Posted on 10/19/2006 5:44:54 PM PDT by split
Then how is it, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be for building up. If one speaks in a language, let it be by two, or at the most three, and in succession. And let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him be silent in a church; and let him speak to himself and to God. And if there are two or three prophets, let them speak, and let the others judge. If a revelation is revealed to another sitting by, let the first be silent. For you may all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women be silent in the churches; for it is not permitted to them to speak, but to be in subjection, as the Law also says. And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for a woman to speak in a church. Or did the Word of God go out from you? Or did it reach only to you? If anyone thinks to be a prophet, or a spiritual one, let him recognize the things I write to you, that they are a commandment of the Lord.
(1Co 14:26-37)
That's wonderful, and I congratulate you sincerely for being the recipient of this miraculous blessing from God, Who surely is preserving you for some good work in His name. What foreign language were you speaking in when these insights came to you?
It is when missionaries of the gospel find it relatively easy to learn the obscure languages of the people to whom they are called to preach.
Precisely. As I was reading your post, I was thinking about Wycliffe Bible Translators, certainly not an example of instantaneous speaking in tongues, but in reality, that's what they do.
Move up a bit in the same chapter:
26How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
27If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
28But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:38-40 KJV)
Don't be so hard on yourself durasell. I'm a member of an AOG church. In the AOG the practice/promotion of tongues varies from congregation to congregation. In my congregation I can think of maybe a half dozen times when it has been displayed in a service over the last 8 years that I've been there.
That said, I thought your post was hysterical. And most of the folks at my church would as well.
There's certainly enough evidence that this whole issue has been taken to extremes that are not from God.
As one of my pastor's likes to say. "We're Pentecostals. Just not the scary, crazy kind."
Go to post #25
"I think the SBs (full disclosure, I am one) have taken the correct position on this. Both as to the theological truth of the matter, and the fact that if you feel differently, there are other churches that would welcome you.
"
The problem, as I see it, is that they have taken a position at all and have excluded other positions. This is the very source of the splintering of the Christian church through the decades and centuries.
Almost every time people break away from an established church and form a new sect of Christianity, it is over some small difference of opinion as to doctrine.
It is this that has lead to the diminishing of Christianity as a unifying force in society. It is this that has lead to one Christian calling another a non-Christian, based on miniscule differences of belief. It's simply ridiculous.
You are a Southern Baptist, which is a definition that's really hard to define, since the SBC doesn't dictate much of anything to its loose coalition of member churches.
Go to your local Assembly of God church for three consecutive Sundays. You'll be amazed at the difference between your church and theirs. Someone coming from outside of Christianity would be justified in thinking that they were two different religions.
Then, visit an Eastern Orthodox church of any variety. The differences are even more marked.
Christianity is dissolving into a collection of belief systems that are more different than similar. I have read posts from people on Free Republic countless times telling Christians of other denominations than theirs that they are not really Christians. How divisive. How ridiculous.
I replied before reading the entire thread. I've yet to see a case where in a church there was an interpreter nearby that could translate. Oh, I've seen cases where they say there is an interpreter. But even here abbabbabaloo can easily mean many different things in the same session. I am not saying it is not real for some, bu the vast majority seems to be aimed more at self-aggrandizement than in truly praising God.
I thought it was funny too.
"I've yet to see a case where in a church there was an interpreter nearby that could translate."
I have on numerous occasions.
When my sons were little by their constant fooling around they made me speak in tongues, along with rocking back and forth with my hands on my hips like Stevie Wonder.
It shouldn't vary. Denominational position is that, contrary to 1 Corinthians 12:13, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is subsequent to conversion, and, contrary to 1 Corinthians 12:29, its sign is speaking in tongues.
The denominational position does not vary. But the intensity of the practice does vary between congregations. Some are more open and public. Some emphasize it more as prayer language.
I was raised in a Baptist church that had solid teaching but you couldn't clap in the morning service. Growing up I didn't have a problem with it because that was all I knew. But, while checking out worship in a church other than the church I was raised in, a few times I heard tongues and they were interpreted.
There was a lot of emotion in that church. And there was this really cute girl, too, but I digress. Anyway, during a time of praise I experienced something I had never previously experienced. It seemed as though something was trying to come up through the floor, through my feet and fill my body. It was an incredible feeling. But I was scripter, and scripter was a stuffed shirt.
The next think I knew, boom, Greg Lebarron, a guy with whom I went to high school and who was standing next to me started speaking in tongues. I opened my eyes and he was glowing, or so it appeared. After he stopped somebody else interpreted.
I saw something similar a few times. While I'm not much of one for the more spectacular gifts, I can't deny what I experienced. It seems God has given me other gifts than the gift of tongues.
After that incident I was no longer the big skeptic about the continuation of the spiritual gifts. There is nothing scriptural to suggest that any of the spiritual gifts were taken away after the first century. That which is perfect is not yet come.
"During that prayer session I was surprised to find that I received a Divine healing of a physical malady."
Totally cool! What was it? I've been healed too of serious things. God's power is amazing and he has shown me a man educated in the hard sciences that His power is reality.
You seem to think that there is something wrong with that. I don't. The ONE essential is belief in Christ as your personal Saviour. Everything else is secondary. But, all the different doctrines can't be right. Why associate yourself with error, as you see it, for the sake of unity? To me, that smacks of the liberal's "inclusiveness".
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