Re-read your interpretations.Save there life by drinking venom
What the heck are you saying
Show me the info you have on them
16. "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved ; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned .
17. "These signs will accompany those who have believed : in My name they will cast out demons , they will speak with new tongues ;
18. they will pick up serpents , and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick , and they will recover ."Where's thought and mind here? It says clear that the one who believes and is baptised will drink venom and survive, which is false.MIND...the mind is clearly stated here. God can allow you to survive a venomous bite if he chooses to, but its safe to assume that if you drink the venom you will die. Thats why we have a concept of thought and mind.
Contradictions ain't a news to me, too.Nobody worthwhile is saying take the bible literally, your fairly obvious observation that the bible contradicts itself is not breaking news. That's why it's so easy to find scriptural evidence to support both sides of an argument and that's why it's a waste of time.
Oh yes, the attempts of alleogrically interpreting many things often lead to strange results, nevertheless people still believe them .Samuel 2:8 reads: "for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them." Do you know of anyone who takes this passage literally?
Origen, in one of the earliest commentaries on scripture in the 3rd century wrote: "the spiritual truth was often preserved, as one might say, in material falsehood."