The Town Hall Archives

The Top Crusader

You can talk either about the usual, or about standing inside of a tongue and talking, I don't care.

rosie · Inquisitive Member Joined: 07 Jan 2003 Posts: 1197

I think speaking in tongues can be OK, but most of what goes on nowadays is fake and (dare I say it?) downright stupid.

My brother went to a charismatic church once (just to visit) and said that he heard the kids repeating what there parents had "said" in church. Then the next sunday, they say it... well, I'm not sure about that, but really. I think it's sorta weird.

Sydney Bristow Vaughn · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 7:58 am Post subject:

I do believe speaking in tongues is not a thing that has passed. I actually know two people who speak in tongues, and they aren't crazy wacked out charismatic cultists. (Disclaimer: Please don't take the last statement to mean that I think charismatics are cult members. I don't.) Anyway, they aren't wacked out, and thats a good thing, cause one is my mother. Wink

The Top Crusader · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 9:44 am Post subject:

Yeah, I was raised in a charismatic church, and have since fled to the Baptist side of the force, but I do believe the Bible indicates that speaking in tongues is still to be used, I don't personally. Sad

Sydney Bristow Vaughn · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 11:32 am Post subject:

Jared · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:28 pm Post subject:

Just a quick thought: read the accounts of speaking in tongues in the Bible and notice that the speakers said the words IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE and each listener heard those words IN THEIR LANGUAGE. Compare this with the Pentacostal/charmismatic definition of tongues, where people speak jibberish and NO ONE understands them.

The purpose of tongues - and I believe it to be a gift for only the apostolic age, by the way - was to be able to speak to MORE people, not to make your words unintelligible. Some people today are speaking jibberish, but they're not speaking in tongues.

Mandy Straussberg · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:47 pm Post subject:

I believe (and my church/family/friends) that tongues are a gift from God. I've heard it put as one's 'spiritual prayer language.' I believe that tongues is that person's personal communication with God. The only person that needs to understand it is God. I also believe that some people have the gift of interpretation of tongues.

I do speak in tongues when I pray for others. And (this is to you, Top) it is a gift. God chooses to give it to some people, but to others, he gives other gifts.

Mandy

Rachael Blackgaard · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 1:03 pm Post subject:

At my church, lots of people speak in tongues. It's a pentecostal church. We accept speaking in tongues, but we don't assume it to be from God if no one can translate what the person said.

Sydney Bristow Vaughn · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 2:12 pm Post subject:

extraneous interference · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 6:22 pm Post subject:

I had a fantastic oppurtunity to speak to a professor of religion, also a pastor of a Christian Reformed Church, on the topic of speaking in tongues. Coming from a very conservative church, I used to believe that all speaking in tongues was of the devil, or it was a lie. But the Bible speaks of it often, and speaking in tongues is very common in churches today, especially in Africa. My option was this: either I call everyone who claims to have spoken in tongues a liar or deceived by the devil, or I accept that speaking in tongues still happens today. My prof noted that he didn't believe in speaking in tongues until he was challenged with this very question. Not every person who speaks in tongues is a liar, and not all tongues come from the devil: the devil would not give somebody the ability to speak in tongues when it edifies his faith, Satan is trying to work in the opposite direction. A friend of mine claims to speak in a "prayer language." It comes when he does personal devotions, and he speaks to God in this special language. He is a very solid, steady guy, but I had to look at him twice when he said that he believed he was speaking in the tongue of angels... (if you speak in the tongue of men or angels, but have not love...) I don't understand the purpose of tongues, I don't understand why God has not taken it away, and I do not desire it for myself. It is not a big gift, it is a gift, but not desirable over many of the other gifts that God has given. It is mainly a self-edifying gift, it doesn't seem to add to a Church and it's worship, in my experience, it takes away from a worship service.
The prof said that while he believed tongues was a legitamate gift, he did not desire it, and he did not desire it for the people of his congregation. We need so many other gifts to develop and become useful for the church, then to dedicate our entire focus to the gift of tongues.