Can Christians drink deadly poison without being harmed?

Question

In Mark 16:17-18, Jesus says:

"And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 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."

Thus, according to Jesus, if believers drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all.

This would be a good way for Christians to convince doubters to accept Jesus. They could win a lot of converts by demonstrating their immunity to the deadly poison. Why don't they do so?

Answer 1

Lol.

That one always cracks me up.

Just one of the many ridiculous things in the Bible.

Answer 2

They can. The reason why they don't go around flaunting it is because we are not to test the Lord God. Also If I drank deadly poison in front of you would you believe in God. Actually I have a very good example. My friend was very depressed. she took many pills and tried to kill herself. She ODed so bad. Many people who had taken much less than her had died from it. Would you consider this deadly poison. Well, she had a expeiriance with God that night where she accepted him as she was dying. But God did something miraculous. 3 days later a dog found her lying in the woods. They rushed her to the hospital. Her kidneys were ruined and she was not supposed to even be living when she was in the hospital. They said that she would never be well again. But I swear to you that today she is up living and thanking God for her life. Don't believe me, email me for more information. Now do you believe in God or do you just think that it is something that just happened. Most people still won't believe. That is another reason why we don't go around drinking deadly poison. You wouln't believe us anyway.

Answer 3

Yes, if a Christian actually drank poison it would not harm them. But we have to put this in the right context. Does God really mean go out and drink some poison to see if this works? Remember, the devil told Jesus to throw Himself off of a cliff. The Lord responded, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God". When Jesus said this in Mark 16:17-18, He was pointing to the fact that the person who is in Christ will have a divine protection about Him. Even if someone were to poison him and try to kill him it would do not harm. Remember, the apostle Paul after he was shipwrecked went to start a fire and while he was gathering wood, as deadly snake bit him. The natives of the island knew he was good as dead because of what kind of snake bit him. But Paul shook the snake off as if nothing ever happened. The natives were so shocked they thought he was a god. The result of this was the natives gave their life to the Lord as a resulf to what they saw in Paul. Likewise, if anyman desire to harm us, they would come to an understanding that the divine protection and love of God is on us, that God would be glorified through us.

Answer 4

I know people who have done this, but not for a *show.* That's theatrics and crazy.

I do know someone who was in Asia and had prayed beforehand that God would protect him in regards to food. He has a chronic allergy to poultry, esp. chicken. When he has even a hint of it, he swells, and it can be fatal quickly. He took precautions, but had to pray because he was on a community service / mission trip and didn't want to go overboard and have to spend all his time worrying about food.

Well, at on restaurant they told the cooks that he could not eat chicken. Something was lost in translation, and they thought he didn't LIKE chicken.. well they thought they could convince him he would like THEIR special chicken recipe, so they served it to him without telling him. Well, he ate it and then the cooks laughed and disclosed that it had chicken in it. People at the table all but panicked, and then the cooks realized that there was a serious misunderstanding. Well they prayed over him, and I think he went to the hospital.

Result = NO COMPLICATIONS. Not an itch, nothing. He was fine, even though he was served something that was "poison" to him. The scripture holds true!

Answer 5

I really like your question--and the responses. Preacher and a few others seem to think they can interpret what the "scripture" is really saying, in other words saying that in fact it is not true and a scriptural fact. Never understood when I used to go to church, why the ministers always had to put their own spin on what was plainly written in the bible. Of course anyone with sense knows not to drink poison, so if Jesus said you could drink poison, then he must not have really meant it literally! What a concept. Never have found any verses attributed to Jesus that said "by the way, all of the various things I said were not to be taken literally".

Answer 6

no

Deadly drink (poison) in scripture is often illustrative of the false words of the wicked who come speaking against God. It is this type poison that is deadly, but which cannot harm the true believer. Not literal poison. If you give anyone (believer or non believer) a cup of deadly poison, he'll be hurt. And if it's strong enough, he'll be Dead. God is not telling believers that if we drink a literal cup of cyanide our body will not die, God is telling us that the poison of wicked men's words cannot harm us. That is what the deadly drink 'signifies.' Let us get our Biblical definitions from the scriptures, not from Webster's dictionary, for the Bible is it's own interpreter.

Answer 7

There are a couple of cults in the south that practice these things.
60 minutes had a show on them.
The drink was analyzed and it was strychnine.
They drank it and they were not hurt.
They did pick up rattle snakes and did get bitten and nothing happened to them.

It did not happen every time. Some died by poison and snake bite. I guess it was said that their faith wasn't strong enough.

However to center around a specific couple of verses in the bible and base your worship on them is considered a cult.

It is an extreme form of Pentecostalism.

Answer 8

that's not what it says at all, you'd be pretty lost if you took everything you read from the Bible literally. It means that God does miracles for those who believe, sometimes he'll chose to do a miracle, and sometimes he won't. Haven't you ever heard of stories of people getting really sick and on the brink of death but then getting better all of a sudden? It's not that we go around drinking poison cuz we know it can't hurt us, cuz it will, but those who believe that God has the power over everything will see incredible things happen. It's stupid to do stuff to harm yourself cuz you think God will protect you, cuz there's always consequences for your actions, but by God's power miraculous things will happen

Answer 9

It's talking about Christians having a greater immunity to sin.

Answer 10

I pick the poison, I watch them drink it, if they surprise I will believe, until then it's just a magic trick.

Answer 11

They do drink deadly poison! Coca cola or Pepsi... But its OK. because they are blessed by the Vatican.