Speaking in Tongues?

[Josh]

A retired preacher, Simon Sommers (now deceased) from my old church home of Hartville once preached in Central America or Mexico. He didn’t know Spanish but was asked to preach anyway. He did so. Nobody interpreted for him.

Afterwards people came up and were full of joy and complimented that he could speak Spanish so well. He had no idea it happened.

That, friends, is speaking in other tongues - with the evidence of an interpreter - and it was done to the glory and edification of God. No glory was taken by man.

Likewise, the “sleeping preacher” Amish church had a revival when their preacher went into a trance and preached revival messages. He had no memory of doing so and took no glory for himself.

Spewing nonsense (even if the person doing so claims it feels good and claims they think it’s the “Spirit”) does not edify and does not share the gospel. And it brings glory to man, not God. It has done nothing but sow horrible divisions within God’s church. May faithful Anabaptists and Mennonites remain free of this wickedness, even as they have rejected other false teachings like infant baptism, sacramentalism, indulgences, simony, and the “deeds of the Nicolaitans”.

[Valerie]

A retired preacher, Simon Sommers (now deceased) from my old church home of Hartville once preached in Central America or Mexico. He didn’t know Spanish but was asked to preach anyway. He did so. Nobody interpreted for him.

Afterwards people came up and were full of joy and complimented that he could speak Spanish so well. He had no idea it happened.

That, friends, is speaking in other tongues - with the evidence of an interpreter - and it was done to the glory and edification of God. No glory was taken by man.

Likewise, the “sleeping preacher” Amish church had a revival when their preacher went into a trance and preached revival messages. He had no memory of doing so and took no glory for himself.

Spewing nonsense (even if the person doing so claims it feels good and claims they think it’s the “Spirit”) does not edify and does not share the gospel. And it brings glory to man, not God. It has done nothing but sow horrible divisions within God’s church. May faithful Anabaptists and Mennonites remain free of this wickedness, even as they have rejected other false teachings like infant baptism, sacramentalism, indulgences, simony, and the “deeds of the Nicolaitans”.

So what do you understand about what Apostle Paul said regarding he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself and speaks mysteries to God? See you dismiss some of the teaching of Apostle Paul about the gift of tongues. Yes I know there is also the foreign language kind. Our dear brother in the Lord was praying over someone in the hospital in tongues and a woman came up and you old him she understood what he was praying- as LL to the glory of God. We acknowledge and believe in different kinds of tongues- Scriptural. And have heard interpretations. Same Holy Spirit at work. Faith. Believing Apostle Paul, both in Acts, and in Corinthians. In Corinthians it is not the foreign language kind - it seems that should be obvious. My husband's, friends, Orthodox priest, and Deacon for example was the angelic kind-

[Ernie]

I think there are two kinds of speaking in tongues that are produced by the Holy Spirit. I think the NT talks about both.

1. Preaching the Gospel and people in the audience hearing it in their own language.
2. Speaking about spiritual things in a language that may not be known by the audience. This may be the language of some people group in the world but not that of those in the audience. It may be a human language that is no longer in use. It may be a language of angels or some other heavenly beings. Paul says that such speaking in tongues should only be done if there is an interpreter. A friend recently told me about a few meetings he has been in during his lifetime in which during a time of fervent prayer by holy believers, (in which everyone was praying aloud at the same time) the group began humming a tune that was unfamiliar and then in unison saying words that were not familiar to any of them. Anabaptists that I have known or heard about how speak in tongues in their private or family worship are people who have a fairly limited vocabulary and are not always able to express themselves in English or German or in PA Deutsche. It seems to me that God gives them this gift because he wants them to be able to express what is in their heart. These men testify that when they began speaking in tongues, it was sort of a surprise to them, but the immediately identified what was happening.

In contrast, you have the sort of gibberish and babbling that have been referred to in this thread already that is fake. And I suggest that majority of "speaking in tongues" that is claimed by people around the word falls into this fake category.

[Ernie]

I once knew a man who grew up in a non-Christian home and knew the depths of sin. Some oneness Pentecostals led him to the Lord, and he quit sinning. But as he went to church each Sunday for a number of months, he concluded that these folks believed that if you could not speak in tongues, you were not saved. So one Sunday he pulled a deacon aside after church was dismissed and asked him about this. The deacon affirmed, somewhat reluctantly that yes, this is what they believed. My friend decided that he was not saved, and he certainly wasn't going to try faking speaking in tongues. So he quit going to church and went back to his life of sin. About 6 months later, after being weighed down by drugs and alcohol, he came to himself and thought. I was saved. God had delivered me from all this wretchedness. I was different for awhile! Those folks lied to me!
When I met him, he was really wary of everybody. He didn't want to ever get hoodwinked again.

[Judas Maccabeus]

A retired preacher, Simon Sommers (now deceased) from my old church home of Hartville once preached in Central America or Mexico. He didn’t know Spanish but was asked to preach anyway. He did so. Nobody interpreted for him.

Afterwards people came up and were full of joy and complimented that he could speak Spanish so well. He had no idea it happened.

That, friends, is speaking in other tongues - with the evidence of an interpreter - and it was done to the glory and edification of God. No glory was taken by man.

Likewise, the “sleeping preacher” Amish church had a revival when their preacher went into a trance and preached revival messages. He had no memory of doing so and took no glory for himself.

Spewing nonsense (even if the person doing so claims it feels good and claims they think it’s the “Spirit”) does not edify and does not share the gospel. And it brings glory to man, not God. It has done nothing but sow horrible divisions within God’s church. May faithful Anabaptists and Mennonites remain free of this wickedness, even as they have rejected other false teachings like infant baptism, sacramentalism, indulgences, simony, and the “deeds of the Nicolaitans”.

So what do you understand about what Apostle Paul said regarding he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself and speaks mysteries to God? See you dismiss some of the teaching of Apostle Paul about the gift of tongues. Yes I know there is also the foreign language kind. Our dear brother in the Lord was praying over someone in the hospital in tongues and a woman came up and you old him she understood what he was praying- as LL to the glory of God. We acknowledge and believe in different kinds of tongues- Scriptural. And have heard interpretations. Same Holy Spirit at work. Faith. Believing Apostle Paul, both in Acts, and in Corinthians. In Corinthians it is not the foreign language kind - it seems that should be obvious. My husband's, friends, Orthodox priest, and Deacon for example was the angelic kind-

Read the whole chapter in context, don’t “cherry pick.” If you read it all you will see that, no we are not to speak in tongues together, and never without an interpreter. The use external to the Corinthian epistle is acts 9:6

“ ...named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas...”

Which is moving things from one human language into another. Yet another definition that is Biblical, and sinks the credibility of the tongue speaking movement. You can’t define words as you like, they come to us defined.

I have been in these meetings. Normally everyone goes into tongue speaking together. This is throughly unbiblical.

[Valerie]

A retired preacher, Simon Sommers (now deceased) from my old church home of Hartville once preached in Central America or Mexico. He didn’t know Spanish but was asked to preach anyway. He did so. Nobody interpreted for him.

Afterwards people came up and were full of joy and complimented that he could speak Spanish so well. He had no idea it happened.

That, friends, is speaking in other tongues - with the evidence of an interpreter - and it was done to the glory and edification of God. No glory was taken by man.

Likewise, the “sleeping preacher” Amish church had a revival when their preacher went into a trance and preached revival messages. He had no memory of doing so and took no glory for himself.

Spewing nonsense (even if the person doing so claims it feels good and claims they think it’s the “Spirit”) does not edify and does not share the gospel. And it brings glory to man, not God. It has done nothing but sow horrible divisions within God’s church. May faithful Anabaptists and Mennonites remain free of this wickedness, even as they have rejected other false teachings like infant baptism, sacramentalism, indulgences, simony, and the “deeds of the Nicolaitans”.

So what do you understand about what Apostle Paul said regarding he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself and speaks mysteries to God? See you dismiss some of the teaching of Apostle Paul about the gift of tongues. Yes I know there is also the foreign language kind. Our dear brother in the Lord was praying over someone in the hospital in tongues and a woman came up and you old him she understood what he was praying- as LL to the glory of God. We acknowledge and believe in different kinds of tongues- Scriptural. And have heard interpretations. Same Holy Spirit at work. Faith. Believing Apostle Paul, both in Acts, and in Corinthians. In Corinthians it is not the foreign language kind - it seems that should be obvious. My husband's, friends, Orthodox priest, and Deacon for example was the angelic kind-

Read the whole chapter in context, don’t “cherry pick.” If you read it all you will see that, no we are not to speak in tongues together, and never without an interpreter. The use external to the Corinthian epistle is acts 9:6

“ ...named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas...”

Which is moving things from one human language into another. Yet another definition that is Biblical, and sinks the credibility of the tongue speaking movement. You can’t define words as you like, they come to us defined.

I have been in these meetings. Normally everyone goes into tongue speaking together. This is throughly unbiblical.

JM. You are cherry picking and ignoring the "while" teaching of different tongues. I know the type of teaching you have sat under and they are partially true in their teachings but seems to lack more spiritual understanding

For the record- I have never been to a Oneness Pentecostal Church so cannot speak to their errors as in Trinity error and baptism error.
It makes so much sense why Apostle Paul said not to have many teachers for we all stumble in many things.
Clearly, so true in these days we live.

God is into the Supernatural - He advocated for it in the OT with true signs and wonders, and through people of God in the OT.
Jesus said He must go that the Holy Spirit w old come and as John said, He would "Baptize" with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Mennonites are wonderful people.
They see the Supernatural as unnecessary or seem to limit the Supernatural to the Born Again conversion. Yes that is indeed a work of the Spirit.
If God wanted to pour His Holy Spirit out in the early church, there is certainly nothing evil about since.re Christians reading through Corinthians and wanting to be zealous for the same Supernatural gifts as were promised. God does love to be exalted in Supernatural ways, He ALWAYS has. He did many signs and wonders to do just that. Perhaps people had it or have it in their heart to take Apostles Paul's words to desire tongues to heart. He also explained one purpose is to "edify oneself"- THAT type of tongue is language "to" God and not for nans benefit like the type of tongues of foreign language which are to benefit men. Well we don't see a lot of that going on either. I think groups like oneness Pentecostal by a simple reading of Acts seeing Holy Spirit being poured out on Gentiles and evidenced by the Gentiles speaking in tongues and magnifying God, that they conclude that is what happens when one is "Baptized" in the Holy Spirit.
All these differences of opinions is just evident of the Church at large being correct on some things and error on others. Not able to rightly divide the Word of Truth. God is allowing this as we approach the end and consequences for secting the Church in thousands of pieces.

[Valerie]

From my Orthodox Study Bible Glossary:
Glossolalia: Literally, "speaking in tongues." St. Paul used the term to describe a spiritual gifts in the early Church, not an emotional experience (1 Cor 12:10) . At Pentecost the gift was given to Allow those present to hear the Gospel in their native language (Acts 2:6). In Corinth, the gift was an ecstatic utterance (1 Cor 14:2) . The Apostle warned against too much emphasis on this experience, urging instead that Believers seek to manifest love. ,1 Cor. 13:1) and communicate the Gospel intelligibly (1 Cor 14:19). Glossolalia has never played a significant role in historic Orthodox spirituality. (See 1 Cor 12-14)

So by this we see Orthodox recognize "two" types of tongues but don't encourage emphasis on it, rather that we love.

It seems we will need to agree to disagree

Love. We have that challenge among the Churches when we try to attempt unity of Believers who have various interpretations and practice, each using the same Bible, perhaps giving more emphasis on their favorite parts-

[Josh]

The Bible speaks against faking spiritual gifts. It specifically speaks against faking speaking in tongues. What astonishes me is how many people want to justify faking spiritual gifts. How this must grieve the Spirit of God!

[Valerie]

The Bible speaks against faking spiritual gifts. It specifically speaks against faking speaking in tongues. What astonishes me is how many people want to justify faking spiritual gifts. How this must grieve the Spirit of God!

It's wrong to fake it. Neither Sudsy nor myself justify faking it
It's also wrong to blaspheme the Holy Spirit in the true
Isn't Satan victorious when he is the only one getting credit for Supernatural power
But God is also grieved when His children don't understand spiritual "gifts" and teach partial truth.

[Josh]

The Bible speaks against faking spiritual gifts. It specifically speaks against faking speaking in tongues. What astonishes me is how many people want to justify faking spiritual gifts. How this must grieve the Spirit of God!

It's wrong to fake it. Neither Sudsy nor myself justify faking it
It's also wrong to blaspheme the Holy Spirit in the true
Isn't Satan victorious when he is the only one getting credit for Supernatural power
But God is also grieved when His children don't understand spiritual "gifts" and teach partial truth.

As I have said, speaking in tongues that edifies others is fine. What is not fine is babbling nonsense, which is fake tongues.