"And if any man shall administer poison unto them it shall not hurt them;
And the poison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them."
Doctrine and Covenants 84:71-72
These verses are part of a list of "signs [that] shall follow them that believe" (verse 65). It is similar to Mark 16:17-18, which also talks about handling serpents and drinking "any deadly thing" not harming believers.
In college I watched a documentary about a group that had handling snakes and allowing them to bite as part of their traditional worship (which I do not recommend: kids, please do not try this at home). It was interesting, but I think God warns us away from it being something we seek after when he says later in this section "But a commandment I give unto them, that they shall not boast themselves of these things" (verse 73). It's kind of like praying to ask God to protect you in traffic and then intentionally driving dangerously, right? Never a good idea to force a situation where we are testing God. Christ refused to do so when Satan tempted him (see Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:9-12), and so should we.
What I was thinking about when reading this is the word poison (no, not the poison vs venom debate). There are a lot of things that can poison us in different ways than snakes and drinks... and I think that God can protect us from all of the kinds of poison in the world. Poisons of mockery, bullying, and self-doubt. Poisons of abuse, neglect, or rejection. Poisons of hatred, discrimination, gossip, or other offense. There are so many things that can seep into our lives, administered by others or even by ourselves, and they can take over our lives and kill parts of us if we let them. However, if we believe and have faith in God, he can help us with this kind of poison as well, and he can help us survive it. Our obsessions and our addictions and our faulty self-perceptions don't have to poison our lives, if we look to God for his help.
Today, let's think about the poisons in our lives and what is holding us back from being our best selves, and let's talk to God about getting past the past, learning to remove sources of poison from our lives, to survive and thrive despite the poisons we cannot remove, and also to be less poisonous ourselves. :)
And the poison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them."
Doctrine and Covenants 84:71-72
These verses are part of a list of "signs [that] shall follow them that believe" (verse 65). It is similar to Mark 16:17-18, which also talks about handling serpents and drinking "any deadly thing" not harming believers.
In college I watched a documentary about a group that had handling snakes and allowing them to bite as part of their traditional worship (which I do not recommend: kids, please do not try this at home). It was interesting, but I think God warns us away from it being something we seek after when he says later in this section "But a commandment I give unto them, that they shall not boast themselves of these things" (verse 73). It's kind of like praying to ask God to protect you in traffic and then intentionally driving dangerously, right? Never a good idea to force a situation where we are testing God. Christ refused to do so when Satan tempted him (see Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:9-12), and so should we.
What I was thinking about when reading this is the word poison (no, not the poison vs venom debate). There are a lot of things that can poison us in different ways than snakes and drinks... and I think that God can protect us from all of the kinds of poison in the world. Poisons of mockery, bullying, and self-doubt. Poisons of abuse, neglect, or rejection. Poisons of hatred, discrimination, gossip, or other offense. There are so many things that can seep into our lives, administered by others or even by ourselves, and they can take over our lives and kill parts of us if we let them. However, if we believe and have faith in God, he can help us with this kind of poison as well, and he can help us survive it. Our obsessions and our addictions and our faulty self-perceptions don't have to poison our lives, if we look to God for his help.
Today, let's think about the poisons in our lives and what is holding us back from being our best selves, and let's talk to God about getting past the past, learning to remove sources of poison from our lives, to survive and thrive despite the poisons we cannot remove, and also to be less poisonous ourselves. :)
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