Many of us find it believable. You don’t have to.
Do you care to specify what the size(s) of the sticks were with respect to a quite possibly small snake? And maybe the snake was defensively stationary at first?
You are the one who suggested they must be small, to gather several
at one swoop.
Ive picked up snakes that were not moving until i
picked them up, but they sure moved after that.
Could you actually address my last post?
Nah, thanks anyway. There will always be details to interject to confirm your disbelief, but I have found God’s providence to be quite trustworthy in my more than threescore and ten.
You could have just said at the beginning that
you cannot be objective.
I thought this was a science and religion forum…
Astrid, do you have much experience with snakes?
As a person who grew up in the country, I have seen scores — likely hundreds.
God gave them some great camouflage.
They are easy to miss in a bunch of sticks.
It is not at all implausible that there was a snake on the ship that wrecked which came ashore.
All this discussion neglects the possibility that God wanted a miracle to validate Paul’s credentials to facilitate the evangelization of the island. In that case, the snake could have been placed or directed there.
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As previously mentioned, i have an analytical nature,
and thought this was a forum that allows for an analytical
approach, not just making things a miracle when they
don’t add up…
Assuming the conclusion is, well, you know.
Sorry you dont want to help me really explore the story.
Yes, that may be so. It does make for one wrong detail in the story,
which is a good concession right there.
Eliminates such as the need to introduce sea snakes from the Indian ocean.
Assuming its all so and there are vipers present, we have the plausibility of “gathering sticks” and not noticing one was a snake.
How big were the sticks, exactly, and how little and how well camouflaged and stationary at first was the snake? And then there’s the insignificant detail of God’s sovereignty and providence.
I did want to, and I tried.
But people have to accept help.
Sorry, i dont mean to be dismissive of your thoughts.
If you have something other than invoking a miracle
to support an assumed conclusion i would certainly appreciate
hearing it.
The sticks were " gatheted" into a " bundle ".
That gives a vague notion, which you can read for yourself, of course.
Do you think it is realistic that someone did not notice he hadicked up
a snake for reasons of experience, or because you believe the story
no matter what it says!, for religious reasons?
Invoking a miracle does suggest some acceptance that the story
is not wholly plausible without supernatural intervention.
No one said it was sea snakes. I said that’s a better alternative than it being a lie.
I said Malta is not the actual name of the island and in Greek another island shares the same name and that island has pit vipers.
I said there is evidence that before the 1600s the island had another name. Then the island had its name changed .
No one thinks he was picking up individual sticks and mistook a single stick for a snake. That’s not analytical thinking. It’s just silly notions. You’re literally the only one who can’t comprehend that. You’re stuck on something no one else is stuck on because it’s ridiculous. You keep acting as if you’re spending all these extra brain cells on critical thinking but you are not. You’re stuck on something that makes no sense. It’s not what the story says and it’s not based in reality.
So again… it’s not sea snakes….
It’s a viper. It’s a viper on its native island. It’s a viper thst was hiding in a bunch of debris. It’s debris made up of lots of sticks. It’s a bundle that debris with a native viper species in it. It’s a bundle that was picked up. It’s a bundle carried near a fire made up of lots of debris including sticks that a viper was hiding in. Very common. Super common. When you look for snakes you look for bundles of sticks.
So a viper native to an island in the Mediterranean basin was doing what they do naturally and hiding out in a bunch of debris that was bundled up. This bundle was picked up and carried to a fire. He most likely then set this bundle down and was tossing sticks into the fire. Why is that likely? That’s how people do it all the time. The snake driven out by the heat in a fight and flight mode bit the man.
This is such a common thing to be lost on it is baffling to me.
So the miracle and fantastical part of the story that my 9 year old niece was just told and got within a minute , is not the snake, it’s not the island, it’s not the bundle of sticks, it’s not the fire, and it’s not being bit.
The only supernatural part of the story is potentially a man surviving without any harm a venomous snake bite thst injected venom into him.
But literally I just asked my niece half an hour ago when I read it and she instantly picked up on;
Someone picked up a bundle of sticks that had a snake hiding in it that but someone.
Can you explain why you think he picked up a single stick and thought it was a snake and placed it in a bundle?
Can you explain what are the other reasons why it may have been a different island?
Can you explain to me what venomous species are on that other potential island?
If you still are stuck on this story, made you can make your own post and stop trying to hijack what my post was.
You mentioned “ me having my post by myself”.
I would appreciate it if you made your own post about your problems with the story. That way maybe others who read through this want forget my actual question.
I did not ask of the scales were real or not. I did not ask if they were able to be explained away as this or that medical issue. I did not ask if the story about if Paul’s shipwreck was legitimate.
I asked very plainly does anyone have any sources that deals with tracing hyperlinks of enemies with scales throughout the Bible.
I then referenced how a Leviathan was a giant sea serpent with tough skin which would have been like scales. I mentioned the snake in the garden having scales. I mentioned Goliath’s armor resembling scales. I then mentioned Paul’s story which is not even central to the nature of my question having scales , or like scales, falling from his eyes. I stated I don’t think it’s literal, and I think it’s theological, and does anyone have information on tracing this theological implication.
It seems no one here does.
Offshoots in discussions are normal. But this is not a offshoot. It’s a complete hijacking entertain your question, not mine.
I believe we not on speaking terms
If all you saw in my posts was a discussion of a miracle, then you did not read my comments
But I think I cannot help further
Its not all i saw, but is it not the bottom line?
I got the impression that you have decided the story has to be true and
its but a matter of showing how it is.
Am i mistaken?
The possibility of God orchestrating the situation was an aside, not the point.
The story is completely plausible with no divine intervention.
I laid out the reasons why, and you focused on an aside.
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