Re: Teaching kids about venomous snakes
Quote:
Originally Posted by
The Serpent Merchant
I agree with you that many people think snakes are evil because of the bible. The only problem is that there are 4 times as many snake references in the bible that show snakes in a positive manner as there are negative references (actually read the whole thing). I'm not the most religious person these days but I grew up with religion (both my dad and grandfather work for the Methodist church). Just another case of people misunderstanding what the bible was trying to say.
I had a very religious upbringing and I too have read the whole bible. Couldn't agree more. Without getting too deep into my personal spiritual beliefs, I think many Christians fail to realize the early stories of Genesis were written as morality tales, not books of history. Did Satan take the form of a snake a tempt Adam and Eve? Maybe. Was it simply a story used to teach good and evil and the power of desire? Possibly.
Personally, I feel if you remove religion from the picture, fear of snakes is BECAUSE of venomous snakes. Think about it. If you do not have the benefit of modern science and you live in a region with a lot of harmless snakes and one that can kill you, you treat them all like they can kill you. Either kill it first or run like heck. Our ancestors had to be fearful to survive. Many other animals have the same healthy fear. My cat saw a gopher snake last summer and she was very intrigued and WANTED to swat it, but she thought better of it and slinked away instead. Sure, some cats and dogs are not to cautions and get themselves into trouble. But even look at the king snakes that live with coral snakes. Mimicry! Why use this tactic if other creatures don't have the common sense to go 'Nope, don't want that.' Many harmless snakes survive because of the fear of their venomous cousins. Yet when humans are involved, many die for this reason. I have seen people shoot snakes! Shoot them! We can kill them from a distance with no danger to ourselves, so we show no discernment. It's a snake, therefore it just MIGHT be dangerous, so I'll kill it. Uggggh. I can't stand it. The ignorance of those people greatly saddens me.
