lipman@decwrl.UUCP (02/16/84)
Message-Id: <8402161327.AA20452@decwrl.uucp> Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 1984 05:31:39-PST From: vax4::sander To: net.religion Subject: Speaking in tongues Speaking in tongues is the least gift of the Holy Spirit. It is given to us to help us praise God more perfectly. Man tends to drift in thought when trying to praise God. While talking in tongues the Spirit is doing the praying through us. It is a gift for the individual to bring him/her closer to God. Speaking in tongues does not mean that you 'will' be speaking in some foreign, unforgotten language; it is usually gibberish. If we go back to Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down upon those gathered in the room, and they "began speaking in languages they didn't know." (Acts 1:4). This speaking in languages does not mean that it was any known language, present or past. At the Pentecost there was also another working of the Holy Spirit, and that was interpreting the tongues. As one apostle would address the crowds, everyone could understand him. "And yet we hear them speaking all the native languages of the lands where we were born...and we all hear these men telling in our own languages about the mighty miracles of God!" (Acts 2:8,11). A shortened story: a friend of mine was in church praying lowly in tongues. As far as he knew from sound, his voice was producing gibberish. After the service the lady that was sitting next to him said something like, "I didn't know you said your prayers in French." The gentleman doesn't speak French, but the lady does. So, speaking in tongues is a more perfect way of praising God, and was common in the early days of the church. It does not guarantee that you will be speaking in some long-forgotten language. Joe
rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo) (02/17/84)
So speaking in tongues ("glossolalia") is gibberish , but it's still
holy! What a demotion of religion that is!
The little I've heard about studies of the phenomenon revealed that every
case studied, which is apparently quite a few, showed linguistically
rather trivial things going on: simple changes in one or more phonolo-
gical rules of standard English managed to produce the streams of ap-
parent gibberish. & if that didn't suffice to make it sound exotic,
speeding up or rhythmically inflecting the delivery did.
Well, is any suitably bizarre behavior worshipful, profound, pious?
Psychotic episodes? General zaniness?
---
"Why, my ancestors fed people like you to big kitties!"
Cheers,
Ron Rizzo