Minutes ago I suffered a mini-heart attack. I was in the nether working on a storage room for my farm, while removing the ceiling to add stone bricks, I suddenly began to fall. I had forgotten to cover my garbage disposal, so I plunged into the lava sea below. But, that was when a miracle happened. My diamond armor, protection II and above, kept me alive long enough to get to the surface and out before I burnt up! I am still a little in shock because I had some good enchanted tools on me when it happened.
Something like that happened to me today too on SMP1. I was messing around with enderpearls and one of them landed me right in the middle of a surface lava lake. My armor kept me alive too. I was literally shaking for a minute or two!
I had something like that happen recently too. In my case I was placing cobble to cross over some lava. I usually keep cobble in the same slot but in this case the new gravel texture and a little lag almost got me. It looks so similar, I placed the gravel and hopped on it without realizing what I was doing. Next thing I know I was performing the Minecraft version of the final scene from the Terminator 2 as my friend watched. I sank under and bumbled up under an over hang but figured out where I was and made it out. Did a lot of damage to my armor , but I only took one heart damage. Go Protection IV.
