In the meantime I just had a request from a friend to answer some questions about speaking in tongues that I thought people might be interested in. Tongues are probably the most controversial of the gifts, so hopefully this will help shed some light on it, at least from my dimmed perspective. The question came up when my friend was talking about the movie "Jesus Camp" with an agnostic work friend. I have not seen it, but I guess it makes people speaking in tongues look pretty silly.
Ok, onto the Q&A:
Do you know what you're saying?
No, although sometimes someone will speak in a foreign language that they don't speak by the power of the Holy Spirit and someone who speaks that language will understand. I've heard of people praying in tongues and it turned out they were actually speaking the language (one they didn't know) of the person they were praying for. There is the gift of interpretation of tongues where a separate person who is not speaking in tongues is given the interpretation. Sort of like when someone talks and has an interpreter- the Holy Spirit gives one person the tongues and the other person the interpretation.
If not, how does it come about?
The Holy Spirit is the one who gives all the gifts- we call them "spiritual gifts." Prophecy, healing, miracles, words of wisdom and knowledge, and speaking in tongues are all examples of spiritual gifts. Also things like faith, administration, etc. So the Spirit (I will just abbreviate HS) gives gifts to help Christians build up each other in the Church and also to show people the power of the Gospel- that Jesus is who He says He is. The gifts equip and enable us to do things that we cannot do on our own so that God's purposes will be brought about on the earth. Tongues are a gift that come through a person that submits their will to God and allows Him to use them by the power of the HS.
Couldn't a person just be babbling?
Sure. People can fake anything.
What's the purpose of tongues (why)?
This is not the Biblical explanation, but I believe God gives tongues b/c it is the HS praying right through us straight to God. It is a way for our spirits to connect with God directly meanwhile bypassing our intellect. I think our minds are often in opposition to the way God thinks and if we are simply trying to "understand" God we can often miss what He's trying to do. So when we pray in tongues we are connecting with God on a very deep level and our spirits are strengthened, but we can't really understand what is going on. It provides encouragement in a way that develops trust b/c we still may not be able to grasp what God is doing with our minds, but we have connected with Him on a deeper level and that gives us peace, joy, etc.
There are different expressions of tongues. Sometimes you just pray by yourself in tongues. I use tongues a lot when I am stuck and don't know what to pray. Romans 8:26 that the Spirit himself intercedes for us with words and groanings we can't understand when we don't know what to pray. Sometimes if there is an especially strong sense of evil and I don't know how to pray against it, the Spirit prays through me in tongues and the evil lifts.
But there is also a corporate (meaning with the whole church) expression of tongues where one person may be given something to say in tongues and another interprets it. I don't see this happening often, but I know it does. In that case God has a word to share with the church and is bypassing people's logic and understanding to give it through the gifts. I don't know if that makes sense.
Isn't speaking to God in your own language just as satisfying?
Not really. As I said before, sometimes we just get stuck. We want to UNDERSTAND God and that can be really frustrating b/c in Isaiah it says that His ways are as high above our ways as the heavens are above the earth. God is impossible to completely grasp with our minds and we are constantly fighting Him. Sometimes we just need the rest of communicating with God without ourselves getting in the way. It's a hard concept to grasp, but our spirits are what are made for relationship with God. The rest of us (our minds, emotions, etc.) can experience Him, but it is primarily through our spirit (the eternal part of us) that we know Him. Lots of people like to 'think' about God, and they think they know Him, but really it's just an intellectual understanding of Him. God wants us to know Him in a deep experiential understanding that influences the core of who we are. In order to do that we have to be willing to let go of what we can control and reason with our own faculties. It's a matter of surrendering yourself to a Power higher than you can attain through yourself.
How does one start speaking in tongues (receive the gift)?
God says that He gives all gifts generously. We can ask to receive the gift of tongues and Paul says we should eagerly desire the greater gifts- meaning tongues and prophecy. Sometimes people experience what is called "the baptism of the HS" where either at the time of their conversion or a later time they receive an additional filling of the HS which equips them with more power, gifting, and anointing. I did not experience this. I believe I have grown in power and authority through the HS over time, but either when they are saved or at a later time when someone prays for them they experience a powerful encounter with the Spirit and that is when many start speaking in tongues. That's what happened at Pentecost. The Spirit showed up and they all started speaking in tongues.
If it's an act of worship and makes a person feel peace or joy, why does it sound so scary?
A lot of stuff having to do with the HS is scary to onlookers or people who don't want to give up control of their lives completely to God. God is a mighty power who can't be contained, but people like to try and control Him through tradition, religion, etc. But I think any expression of God's Spirit in a worship setting is supposed to be orderly. The Apostle Paul talked a lot about that in his letter to the Corinthian church. Many people abuse the gifts by using them recklessly and not in the way they were intended. So it is disorderly for everyone in a congregation to just be shouting in tongues at the top of their lungs for no reason. That doesn't uplift or edify the congregation. I have been in a congregation where people with the gift of tongues started singing in tongues at the same time and it sounded like Heaven. Like angels. So some churches, and perhaps certain denomonations, give the gifts a bad name, but that is not how they were intended to be used.
What about kids who speak in tongues?
God gives His gifts to anyone who is a Believer in Christ. Kids are actually the most readily accepting of the gifts b/c they are so innocent and have faith that is not yet corrupted by adulthood. Jesus says if anyone wants to enter the kingdom of heaven they must have faith like a little child. I heard of a toddler who was at a healing conference where they were praying for the sick. He went straight up to a blind man who even the adults were daunted to pray for and the toddler believer Jesus healed and prayed for the man. He was healed. For a good documentary on miracles you can watch "The Finger of God."
Can one translate when others are speaking in tongues?
I think the translation depends on the circumstance, whether someone is praying individually for their own edification or if tongues are spoken for the benefit of the church congregation. In either circumstance, the interpretation must come from the HS Himself. Like if I am praying in tongues by myself, I do not often know what I am praying, but sometimes I will get a general idea about what the Spirit is praying, especially if I am praying for someone else. I find it is very helpful when I feel burdened for someone who is hurting to pray in tongues. I just know something is wrong with a person, but I don't really know how to help, so I let the Spirit pray for that person. The Bible says that Jesus lives to intercede for us, which means he lives to bring our concerns before God. So the Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and when I speak in tongues, I allow him to be the one to pray through me. It's mysterious. I don't know how it works, but it does!
Is tongues the same whether it be a Spanish person speaking it or an english speaking person?
It is the same HS who prays through us, so in a sense, yes.
At what age do people start speaking?
People can be filled with the Spirit from the time that they accept Christ as the payment for their sins by his death on the cross. So as soon they receive Christ they can be filled with the Spirit and speak in tongues. It's not an automatic thing for a lot of people though unless they have been taught about the gifts of the Spirit.
Is it close to Latin?
I think tongues can be a particular language, or they can be a heavenly language. I have heard of people who have had visions or encounters where they were in heaven and the angels were speaking a beautiful language they had never heard before. I think sometimes it is a mixture of different languages all at once. I think the HS is creative and likes to mix things up. :)
Are there scriptures written in tongues?
No, it is really just a prayer language.
What does it feel like when speaking?
You just sort of release your mouth to flow with the Spirit. If you have ever played music or sang in a way where you improvised, it's sort of like that. You don't really plan what is going to happen, but you go with the flow of the music as it happens. The Spirit has a flow, like a current or a powerful wind. You can choose to let yourself freely blow in the breeze or you can try and hold yourself in place.
Does a force come over you?
It's not like you are in a trance and disconnect from your mind or body. It's like if you were listening to a new song and didn't know the words so you are just sort of humming along to the music when all of a sudden some knowledge from outside of you gives you the words to the song. You were already singing on your own, but suddenly you started singing words.
When does it occur and how often?
We can never force God to show up, we can only choose to be vessels of His Presence. But I think He is always ready to intercede. Sometimes I will feel a really heavy burden all of a sudden and I know I need to pray. If I don't know who or what to pray for I will just pray in tongues until the burden lifts. Or if I am feeling discouraged I will pray in tongues. Most of the time I have some control over whether or not I will decide to pray in tongues, but sometimes if I am already praying for someone or something I'll just go from words to tongues rather effortlessly. Perhaps if you speak another language, but one language is your primary language, sometimes you find yourself thinking in the other language. It's like that with prayer.
Isn't the holy spirit god? And if that is the case why does he/she talk to himself through others in a language very few understand?
The Holy Spirit is the residential Presence of Jesus, meaning the Presence of Jesus that is always with us once we choose to surrender our lives to follow him. God speaks through many forms and methods: dreams, visions, the Bible, other people, nature, etc. Speaking in tongues is primarily about prayer. Prayer is the way that we dialogue and communicate with God, although God can be experienced through a walk in the woods, through singing songs of worship, through reading the truth of the Scripture in the Bible, etc. The gifts are a special measure of God's power and Presence that are given to bring us closer to him as a group, but they are not the only way we interact with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment