These people are just very sad to me

Katybug

Katybug

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
Can't get the link to work, but it's quoting the adult son of the snake handling pastor who died very recently from being bitten. He says he will be handling the same snake on Sunday that killed his dad and will refuse any medical attention if he's bitten. It's hard to feel bad for these people when they appear to be downright begging for trouble.
 

They are completely off their heads, and I have absolutely no sympathy for the crazy guy who died from his bite and refused to have the anti-venom!
 
They are religious fanatics,nothing sad about it.
They knew those snakes are dangerous,same as that zoo keeper who thought the tiger was friendly and could cause no harm.
 

Snake handling, walking on hot coals, breaking blocks of ice with your head ... these are all matters of either faith or spirit, or perhaps of confidence in oneself.

There is a small group of Shaolin monks in China that train what is called Iron Body training. It has several variations but they are all based upon subjecting the body to extreme strikes, blows, pulls, etc. until they are physically and mentally strong enough to appear to be miracle workers.

I'm not going to post any videos on this one - I DO have them - but one specialty is called Iron Egg training, where the practitioners subject themselves to kicks to their groin several hundred times a day, 6 days a week, for a year. The kicks start off gentle and by year's end they are kicking full-force. Another way they display their ability is to pull heavy objects - in one case, a bus - by a rope attached to their *******ia.

Lots of folks call THEM crazy as well, but they see it as achieving absolute mind/body control, which is sometimes only a short jump away from faith.
 
amd-snake-salma-hayek-jpg.jpg
 
I HAVE broken boards with hands, feet, elbows, knees and head, along with bricks, concrete slabs and, once, 6 boards, no spacers (harder to break), on fire while I was blindfolded.

That my arm hair caught on fire is of absolutely no importance in this discussion.

the human body can only take so much, no matter how much you train.
Click to expand...

But because of that training it can take more than your average bear ...
 
I'm not too sure it's a guy/gal thing - there have been quite a few ladies over the years that could do the same things I did, even better on occasion. Granted more guys than gals are attracted to martial arts - we like to grunt, sweat and hit things ;) - and even those Shaolin temples have a few nuns that are seriously hard-core.

In fact, the legendary macho-man Bruce Lee started off studying a martial art called Wing Chun, which was invented (and practiced quite well) by a nun.

But I agree things like this aren't for everybody. Heck, it would be boring if they were! :D
 
I can understand the monks training their bodies and minds to tolerate extreme physical activity. However, the snake handlers believe that handling poisonous snakes prove their faith and salvation. They also include young impressionable children in their beliefs, and death has resulted for children as young as 7. Also if you research this practice you find that many of the leaders of this religious practice have died from snake bites, including it's so called founder.
 
I know I'm going to get some heat for saying this but In my opinion religions and stupidity go hand in hand. These snake people are more extreme than most, but all religions have beliefs and practices that just don't make sense.
 
Judi.D said:
I can understand the monks training their bodies and minds to tolerate extreme physical activity. However, the snake handlers believe that handling poisonous snakes prove their faith and salvation. They also include young impressionable children in their beliefs, and death has resulted for children as young as 7. Also if you research this practice you find that many of the leaders of this religious practice have died from snake bites, including it's so called founder.
Click to expand...

I realize it's a quantum leap in thinking between the two, but I think the common denominator is belief or faith. Exactly where that faith is placed is the bugaboo ...

The monks believe in themselves and in their teachers - the snake handlers believe in God to protect them.

If this were a casino, the monks would own it and the handlers would be the customers. ;)
 
rkunsaw said:
I know I'm going to get some heat for saying this but In my opinion religions and stupidity go hand in hand. These snake people are more extreme than most, but all religions have beliefs and practices that just don't make sense.
Click to expand...


Im telling the Pope what you just said...so there.
 
rkunsaw said:
I know I'm going to get some heat for saying this but In my opinion religions and stupidity go hand in hand. These snake people are more extreme than most, but all religions have beliefs and practices that just don't make sense.
Click to expand...

That's why it's called Faith.
 
rkunsaw said:
It makes no sense at all to have faith in something that common sense tells you it can't be true.
Click to expand...

There is no sense in trying to make sense of it. It's just faith. One man's truth is not necessarily another's. I think the mistake is going around trying to convince others that one's way is the only way.
 
rkunsaw said:
I know I'm going to get some heat for saying this but In my opinion religions and stupidity go hand in hand. These snake people are more extreme than most, but all religions have beliefs and practices that just don't make sense.
Click to expand...

I agree Rkunsaw, not calling the believers stupid, as they obviously need something to guide them in their lives, and if they found it, good for them. Just don't preach to me and try to get me to join the flock, that will backfire. Born and raised Catholic here, who hasn't participated in my entire adult life. Seeing those preachers (and believers) on the Sunday morning TV shows, even for 2 minutes, pushes me further and further away from any religion really.

Many wars and killings have occurred in the name of religion. There is a lot of hate in the hearts of many religious people, hatred for those who don't look like them, act like them, or live their lives like them. They don't have the 'live and let live' attitude, which is a lot healthier, IMO.

A person who doesn't have to be threatened to live a kind and loving life, with burning in hell, is more of the person that I am and want to be around. A person that doesn't think they're going to be rewarded in their "heaven" by dozens of virgins, is the kind of person I want around.

Religion is a business in the modern world, I know because when I was a child, people would know on my mother's door and try to sell her on their religion, today, 55 years later, they still knock on mine. I send them on their way after the first 3 words. The snake in this case is just a side show in the three ring circus.
 
That Guy said:
There is no sense in trying to make sense of it. It's just faith. One man's truth is not necessarily another's. I think the mistake is going around trying to convince others that one's way is the only way.
Click to expand...

I've been on religious and spiritual forums by the score, even an atheist forum :p, and the one thing that seems to predominate is that everyone is trying to convince everyone else that their viewpoint is the only right one.

The atheists scream for proof - well, faith is not a system that uses proof, so they can't very well provide it. As a result they get ridiculed.

Then the believers go after the atheists, quoting Scripture and verse and demanding that the atheists prove that their faith is in error.


... I sit on the side and munch on my popcorn, occasionally flicking a piece of it at someone when they're particularly entertaining. :popcorn:
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top