Since we are on a roll, let me continue from yesterday's post, with comment on the ending of the Gospel of Mark. First let me remind everyone that when the gospels were written, they were not named. The gospels do not claim to be written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These names were added later by the church. But that is no big deal to me, just a bit of trivia.
Anyway, one of the worst "additions" to the Bible is the ending of Mark. I can remember being surprised when I was in confirmation and was given a Bible that it included several various endings to the book of Mark.Anyway, there are a lot of versions of Christianity. Some of them I find absolutely terrifying. Not providing medical care to children is terrifying and it seems so unChristian and unChristlike to me. And handling snakes?
The only place that handling snakes is mentioned in the Bible is in Mk 16. I want to take this moment today to indicate to you that the ending of Mark is not in the Bible. It was added later. Mark in fact originally ended with verse 16:8 where the women leave the tomb and they’re fearful. Somebody decided this wasn’t a good ending - fear was not a good light to leave the Jesus story in. So there are several versions of the ending of Mark that were created after the fact. The one most commonly seen includes drinking deadly poison and handling snakes. You’ll notice that most people that take this part literally handle the snakes but don’t drink the deadly poison. I wonder why?
Google "snake handling preachers that have died." There are a ton. It is absolutely ridiculous what some people will do in the name of religion.
Anyway this is one “Christian practice" that you don’t have to worry about because it’s not in the Bible it was added later.
It is a beautiful, snake free day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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