Sacred Serpents and the Feminine Dilemma

Part I: The Six Dimensions of the Snake-handling Religion

The Church of Jesus Christ with Signs Following is a loosely organized group of autonomous churches that are considered part of the Pentecostal movement. Like the Pentecostals, their religious emphasis is on the Holy Spirit, which empowers them to follow the holy “signs” mandated by Jesus.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½

Ritual
Sign Follower church services are marked by noisy and frenzied displays of religious fervor. At these services, church members may regularly handle venomous snakes, drink poison, lay hands on the sick, and/or speak in tongues. These rituals stem from a literal interpretation of the bible. They believe these practices were mandated by Jesus (Mark 16:17-18), “All these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” Sign followers also testify at church services, which is simply the act of telling a personal story that relates their salvation by God. The testimony serves as example to confirm the word of God.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½

Myth-Origins
Sign followers share the same creation story as other Christians, which includes the creation story and fall of grace instigated by the betrayal of God by Adam and Eve. However, the origins of their particular denomination of Christianity is almost entirely based upon the biblical passage cited above (Mark 16:17-18) and was inspired by Tennessee preacher George Hensley in 1910. After reciting this key passage from Mark, Hensley pulled a rattlesnake out of a box, handled the serpent for a few minutes and then instructed to rest of the congregation to the handle the snake as well.�¯�¿�½

Historical
Brother Carl in his sermon at the brush arbor service suggests that sign followers’ historical perspective is premillenial. In his sermons, he refers to human earthly life to be ” short and illusionary” and refers to the body as a ” fleshy rag that he would gladly exchange for a heavenly wardrobe.” This statement suggests that perfection is not possible in this world and shall only be attained after the Second Coming and judgment.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½

Doctrine-Theology/Cosmology
Sign followers go not believe in the trinity in the traditional sense; they believe Jesus is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This religion places a significant emphasis on the Holy Spirit and thus God is perceived as imminent through the physical interaction with Holy Spirit. The evidence for spiritual bodily possession is the ability to follow the signs (snake handling, speaking in tongues, etc.).�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½ Snake handlers interpret the bible in a literal manner. This evident not only by their rituals inspired by Mark 16 passage but also by their greetings by kisses, reciprocal feet washing and the modest feminine dress code and gender segregation which are also mentioned in the bible.�¯�¿�½

Doctrine-Soteriology
Sign followers believe in the literal battle between good and evil on earth and thus consider a Christian’s greatest enemy to be a supernatural one. This belief is evident in their common practice of casting demons from their troubled believers.
Believers often rely on other help being the supernatural healing and sanctification provided by bodily possession by the Holy Spirit. In some ways this interaction with Holy Spirit is self-help because preparatory rituals such as praying and anointing must be completed prior to receiving these gifts from the Holy Spirit.�¯�¿�½

Ethics-Issues: Marriage and Family

Like other Christian religions marriage and family are expected events in a good Christian’s life. The final wedding in the book illustrated the importance of complete chastity until marriage. The author relates the unusual passion displayed in the young couple’s kiss and attributes this to the fact this is the first time they had EVER kissed. Divorce is not accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ with Signs Following. This was evident when the former member, Elvis, was publicly ostracized by the church for his remarriage after divorce.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½

Ethics-Issues: Sexuality
This aspect is discussed below with gender roles.�¯�¿�½

Social-Integration
Due to their staunch adherence to literal biblical interpretations, snake-handlers segregate themselves from other denominations in order to maintain the purity of their beliefs. Although there is considerable interactions between churches within this denomination, each church operates independently.�¯�¿�½

Social-Authority
In The Church of Jesus with Sign’s Following, there is neither a centralized authority nor a political hierarchy. The only authority is a pastor which is “called upon” not elected by the church members. Although churches may often interact with one another, they don’t have a single unifying leader.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½

Social-Gender Roles
Gender roles are also specified by strict literal biblical interpretations. Women have especially strict guidelines in which they are expected to adhere. Women are expected to have hair long (without any chemical treatment) and wear ankle length dresses. Also, the use of jewelry, makeup, or other adornments is strongly discouraged. Men and women are segregated to opposite sides of the room during church services and during reciprocal foot washing rituals, women are required to leave the room entirely. This sentiment toward women became painfully clear during Brother Carl’s last sermon in the book. He renounced women that took men’s jobs, wore men’s clothes, or cut their hair. He justified this perspective by reminding the congregation that Eve was borne from Adam’s rib for the purpose of being his helper.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½

Experience-Mystical
The experience in a snake-handling church is a mystical one. In fact, during the possession by the Holy Spirit many believers do not recall handling serpents, speaking in tongues, or healing the sick. Others report feeling that the snake themselves had become an extension of their body.�¯�¿�½

Experience-Intensity of change
In the book Brother Charles suggested that repeated interactions with the Holy Spirit is a perpetual process of rebirth and it acts to increase the believers’ spiritual strength, closeness, and understanding of God. He said, “Every time you go through one spiritual door, there will be another to go through. Every time you go through one, you’ll get stronger, you’re led by the Spirit more, the Spirit can reveal things to you and let you know more and more, and the more it can trust you with, the more it will let you have”.

Part II: The Judeo-Christian Perspective of Women
Not unlike many other Christian religions, the sign followers probably derived their inferior perspective of women from literal interpretations of the Old Testament. While sign followers attempt to stay completely true to the Word, this task is indeed impossible. The Judeo-Christian scriptures are contradictory, while in the Old Testament Torah, and Talmud clearly delineated the inferior status of women; Jesus later elevates the status of womanhood in the New Testament. Therefore, any good fundamentalist Christian is faced with a dilemma and must make a choice between these two countering perspectives.�¯�¿�½

Old Testament, Torah & Talmud
After the Babylonian exile, Jewish women suffered a significant loss of basic human rights. In response to God’s apparent judgment of Israel, priest developed a new plan to ritually and socially purify Israel. As a result women became the usual scapegoat for “uncleanliness”. For example, women were considered ritually unclean during both menstruation and childbirth. By the 2nd Temple period Jewish law further eroded the rights of women. Women were now prohibited from being seen in public and thus they were forced to be veiled when they were away from home, their legal testimony in court was no longer permissible, and they were prohibited from speaking with strangers. Not only were female social interactions severely constrained; they also lost hope in achieving closeness with God. Jewish women were relegated to worship God in separate and inferior courts and they were also prohibited from either reading or learning the Torah. In the Mishnah, Rabbi Eliezer, clearly illustrated the prevailing anti-female sentiment, “Rather should the words of the Torah be burned than entrusted to a woman…Whoever teaches his daughter the Torah is like one who teaches her obscenity.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½

New Testament
Although Jesus did not tout feminism, as we know it today, he did significantly elevate the status of women in Christianity. In doing so, he broke many of the established Hebrew laws of his time. For example, Jesus taught women from the Torah, accepted females into his circle of followers, and largely ignored ritual uncleanness laws regarding menstruating women. In one biblical account in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is described of curing a woman who suffered from perpetual menstrual bleeding. In another account, Jesus blatantly violated Hebrew law by speaking to and healing a foreign Samaritan woman. Foreign women were considered impure at all times. Finally, it is women that witnessed the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Ironically, with this holy news the world was forced to accept the testimony of women.�¯�¿�½

Conclusion
Although at first glance, literal biblical interpretation would seem to be the best strategy for rediscovery of the one “true” church, disparity within the scriptures forces interpretation. Sign followers have adopted an intermediate perspective regarding the roles and right of women. There is no reason to believe that women of snake-handling churches are particularly opposed to their secondary status, in fact, having a clearly defined role may provide them comfort. However, the female acceptance of this standard may be a result of lack of alternatives due to the church’s social, economic and geographic segregation from more liberal organizations. As cities grow and culturally diverse humans are forced to interact with each other, this church’s purity is likely to become diluted. When women are offered more equitable alternatives, the church will probably be forced to either liberalize their views on women or perish.