The Gift of Speaking in Tongues? (page 2)

Must obey!

I'm havn't been a JW for years but I remain convinced that speaking in tongues is a deception from the spirit realm.

Once had a person on the doors speak to me in tongues when I asked him if he could do it at will. That was creepy!

Hi Maddie,
"Chalam - I know that people take the practice seriously and are sincere about it being a heavenly language. I am a bit intrigued by it I must admit, but still wary."

If you believe that God is good and He only gives good gifts to His sons and daughters then what is to fear?

Luke 11 (New International Version)

11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

In the act of speaking it is just like and other kind of speech and one can stop in an instant at will.

Once again, the JWs do not have the Gifts Of The Spirit because they do not have the Spirit.

Here are a couple of good verses to digest.

1 Corinthians 2:14
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

John 14 (New International Version)
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

Regards,
Stephen

Maddie

Once had a person on the doors speak to me in tongues when I asked him if he could do it at will. That was creepy!

Must obey:-

That is creepy, perhaps he was just trying to be clever. Scriptually it is supposed to be a gift and not summoned at will or so I understand it.

Maddie

PEC

My opinion is that people that speak in tongues, are either faking it, or are mentally ill. Yes, I have see it and it was hard for me not to laugh, how can anyone take these people seriously. If I had laughed, I probably would have been seriously injured or killed, by the group of loving, God fearing, Christians. Philip

Awakened07

Wasn't 'the gift of tongue' in the first century supposedly to actually speak in other languages so as to convert people of other languages, and if so, shouldn't the 'tongue' spoken even today be in a normal, human language?

Secondly; if there needs to be an interpreter present (in the above scenario, that could simply have been one who knew that language) today; why exactly is that? If the language spoken is not a normal human language, then the interpreter him/herself would need help from God to understand what is being said by the person with the tongue - God would have to work on both of them simultaneously. And if so - why don't God instead simply speak directly through the first person in a language they can all understand, with no need for interpretation?

[edited] Actually, I can answer that myself, come to think of it. If people simply spoke English for instance, people would say "those are just your own words". However - I'd think that when the Creator of the universe speaks, He would say something interesting and not so mundane. Perhaps. [/edited]

onacruse

Stephen, does your wife know what she is saying when she is speaking in tongues? Does the congregation? Do you?

If in the affirmative for any of the above: What language? And what is said?

serotonin_wraith

I think it's euphoria mainly.

Emotions of entire audiences can be changed. It happens at rock concerts and cinemas every day. Think of the scene in Independence Day when the President gives his rousing speech. Everyone feels a part of something bigger, something powerful. Others cheer so it feels natural to join in.

If you were alone in a room with a speaker who was yelling 'Feel the power of GOD! The Holy Spirit is in you!' you may look at him funny. But in a group situation where you see others being emotional, you'd feel like the odd one out for not joining in. Humans like to copy. There was a show called Space Cadets on a couple of years back, and there was a test which had people guessing the number of marbles or something in a jar. Once they'd guessed, they were shown a chart with other guesses given earlier. But the other guesses were fake, and were much higher than the average person would think. As a result, these fake guesses influenced people to change theirs, to a higher number. People like to join in with others.

So if they see some people falling down when a preacher touches them, or speaking in tongues, inhibitions go away and it feels natural to go along with it. You can't feel like a fool, because everyone else is doing it. They may have the power of God in them, you want that too. You feel emotionally charged by the atmosphere, you believe in the holy spirit, you feel the urge to just give in to the euphoria, and away you go, speaking gibberish, influencing others to do the same.

Maddie

If you believe that God is good and He only gives good gifts to His sons and daughters then what is to fear?

Chalam - I have thought about this before and that is one reason I started this thread. I know that there are many hang-overs from being a JW but that doesn't automatically mean that everything they say is wrong. As you will understand the last thing most of us want to do when getting out of the cult is to be drawn into another deception, so I try to take my time before coming to a conclusion. I am seeing the scriptures with new eyes now (if you know what I mean) which is interesting. Thank you for your post.

Maddie

Chalam

Hello Maddie,
"That is creepy, perhaps he was just trying to be clever. Scriptually it is supposed to be a gift and not summoned at will or so I understand it."

The speaking is at will (once one has the gift), just as any other speech is.

This verse is good.

1 Corinthians 14:22
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers

If you wan to know some more of the basics then read here.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=53&chapter=14&version=31&context=chapter

Regards,
Stephen

Chalam

Hi onacruse,
Here are the answers.

"Stephen, does your wife know what she is saying when she is speaking in tongues?"

Her mind does not but her spirit does.

"Does the congregation?"

If it is spoken to the whole of the church then someone needs to interpret the tongue (a different gift to speaking).

"Do you?" No gifts arrived for speaking or interpretation yet but I had a prophetic dream about speaking the other week so God hasn't forgotten about me!

"If in the affirmative for any of the above: What language? And what is said?"

As I mentioned before, nearly always it is a heavenly language. The time I heard an earthy language it was a Indian language so I did not understand but the person being prayed over did.

Once again, start here for some info.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=53&chapter=14&version=31&context=chapter

Regards,
Stephen

The Gift of Speaking in Tongues?

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