Originally posted by aardvarkhomeWhen done according to THE WORD OF GOD. Speaking in Tongues is uplifting.
Whats that all about then?
In the UK most people would refer to speaking in tongues with a shrug of the shoulders and a wry smile.
In the US you seem to take it seriously. Is it a real phenomenon or are people just putting it on?
Originally posted by aardvarkhomeIn the UK, we have better uses for our tongues, not all of which are offically sanctioned by the pope.
Whats that all about then?
In the UK most people would refer to speaking in tongues with a shrug of the shoulders and a wry smile.
In the US you seem to take it seriously. Is it a real phenomenon or are people just putting it on?
Speaking in tongues is an interesting topic in the xian church. Many many denominations view it as a spiritual gift that has passed. It was good for those early days, but not in today's world of cell phones and heart transplants.
Another substantial portion of xians in the US engage in it to varying degrees. For some it is a gift that only certain individuals have. When the gift is manifested it must always be followed by some one with the gift of interpreting tongues. Otherwise the manifestation was from the person's flesh (sinful nature) or perhaps the Big Man himself (Satan). I've been to a few churches like this and it's always interesting when some one starts speaking loudly in tongues, because you know the person who just did is praying hard that some one pretend to interpret it, lest it was a demon that was speaking (maybe the person was near an ouija board)
Most of the churches that I attended saw the gift of tongues as a universal gift, so anybody could do it. You just had to pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Once you could babble then it was used as either a personal prayer language (that you don't understand) or in some churches as a joint self-edification ritual. In this latter case, at some emotional point in the program, perhaps after worship music, the pastor or music leader would let the program break of and there would be an extended period of babbling. When I was kid, this was no big deal, but I suppose that to an inexperienced observer, the display would be terribly creepy.
As one might expect, some xians think that those who engage in speaking in tongues are actually being misled by the devil and are going to hell. Of course, some of the "Spirit-filled" believe that those xians who don't do it, don't really know Jesus and are instead living out a cold religion, the kind that get a nasty surprise in the end.
Originally posted by DoremifasoOK, I guess you don't know what you're saying when you talk like that though?
speaking in tongues means that you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and generally, only God can understand what you are talking about. Its a language that we use to talk to God.
I know a guy who learnt how to speak in tongues when he was a reborn Christian. Now he is a hedonistic homosexual, but he can still speak in tongues when he wants to as a party trick.
Originally posted by telerionAMEN!
Speaking in tongues is an interesting topic in the xian church. Many many denominations view it as a spiritual gift that has passed. It was good for those early days, but not in today's world of cell phones and heart transplants.
Another substantial portion of xians in the US engage in it to varying degrees. For some it is a gift that only certain ...[text shortened]... Jesus and are instead living out a cold religion, the kind that get a nasty surprise in the end.
Originally posted by aardvarkhomeBoth, it is a serious gift of God, and people play at it and are just
Whats that all about then?
In the UK most people would refer to speaking in tongues with a shrug of the shoulders and a wry smile.
In the US you seem to take it seriously. Is it a real phenomenon or are people just putting it on?
putting it on. Within scripture there are several gifts of tongues
one was used in Acts where every man heard the various people
speaking in their native language about the things of God, there
is one gift that someone gets a message from God and another
will interpret it to the group what it is that God wants to communicate
to the body, there is another that when you pray while you’re 'alone'
and it is the Spirit of God praying for the things that need to be
prayed for. If you want scripture references I'll look them up for
you.
Kelly
Originally posted by DoremifasoSo again, what's it good for? Why would you need a special language to talk to God? Doesn't God, according to Christian belief, know all our thoughts and understand any language anyway?
speaking in tongues means that you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and generally, only God can understand what you are talking about.