[Rufus]

Yes, it's my mission in life to cause trouble...........

Tongues!!!!! :o

You say?

[peter]

I hear alot about people speaking in tongues..
I know a group named flame minisries who has a few people who can speak in tongues..
but im not sure exactly what Speaking in tongues is ..or how its done ..

care to enlighten me roo ?

[slejhamer]

It is a mistake to assume that speaking in tongues is an evidence of one’s faith. To the contrary, the persons who seek signs and sign-gifts show their lack of faith. It is a sin for any Christian to seek for signs before he will believe God’s Word.

MORE HERE

[Rufus]

Slej.

Should we take this as your opinion also, or are you simply providing information?

[Rufus]

I hear alot about people speaking in tongues..
I know a group named flame minisries who has a few people who can speak in tongues..
but im not sure exactly what Speaking in tongues is ..or how its done ..

care to enlighten me roo ?

Ah, no Peter....... Not at this time. I hope you dont mind, but I want to see how this thread develops.

[peter]

haha okay ..

[shuttertalk]

my understanding is that it is a spiritual gift... not having it doesn't make you less of a christian, but there are benefits...

[Rufus]

Are those benefits personal? I mean, do they benefit the recipient of the gift??

[shuttertalk]

definitely!

[Rufus]

In what way??


(See, I recieved an e-mail prompt! Dont know how.....)

[slejhamer]

Question: Where is "tongues" referenced in the Gospel? And in what context?

Most of the non-Gospel references to tongues come in Paul's chastisement of the Corinthians.

“Whether there be tongues, they shall cease” (13:8). Tongues shall cease (Gr. patio), that is, they shall come to a complete halt. Who needs tongues? Only the untaught, carnal babes in Christ, for Paul added, “When I was a child, I spake as a child . . . but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (13:11). The word “spake” in context can only refer to speaking in tongues. So that Paul himself came to the place of Christian maturity, through God’s revelation to him, where tongues were no longer necessary. And so in the same tongues context he admonishes the Corinthians, “Brethren, be not children in understanding . . . but in understanding be men” (14:20). Experientially, tongues cease when the Christian matures on a diet of the meat of God’s Word. Actually tongues is baby talk.

I think the following quote from the end of the article I referenced above pretty much sums up my "opinion," though I don't think it's opinion :

For the past two years I have made it my practice to ask many of the leading Bible teachers and scholars, some of whom having a rich working knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, if they have ever spoken in tongues. Among them are college and seminary presidents and professors. To date I have not had one of about sixty men tell me that he ever spoke in tongues!

I have been asked if I ever spoke in tongues. No, I have not. God and I have gotten along nicely for the past forty-five years in English. I speak to Him in English and He hears and understands me. He speaks to me in English through His Word, and I understand Him.

How then can we account for the wide-spread practice of speaking in tongues? I do not have all of the answers to this question, but I will make three suggestions for your prayer consideration.

First, speaking in tongues can be self-induced. Second, speaking in tongues can be group-induced. Third, speaking in tongues can be satanically-induced.

Since the creation of man Satan’s insidious master-plan has been to put a veil between God’s children and God’s inerrant Word. It began in the Garden of Eden when the Devil asked Mother Eve, “Yea, hath God said . . . ?” (Genesis 3: 1), thereby raising doubt as to the authority and authenticity of what God has said. We know that this enemy has stepped up the pace of his strategy.

Our present generation is witnessing the growing menace of satanic activity in the realm of the miraculous. Where the Devil does not succeed in taking the Bible from us, he works hard at taking us from the Bible. And he succeeds in getting Christians to focus their attention on the claims of men and women to some supernatural experience, and in so doing those seekers after the experiences of others have neither time nor interest in searching the Scriptures for God’s truth.

[de_axeman]

I do speak in tongues, but like ST, it is a gift, and it does not make one any better or worse than another.

From what I understand of it, when I pray in tongues, I'm giving the Holy Spirit my voice to pray with, and He prays on my behalf in a tongue that no one (not even me) except God can understand. This also means that Satan cannot understand what the Holy Spirit is praying.

I know speaking on tongues edifies the person who uses it, but not necessarily the greater body of Christ (the church) because no one understands it but God, which is why Paul says it's better to pray in your native language so everyone can understand it (my paraphrase). There is another gift which is the interpretation of tongues, but I have only seen it in operation once in a service. Some guy came out to the mic and prayed loudly in tongues and someone else came up and gave an interpretation of it.

I personally pray in tongues as often as I can because it does edify my spirit when I use it. During times when I'm feeling weary, or stressed, I pray in tongues and it helps me to recharge and prepare myself mentally. While it is impossible to verify the source of 'tongues' - like you say, slej, it can be self-induced and it can be of the devil, how do you tell? - but the Bible clearly teaches that there is such a gifting and a use for it.

My take on the whole tongues issue is - if you believe in it and have experienced the fruit of it as I have, then continue in it in Christ, but if you don't believe in it, or its benefits, and have gotten along fine without it, then that too is good in Christ. It should never be a stumbling block amongst believers. When I exercise my giftings, I always try to use them in love and if I feel that praying in tongues with believers from other churches for example, will cause people to stumble, I just don't pray in tongues then.