bigdre45 wrote:
It's good to finally find people that think for themselves and challenge what has been taught in a pursuit of the truth. So, I have a question. I have seen a few forums on here in regards to speaking in tongues. And some of what I have read so far is funny as hell. However, I would like to know what people think about the subject. And not just as a whole. There are many different facets to the doctrine, such as tongues being the evidence of the Holy Ghost, or tongues being used to build up oneself. Since I'm asking the question I guess I should start with what I believe.

Students of C. F. Parham came up with the idea of initial evidence, or receiving the Holy Ghost with evidence of speaking in tongues, which gave birth to the doctrine of being baptized in the Spirit. The problem I have with that is that not everyone that received the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts followed with speaking in tongues, not even Saul. In fact, I don't believe that the tongues we speak today are the tongues that was spoken then. In the book of Acts, when they spoke in tongues they spoke known languages on earth, not the "heavenly language" you hear today. There is no such thing as a heavenly language in the bible. 1st Corinthians 13:1 lays no solid basis for this teaching. Don't you find it strange when someone is speaking in tongues, uttering the same sounds the same way every time and the interpretation is always different?? Something you may also want to consider is that voodoo priests in Haiti are speaking in tongues just like we do today.

1st Corinthians 14 has been taken so far out of context it's not funny. Parts in the chapter that people view as instructions are actually rebukes. 1Co 14:4  He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I highlighted the word "but" because it is always overlooked. But is a comparative word (not this, but that). It compares two things against each other. What's being compared? Two things: the greater gift versus the lesser gift, but just as important, the proper use versus the improper use of gifts (1st Cor 12:7). All gifts are for the benefit of the body as a whole, not the individual recipient of the gift (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible - 1Cor 12:7). So, why are we using tongues to build ourselves? That's what they did in Corinth. But it wasn't a spiritual building. They were building their egos!

Do I believe in speaking in tongues? Yes. If I'm in a service and someone started speaking Russian as God instructed him/her, you got me. But if someone says shan-day-la-la-na-nay-la-man-cy and the interpretation is there's more money in the house, people are with-holding on God, I'm out!!!
Speaking in Tongues as defined in the Bible is when a person can speak, fluently, a language that they did not know by natural means in order to communicate with someone, in order to spread the 'Word of God' or whatever you want to call it.

All this shandala shandala crap was also around in Jesus's day, too, believe it or not. The modern term for this practice is Glossolalia...but it's not all that modern of a practice. Ever heard of the Oracle at Delphi?? Go hear a "Prophecy" in some unintelligible language, have someone (for a fee) write down what was said and then take it down to the town so that someone can "interpret" it?? Oh, also for a small fee, it was called a 'Telono' (a Tax.) Any of this sound familiar, yet?? That was, I believe it was...and I used to own an NIV "Archaeological Study Bible that made a strong case for it having been...Glossolalia. The only difference between Ancient Greeks and Modern Pentes is the Greeks were up front about the "Show Me Da Money" aspect of it all.

Glossolalia is, I likewise hear, common in the African Traditional Religions from which Pentecostalism drew part of its inspiration...but I've been unable to get ahold of any real documentation of this. I can't say as I've heard much about it in Voudoun...but it makes sense as that religion draws from the same source for many of its beliefs.

    

Integrity above all
Service before self
Excellence in all we do


~United States Air Force core values.


Blackdog, Administrative Schnauzer