Speaking in Tongues?

[Yahu_]

First, I want to say that I have always been skeptical about the whole "speaking in tongues" thing. However, as of late I have been watching a man by the name of Todd White, who has helped to reinvigorate my faith. Todd believes in the gift of tongues and sometimes speaks in tongues on camera. It has got me wondering recently. Is this stuff for real? Most people I have met say it is not for today but I am not so sure as Todd is seemingly the most genuine Christian I have ever seen, so it got me thinking. Two main questions though.

1) Is it not true that when the apostles spoke in tongues in Jerusalem, they were speaking in different Earthly languages so that the people could understand them? It says they heard them in their own languages.

2) If speaking in tongues is not Earthly languages but is the "language of the Holy Spirit and the angels" as I have heard, how do people understand them? How is it beneficial if nobody can understand them?

First off, there are different uses and manifestations of the gift of tongues. Yes, it is valid today but is commonly misused in many Pentecostal churches.

One form of tongues is to pass on information to a speaker of another language when you don't know the language yourself. Another form is to be given as a prophetic message that requires someone else with the gift of interpretations of tongues to give the translation thus providing a double witness that it is a valid prophetic message from Yah. This is general done as a message to a church or congregation of believers. It is a very effective witness if someone knows the language the tongue is given in when the speaker and the translator don't know it themselves.

The last form is for your personal prayer closet where it trains you the hear the Holy Spirit within you and allow the Holy Spirit to use your spiritual authority on earth to pray for things without you screwing it up. This is the form that Paul says is for personal edification. The Holy Spirit may be calling in angelic protection to drive off spiritual attacks against you.

Here is an example. I was in a major conflict with a coven of witches. They wanted me dead. I was at that time across the country from them but they knew how to do astral projection into my home and were sending curses and torments against me trying to drive me to suicide. I felt the attack and started praying in tongues. An angel appeared to them and severed their ties back to their bodies and they fled. It scared one of the witches so badly she went to a christian friend and got saved and I found out about what the tongues had done after the fact through that friend. The last I heard, that former witch was now a pastor's wife that worked with inner city LA gangs warning them about involvement in witchcraft.

 

[Bible2+]

tdidymas said in post 40:

The very mockers who said "they're drunk" were the prime example of unlearned/unbelievers. This was their first impression if they did not understand some of the languages the apostles were speaking. But we know that after a time, they eventually became silent, because the languages were interpreted, Peter spoke that powerful sermon, and 3000 of the crowd became believers.

Note that Acts 2:13 was said even after it was confirmed by an entire multitude that the disciples were not speaking gibberish (Acts 2:6-15). And people got saved only after Peter preached the gospel itself to them (Acts 2:14-41; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Also, nothing says that all of the mockers got saved, for they could have included some of the Jewish priests who had mocked even the miracle-worker Jesus himself on the Cross (Matthew 27:41-42, cf. John 12:37, John 11:47), and who persecuted the disciples even after Acts 2 (Acts 4:1-18, Acts 5:27-41). So even after people have experienced true miracles from God, they can still mistakenly reject them, either as not being true miracles, or as being the work of Satan instead of God (cf. Mark 3:22,29-30).

 

[tdidymas]

Note that Acts 2:13 was said even after it was confirmed by an entire multitude that the disciples were not speaking gibberish (Acts 2:6-15). And people got saved only after Peter preached the gospel itself to them (Acts 2:14-41; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Also, nothing says that all of the mockers got saved, for they could have included some of the Jewish priests who had mocked even the miracle-worker Jesus himself on the Cross (Matthew 27:41-42, cf. John 12:37, John 11:47), and who persecuted the disciples even after Acts 2 (Acts 4:1-18, Acts 5:27-41). So even after people have experienced true miracles from God, they can still mistakenly reject them, either as not being true miracles, or as being the work of Satan instead of God (cf. Mark 3:22,29-30).

I never said or implied that the mockers were saved, I said they were silenced, and this after Peter's sermon, in which the mockers were duly corrected. And the fact that it was miraculous and obvious was the point of my post.

Also, please let me apologize that my last post did seem somewhat hostile, because I had you confused with another poster that I was in conversation with about this subject (I just now noticed it). I admit that I was getting impatient with the nitpicky replies that were avoiding the main issues.
TD

 

[Biblicist]

It must be a very long and convoluted explanation if it is taking so long to compile. One that is obviously unique to yourself as if any other commentator shared your ideas you would have undoubtedly posted them by now, as is your custom.

Yes, I had my original three page reply completed well over a week ago but having decided to check out the library at a Christian college the assignment has now reached 12 pages with a few more to be added. My own library has about 12 commentaries on First Corinthians and as I wanted to check out what a few well known commentators had to say (be they Continuist, quasi-cessationist and cessationist) this has seen the document develop further than I had originally intended, but it has certainly been a thoroughly rewarding and worthwhile exercise.

Unfortunately the past week or so has been rather hectic so nothing has been added but hopefully when things settle down in a few days this means that I should be able to post it as a PDF attachment.

 

[Biblicist]

Note that Acts 2:13 was said even after it was confirmed by an entire multitude that the disciples were not speaking gibberish (Acts 2:6-15). And people got saved only after Peter preached the gospel itself to them (Acts 2:14-41; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Also, nothing says that all of the mockers got saved, for they could have included some of the Jewish priests who had mocked even the miracle-worker Jesus himself on the Cross (Matthew 27:41-42, cf. John 12:37, John 11:47), and who persecuted the disciples even after Acts 2 (Acts 4:1-18, Acts 5:27-41). So even after people have experienced true miracles from God, they can still mistakenly reject them, either as not being true miracles, or as being the work of Satan instead of God (cf. Mark 3:22,29-30).

Over the years I was probably of the same mind as most where I presumed that the mockers were those who were offended by the Gospel; but it seems that mockery or what we would probably deem to be 'light banter' or sarcasm was a common form of expression that crowds often gave toward public speakers. It seems to be a technique that the listeners would employ so that they could get the speaker to respond to specific points without the need to wait for a question or answer time.

To be fair to the situation that crowd found themselves in, it would have been difficult for over 3000 souls to properly hear what 120 people were saying who were speaking in strong Galilean accents, which could have possibly given the impression to those who were in the crowd that the Galileans were maybe drunk.