Unsettled Christianity

The Associated Press: Pastor among suspects in illegal snake bust.

How far can freedom of expression really go? Recently, we have seen parents who refused to take their sick child to a doctor, loose that child to the sickness and end up in jail. In the United States, and I believe in a good many parts of the world, governments seem to ‘allow’ freedom of expression, but we also know that this freedom is coming under an increasing amount of attacks, especially when it comes to the homosexual agenda.

But, what about snake handlers? They really only hurt themselves. Some religions are allowed to take mind-altering drugs, which is dangerous, under government scrutiny. I do not believe that snake handling is what is meant by the passage in Mark (indeed, some would argue that that passage is not originally penned by Mark, but later inserted).

I believe that the more we allow the government to take away the rights of others when it comes to freedom of expression, the quicker we will find ourselves banned as well.

In Mark, Christ is speaking of the spiritual drinks and snakes that the Saints could pick up and not let it harm you. He ‘spiritualized’ the leaven of the Pharisees, if one remembers correctly, so it is no stretch of the imagination, or proper theology, to understand that here Christ is not meaning that one should take up snakes to prove his or her faith, but in the battles with the vipers (again, Christ used this as a spiritual term for the Jewish leaders – not all Jews), the Saints will escape unscathed.

Returning to the issue at hand, these snake handlers are crazy, but if they are only hurting themselves, then they should be allowed their religious expression, no matter how insane it is. I try to remember that the Church is not a world government, and America is not a theocracy.

We must continue to pray for these individuals, as they are sorely lost.

Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).

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