Tongues

Hello there.

Interesting topic. One that has no doubt riddle the church with questions.
First of all let me say that I spoke in tongues. It was a couple months after I believed and also a couple months after I was baptized with the Holy Ghost. Let us not interpret our beliefs according to our experience but rather let our Bible correct and guide us into the right experience. I do not believe that what I did even made sense and do not practice what people now call tongues.
As for those who say that tongues follows as a necessary sign of salvation I ask the question, Have you ever been bitten with a snake? Have you ever healed the sick? Ever cast out a demon?
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Mark 16:17-18
"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:4
Doesn't this verse just quoted shed a ton of light on this subject? "[b]Other[/b] tongues". What does the word "other" mean? It tells us what he means when he says "tongues" doesn't it? a "tongue" is a language. Other tongues are other languages. Have you ever spoken in a different language? No you haven't. You have simply said "adj;grhguerjgjkrngfdrugrgnrg" haven't you? (rhetorical question).
"we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." Acts 2:11
Translation "we do hear them speak in our [b]language[/b] the wonderful works of God."
"to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues" Cor 12:10
"then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." Cor 12:28
"diverse kinds of tongues" "diversities of tongues". These verses make sense upon one supposition, to wit, that a tongue is a language in the regular sense of the term.
Any questions?
Randy

Randy,

I look forward to more light over this issue. That's my understanding as well. This 'gift' was a temporal display in the early church and that whenever tongues (varying languages )were spoken, there must be translators to explain them, for the proper order of the assembly.

hm, that's all I know,
thanks
mml

ran,

Are you saying that you spoke an earthly language that you had not known when you received the baptism of the Holy Ghost?

If so, I would like to ask you some other questions if you don't mind.

Hi there. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I did not speak in another earthly language. I partook of that which is commonly called tongues today. I said practically "askgjanfuraefrkfjaril". In reply to the suggestion that the gifts or at least some gifts were only for the early church I say that that seams to me to be an unfounded belief. I have not seen a person get healed but I do not rule it out and neither should you. Tongues does not always require an interpreter [b]because it is an earthly language[/b]. However if there are those who are supernaturally endowed with the gift to speak in another language they should not speak that language in a open assembly unless there is an interpreter and that is precisely what the Apostle to the gentiles meant when he said "let all things be done decently and in order" 1st Cor 14:40. It may also be inferred from what the Apostle taught that it would be improper to speak in another language in an assembly that is not common to the people of that assembly [b]even if you learned it.[/b]
As a side note I notice that people are said to have the gift of preaching or of ministering. In this sense then there are still those who have the gift of tongues for they are "gifted" with the ability to tranlate Bibles and learn a different language in order to share with isolated groups of people.

Hi RandyJ...

Tongues does not always require an interpreter because it is an earthly language.

Anyway, my experience with tongues is very different than most mainstream churches (including pentecostals). I first experienced "tongues" after seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but also after telling the Lord that I only wanted to be closer to Him through it. I finally got to the point where any "manifestations" simply didn't matter to me. I have been to services where Pastors or Evangelists have asked for the congregation to "pray in the Spirit" or "pray in tongues." I have never felt comfortable with this. I have never been able to "turn it on or off" whenever I wanted. It is difficult to explain my own experiences, but they have, for the most part, been private. I have usually cried out to the Lord in tongues without a soul being around. Sometimes, it has been just while praying, or other times while reading the Word, and other times, it was the result of something else. And on occasion, I have "understood" what I said in this unknown language. And on one occasion, I spoke in a tongue that was understood by an indigenous unbeliever during a mission to Mexico.

One of the best writings on the subject is found in a chapter of David Wilkerson's [i]The Cross and the Switchblade[/i]. John Sherrill, who cowrote [i]Switchblade[/i] with Wilkerson (as well as [i]The Hiding Place[/i] with Corrie ten Boom and [i]God's Smuggler[/i] with Brother Andrew), wrote a later book entitled [i]They Speak with Other Tongues[/i]. It is a great account of a writer who was initially a skeptic.

:-)

Firstly, has anyone found an example in the bible when an angel spoke in a langauge thats not understandable to man?

Secondly, other tongues does not mean that you can not know it. Like that Apostles would not have know how to speak hindi but i bet that the gift of tongues was given by God to speak to the people if needed be.

Thirdly, does anyone have the gift of interpretation???? If you do answer me this.......What does the following mean?

"ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da-ha-ba-da"

Dont know? Well i hear it almost everywhere i go from people who can "speak in tongues".......so it must mean something really important.

A LANGAUGE!!!!!

lol ciao....no more of this bable bable we sound like turkeys!!!

That's funny. I do also think that you have a good point.
An unknown tongue simply means an unknown language. What else could it mean? I note also this verse.
"If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?"
Note especially "and there come in those that are unlearned". Unlearned? What does being learned or unlearned have to do with it if tongues is "ha ba da ha ba da"? The fact that the Apostle says learned, does not that imply that the uncommon language was learned? What the Apostle is describing would be similar to a french person standing up in an american congregation to preach in french. Will they not think that ye are mad? I would think that you were mad.

bro Randy
i think the unlearned here means those who are new to the Faith and don't know(much)about the gift or manifestation of tongues. If you were a new believer and came across a congregation speaking in tongues, it would probably make you think them mad like he said.

also there is no evidence of there being a requirement for anyone to learn the language, if there was one who could interpret, he'd do so and that would reveal to everyone what was said.

bro W_D_J_D

Firstly, has anyone found an example in the bible when an angel spoke in a langauge thats not understandable to man?

no, every time an angel has spoken to a man it has been in whatever language that man is familiar with, for obvious reasons i think. insofar as the tongues of angels, this has been a touchy subject in the past. Paul makes mention of this which to me says there is such a thing, perhaps it was one of those things he saw/experienced when he was taken up to heaven and saw things which he could not explain right away. my own experience with tongues has been that when Holy Spirit fell on me, i uttered a phrase over and over and then in time i stopped. of course i was grieving the Spirit in those days and then when i received a second baptism of the Spirit, i spoke in the same tongue but had a lot more to say. if i remember right the Spirit spoke for about an hour or so. since then i've spoken in 4 distinct tongues, sometimes one at a time, sometimes a combination thereof. one of them i found to be a tongue of angels upon seeking the Lord. this has it's own unique function which is rather hard to explain though. there have been some who disagreed with this view, but this is not a thing i take lightly nor would speak of if i were unsure. of course noone need believe this, but this is the truth.out Lord has given my brother-in-law James (Jimm) the gift of interpretation which He has made manifest in some of the times we've fellowshipped for our edification.

the issue of tongues is really broader in scope and function that it appears and there is so much to learn. i pray the Lord reveal more and more to us for His glory. AMEN.

by the way i'm not bringing up the issue of the tongues of angels as something that ought to be sought coz i didn't seek it, the Lord just moved as it pleased Him. it is a testimony of what the Lord is doing in me.