Praying in Tounges and the SBC
I found this article from the Baptist Press to be pretty interesting as I have thought about this topic in detail in the past few years. The article deals with speaking in tongues both in public and private places and the percentage of SBC pastors that believe in this spiritual gift. To be honest the results are higher than I expected. The majority (barely) of SBC pastors believe in the gift of tongues and that it is still given today. Definitely read the article and check out the diagrams if you are interested in the topic.
While I was in college I attended a pentecostal church for a couple years and that is where I had my first experience with a biblical teaching on tongues. Since then I have changed my thoughts (which I'd be glad to share if asked) on the subject many times as I have experienced times when someone was speaking in "tongues" and I felt it was being used in a biblical way and no doubt genuine, but there have also been other times when I felt people speaking in tongues were doing so in a non-biblical way. In those instances the people speaking were doing so in public before a congregation in a way that I felt did not edify the church.
So I know most of our readers are from a SBC background so what are your thoughts? Do you believe in a private prayer language? Do you believe that people are still given the gift of tongues in public? Or are you unsure because you haven't heard or experienced yourself someone speaking in tongues?
Biblical passages on tongues- 1 Corinthians, Acts 2
1 comment:
I have only really experienced someone speaking in tongues a few times in public, but I still believe that the gift of tongues is still given to some. When it comes to private prayer language I am a bit unsure because it is not flat out referred to in the Bible. But take Paul for example in 1 Corin. 14, it seems like he speaks in tongues, but says he rarely does so in public, so it seems to follow that he must do it in private if he doesn’t do it in public. But I don’t know enough about private prayer language to really say anything, so it’s probably best for me to stop talking on that idea, lol.
But on the idea of tongues in general I do have some opinions. I disagree with the Pentecostal, or “first wave” understanding of tongues that developed from the Azusa Street Revivals. Typically that understanding of tongues believes that tongues is evidence of being Spirit baptized, so if you don’t speak in tongues you haven’t been spirit-baptized. They distinguish between tongues being a sign of spirit baptism and tongues being a gift, and believe that God wants all Christians to speak in tongues.
I lean more toward a “third wave” view which rejects all of the ideas from “first wave” but still believe that the gift of tongues is still available. I would argue that tongues, just like any other gifts, are sovereignly distributed by the Spirit to whomever he chooses. So based on that someone may or may not speak in tongues. Tongues can’t be used as a sign to prove that someone has been spirit baptized. A person speaking in tongues only proves that the person has been chosen to manifest the Spirit through the gift of tongues. It is hard to justify biblically, the use of tongues as proof for anything more than that, much less use it as proof for every Christian, which is what “first wave” does.
That really didn’t have anything to do with the SBC because I don’t believe they are supporting the “first wave” understanding, I guess it more about speaking in tongues in general.
From what I gather from my limited experience with Pentecostal/Charismatic churches, and maybe you can help me with this Spoon since you have more experience, the gift of tongues seems to be used or emphasized in an un-biblical way a lot of the times. I don’t claim to speak for all Pentecostal churches in general because I am certain there are some that use it biblically. But, sometimes the whole point seems to be, stay in worship or keep singing the same hypnotic song until someone is forced to speak in tongues, and then we have really worship and can go home now. Anyway, just some thoughts, any help?
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