a new, un-opened bottle of Drano (or other brand of drain cleaner with a basic pH) and drinking the contents, with the bottle in view the whole time.  If it appears legit then I will contact you to come perform the same feat in person, this time using a bottle provided by me.  If you can do this successfully then I will convert to fundamentalist evangelical Christianity.

[Vene]

Try over here instead.

[Joey]

Try over here instead.

I've been banned from there... but I know they lurk here sometimes.  I'm sure many fundies will see it.

[Mira]

Try over here instead.

I've been banned from there... but I know they lurk here sometimes.  I'm sure many fundies will see it.

I imagine they're still lurking the old boards for now.

[Cataclysm]

Fundies are impervious to logic and facts.

[clockworkgirl21]

Sounds like a good way to get arrested.

[Necrotic Neophyte]

I doubt they'd actually attempt anything like that. More than likely they'd spend four hours telling you how you've completely misinterpreted the above passage.

[N. De Plume]

Hey, unlike the whole “Thou shalt not test God” thing, this one actually calls out drinking poison as a sign to others.

[Oriet]

That is a good verse to challenge them on. Oh, and if they do try "don't test the Lord," well, you're just being like Doubting Thomas who, after getting verification, was still okay (though I've often heard he got a lesser position in heaven, but it was still in heaven).

[Sigmaleph]

Not that I actually expect any fundie to poison themselves to prove a point to a stranger on the internet, but don't we have a rule against telling people to commit suicide?

[Shane for Wax]

We do, which is why I've been pondering giving a warning for posting this thread.

[modhat==on] Please refrain from telling people to go and do something dangerous like this to test their faith. Especially when you know what harm it can do. We have strict rules about telling people to go off themselves and this is equivalent to it. Regardless of whether anyone you're addressing can see it.[modhat==off]

[Lithp]

Seems rather strained to me. It's clearly a rhetorical device.

Either way, the proposal can easily be rectified. Neither the Bible nor the forum rules specify anything about non-lethal poisons.

[Oriet]

Go with something mild, then. Have them get drunk on alcohol, without drinking water during that period, and see if they wake up with a headache. If they do it obviously didn't work, as alcohol causes dehydration, which is harming them. Come to think of it, them getting drunk is also because of the harm of alcohol, so if they can get drunk it obviously doesn't work.

Oh, and they can't say it's not deadly, either, as people can die from alcohol poisoning (and they don't need to get anywhere near that amount to have the point proven or disproven).

[Witchyjoshy]

And the fundies will go "Oh!  You're just tempting me to sin!  Well, that won't work, spawn of Satan!"

[Joey]

I doubt they'd actually attempt anything like that. More than likely they'd spend four hours telling you how you've completely misinterpreted the above passage.

The passage seems pretty clear to me... plus aren't fundies the ones who take every part of the bible completely literally?  Unless of course there is a verse that can be proven false, then suddenly "it's an allegory".