You are still forgetting that Paul was able to physically fulfil this as a sign of the greater spiritual battle Jesus' comments refer to.  Since Mark 16:9-20 is not Scripture but an addendum, you have to understand that Aristion misunderstood what Jesus said, but the original speech of Jesus relating to this topic in Luke 10 is clearly spiritual.  Aristion's confusion most likely arises out of knowing there was some kind of connection between this and Paul's miracle in Malta. 

It's amusing to see Muslims reason like Atheists.  You sound like you don't really believe that Jesus performed miracles, never mind people nowadays.  I actually experienced a very strange miracle this year.  I bumped into some Christians in London and they claimed one of my legs was slightly shorter than the other.  Since nobody has ever pointed this out to me, I was rather sceptical, but when they held my legs out sure enough, one of them was.  They then prayed for me, and I was thinking, Something may come of it, something may not.  but to my surprise, I felt my leg stretch and sure enough I don't walk quite as awkwardly as I used to.  This was something I'm grateful for especially as I suffer from Psoriatic arthritis resulting in ankylosin spondilitis. 

Salaam Alaikum, Hassan.

I believe Matthew 7:21-23 applies to so-called 'christians' who claim to be following God but are not.

It applies to people who claim they love Jesus, but look down on the poor and victims of injustice. Applies to those who say they believe in Christ but live their lives in a way that are totally opposite to His teachings. It is about those who make $$$ by fooling people and taking advantage of them, people like Benny Hinn. It applies to those who do good things only because they will be recognized.

Who do you think it applies to?

Salaam Alaikum, islamispeace. The hadith does clearly say that eating 7 dates in the morning will protect a person from poison. The hadith does not say what types of poisons, it says "poison". Poison is defined as any substance that can cause a person harm.


poi·son  (poizn)
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/poison

I understand that dates do have medicinal value, but that isn't what the hadiths I cited were saying. They say that if a person eats 7 of them, he or she will be immune to poison (or magic) for the day. Nothing more, nothing less.

You say there could be a context, meaning that the author meant they protect against only certain kinds of poisons, and back then it was all that people had medicinally speaking so it was better than doing nothing. Likewise, it was best to just pray if bitten by a scorpion, whereas now we shouldn't rely only on prayer in this type of situation but also use medicine.

Why is the possibility not feasible for you that the passage in Mark also came within a context, and applied to a certain period in time only? People in the Book of Acts did handle snakes, heal people, speak in tongues. Perhaps there are still come Christians who are able to do this today, perhaps not. But these things did already happen, so Christ's words were shown to be true.


If people are going to try to 'disprove' Mark 16 on the basis that Christians today are for the most part unable to miraculously heal or speak in tongues or handle poisonous snakes, then it is as easy to 'disprove'  Muhammad's words in numbers 663 and 664 by noticing that if a person eats 7 dates at 6:00 AM and then eats a significant dose of rat poison at 9:00 AM, he will be dead or severely harmed in the next 60 minutes, long before night comes.




Edited by TG12345 - 20 December 2012 at 3:06pm

Hi Mahdi,

Quote from Post 1:
MARK 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well"


Response: --- This is a question that has been asked before, --- and the other question, whether or not the last verses of Mark’s Gospel are authentic.

--- I would like to start with the Scripture. --- In studying this through before, and again now, --- I find that the verses from 16:9-20 are noted as being in all of the Bible versions, but are mentioned as not being in the first two Greek manuscripts.

In the Dake’s Annotated Bible Commentary, he says,
Quote: “Of 618 Greek Manuscripts that contain the Gospels, only 2 do not have these verses. --- Syriac is the first language in which the NT was translated in 150 AD, and it contained these verses.
Following that, they are in the Coptic and Egyptian Versions in the 3rd and 4th centuries, --- The Gothic Version, in 350, --- The Latin versions, 8000 of them now exist, copied from Jerome’s Vulgate in 382, --- and the Armenian Bible about 400 AD.” --- End of quote.

--- (The Douay Version was translated to English from the Latin Vulgate about 1600, of which I have a copy, and it doesn’t mention these verses being separate, --- which is the same as the earlier King James Version, which were translated from Greek Manuscripts and produced in 1611. There is no footnote or mention, --- so to that date the verses were considered authentic.
--- In the Amplified Bible a footnote says, [9-20,are not in the two earliest manuscripts.]
--- In the New King James Study Bible which I use, the footnote says, [These verses are lacking in the Codex Siniaticus and Codex Vaticanus, although nearly all other manuscripts of Mark have them.]

Enough history, now we can consider why they were not in the first two

Salaam, --- I would like to say,
--- I believe your testimony to be true about the lengthening of your leg. --- Wow! --- These are always amazing things to me, but not something I haven’t seen happen, or haven’t experienced myself.
(This is what gives us confidence to share our faith with others, if they will listen.)

One day I was walking in a Mall and a fellow came up and said, “I see you are limping a little, would you like me to pray for you?”
This was unusual but I said, ‘I am a Christian and believe in healing, but what is your level of faith?’ --- He told me about himself and I felt that he was genuine, so I said, ‘okay.’ --- He laid his hand on my shoulder and prayed, --- I thanked him and we went our separate ways.    
--- My slight limp was not from a physical problem of bone structure, but it was a muscle in my groin that I favored a little when I walked. (I used to call it a ‘hitch in my git-a-long.’) --- As verse 18 says, “They shall lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” --- It doesn’t say immediately, but “They will recover.”

It may have been a week or two before I noticed I was walking normally. --- I thanked the Lord for sending that one to pray for me, and I thanked God for the healing. --- You see, it doesn’t have to be spectacular, but very natural for one Christian to pray for another.

--- In our Church we had a lady who suffered from migraine headaches (If you have ever had them, you will understand). --- One day as I was talking to her when she was suffering, the Lord prompted me to touch one of the two cords on the back of her neck. --- (This was unnatural because we usually never touch a lady apart from a simple hug.) --- Almost before I realized it, I was touching the cord with the end of my fingers and said, “Is that where it hurts?” --- She acknowledged, “Yes.” --- I withdrew my hand and we went on visiting with other people.
--- We never mentioned the incident again, and no one seemed to notice, --- but in due time her headaches were gone, and I have never heard her talk about headaches since. --- We just say, “Praise the Lord.”

I will get on with the explanation of the verses next.


Placid