Overread at Table 4: Speaking in Tongues - a brief study

GLOSSALALIA
MR
GEO 2016-0722




GLOSSALALIA


Origin
Friday night Brother in GEO stated that the Baptist Church has changed its position on speaking in tongues, and intimated that speaking in tongues is what signifies we are close to God and are filled with the Holy Spirit.

My Background
In full confession, I was raised in the Episcopalian church.  My parents baptized me as a baby; I received First Communion when I was twelve (when I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord), then I renewed my faith and put my baptism in the correct order when I was baptized at Memorial Baptist Church, Tulsa OK, at the age of 34.  From that, the reader may draw their own conclusions about by walk with Jesus Christ.

Definition
As will be discussed in greater detail later, there may prove to be some differences in the terms “tongues”  and “speaking in tongues”  For this report, we will state that “speaking in tongues” refers to the practice of speaking in a language incoherent to anybody other than the speaker, and usually practiced in communal worship in Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches.
Additionally, as we will see, not all references to “speaking in tongues” refers to this definition just stated.  However, many people may and do conflate these different passages in order to advance a particular view on speaking in tongues.

35 Times
One article said it was mentioned 35 times.  They are listed here:

ACTS
Speaking in tongues – these were speaking to the masses.  The Holy Spirit spoke through them as a way to bring glory to God.  This is not the same as speaking in tongues as talking to God.

MARK 16:15-18
Jesus said, “They will speak in new tongues”  It is possible that he was referring only to the incident in Acts.  It is also possible that He was speaking to the ability to learn new languages in order to go out into the world to fulfill the Great commission.

[OK, so I've only listed two of the 35.  Need to research further]



God’s Language

The human body is finite.  Thus, the brain, the lungs, and the vocal chords are also finite.  While at the time of this writing we do not understand the mysteries of the brain beyond the knowledge that it is a very powerful and mysterious organ, yet we do realize that it cannot behold the complex mysteries of God.  The same with the lungs and the vocal chords and the mouth and the tongue and the palate, all of which are used to create speech.  The range of human sounds is apparently infinite, with over 3000 languages in recorded human history (most of which are dying today, but that’s another study!) and with a variety of vowels, consonants, glottal stops, grunts, and clicks.  However, the number of sounds, while innumerable, are indeed finite.








Bibliography
http://christocentric.com/main/?p=427