Live by the snake, die by the snake

Mark Randall "Mack" Wolford, of southern West Virginia, died at age 44 in late May.
Cause of death? Snake bite.
Was he hiking the Appalachian Trail? Working in high weeds? Visiting a reptile house at a negligent zoo?
No.
He was at church. Leading services, I should add.
Wolford was a snake handler. According to an Associated Press interview, they prefer to be called "serpent handlers," but, as the fictional Dr. Julius Hibbert once said "And hillbillies prefer 'sons of the soil,' but it ain't going to happen."
Snake handling, while banned in most states, is still legal in West Virginia. Even if it weren't, it wouldn't stop someone like Wolford.
After all, his father was a snake-handling preacher. And, wait for it, he died of a snake bite at age 39 in 1983.
So where does all of this come from?
Well, like many beliefs that are held firmly in what many of us would consider the most "normal" of churches, temples, mosques and so on, it comes from a single passage in the book of Mark. (16:17-18 if you're following along).
The passage varies depending on what version of the Bible you're reading, but this is what it says:
"In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Notice it says if you "drink" anything deadly, it won't harm you. It doesn't say anything about the snake biting you. All it says is "they will take up serpents."
Now, here's the part where I explain that I am no Biblical scholar. Like a lot of people, I go to church, try to get something out of it, control my rage triggers (those being attacks on the media and preachers saying that the United States was founded on Christian principals while leaving out the rather startling details that state otherwise) and try to live a life where I don't steal walkers from old ladies in the middle of the street.
We can all be selective about what we follow in the Bible and what we disregard. Again, I am no expert. I'm just glad my eyes didn't fix on "they shall take up serpents" and have some sort of epiphany that sent me off to PetSmart.
For me, unless there's a passage in the Bible (and there could be) that said "And the Lord did say unto them, you shall juggle snakes or I will smite thee on June 15, 2012" I'm not picking up a snake. Not even a tiny one.
I should point out that, even though snake handling is legal in West Virginia, it is fairly rare. That's according to the Associated Press, so, like the Bible, view it how you view it.
But, at least from my own experience, that statement seems to be true. I've been to a lot of different churches, and no one has ever said to me "Here's your bulletin, and would you prefer rattlesnake or copperhead?"
You can find snake handlers, but you have to look. They don't generally find you, unless you're coming to after one hell of a bender that landed you in a place you never intended to visit.
Having said all of that, I do have some respect for this Wolford guy. Mainly because, even though I, and probably a good portion of the U.S. consider what he practiced to be crazy, he didn't shy away from it.
Many who engage in this practice are suspicious of outsiders and shut themselves away from the rest of the world.
Not Wolford. He had no problem with reporters or photographers and took some on snake hunts, according to the AP.
A friend of Wolford's, who happens to be a professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, said Wolford was "trying to revitalize a strong tradition that doesn't make a distinction between beliefs and practices."
That's where I have to disagree. When you're inviting actual physical harm to yourself or others in the name of any religion, bad things usually happen.
Leaps of faith are spiritual risks, not jumping off a building.
The professor went on to say that snake handlers aren't under the illusion that they won't be bitten, and said that they would say the point is "no one gets out of this alive," and "It's not a question of how you live; it's a question of how you die."
Well, there's a refreshing and uplifting take on things.
People who knew Wolford said this is the way he would have wanted to go.
If that was true for him, that's great. It's not true for me.