hello all
i've been reading through this thread, although i admit, i skimmed through some of the longer posts...it's late here and i'm tired
! but it's really opened up a topic that i've never really learned or looked too much into...i personally don't speak in tongues, nor have i ever seen/heard anyone speak in tongues. do i believe in it? i can't really say cause i really haven't given it much thought. however, i have read a lot of the back and forth debates on the topic and questioned some of the thinking. hey, to each their own, but seriously, a lot of the arguments are really based on intepretation. and i noticed that a lot of you take your verses from different translations of the bible and then interpret that the way you feel is correct, or at least the way you learned. now, i usually read the NIV, but i have a NLT bible in my room and i decided to grab that and flip through some of the verses some of you put out there. again, i have no opinion on this--but i suggest maybe going through the same verse in different translations and seeing if that changes anything. it's just nice to be more open minded about your own argument and willing to see that perhaps another person's differing argument could have some merit. hey, it's the word of God, but we don't all view it the same way. we're not gonna know until we actually i don't know, ask Him!
but okay, for example:
1 Corinthians 14
2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. (ASV)
this has been interpreted as a strike against tongues existing today. but NLT translates the verse as thus:
1 Corinthians 14
For if your gift is the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking to God but not to people, since they won't be able to understand you. (NLT)
you get my drift? another verse:
1 Corinthians 8-10
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. (KJV)
vs. NLT
1 Corinthians 13:8-10
Love will last forever, but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear. Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will disappear. (NLT)
of course, i'm certain that you could all debunk my slightly naive way of looking at things, but i'm just hoping everyone will be more open minded and play nice! we
are all brothers and sisters in Christ...even though sometimes we may disagree, we should ultimately be lifting each other up