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Speaking with tongues or glossolalia is a spiritual discipline in which a person experiences rapturous delight uttering inexpressible words of a language the speaker believes are spoken through him or her by the Spirit of God. Glossolalia has been practiced throughout ancient and modern Christian history. It is hinted at in the Old Testament, rooted in the New Testament, and practiced in the Pentecostal churches established in the United States and Canada around the turn of the 19th century. Modern charismatic and mainline churches are also involved. Once assigned to society's lower class now professionals in business suits and sports attire claim this ability. It has entered every level of life. Still, controversy swirls. The Ban In October 2006 the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, an affiliation of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) banned anyone promoting or practicing speaking in tongues on campus. Furthermore, any individual who knowingly speaks in tongues will not be hired. The proclamation is a result of an admission by Rev. Dwight McKissic -- a seminary trustee -- during chapel that he spoke in tongues while praying, describing it as his "private prayer language" and as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This follows on the heels of a tightening of regulations in November 2005 by SBC's mission board on speaking in tongues by its missionaries. Whereas the board once allowed missionaries to speak in tongues privately, it now forbids even the private use of tongues. McKissic is hopeful that the SBC will review the issue, stating the ruling will disenfranchise Baptists who speak in tongues. The Clash Why this long-standing, often heated and bitter, contention over something which appears to have been the norm in early Christianity? Such argumentative strife is grievous to God and divisive to the worldwide church. The underlying reason is an incorrect focus of emphasis. Throughout the Gospels only once did Jesus make a direct reference to tongues; an important reference, but only once. "Go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ... And these
signs will follow those who believe: In my name ... they will speak with
new tongues ..." (Mark 16:15, 17 NKJ) However, during His Passover Discourse, Jesus spoke repeatedly of the Father's Promise, the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 14-16). Jesus was concerned we understand and receive the Holy Spirit into our lives. The history of the first century church opens with this portent scene: "And being assembled together with them, (Jesus) commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me ... you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." (Acts 1:4) Not only did the Holy Spirit come to inspire tongues (Acts 2:4) but also to articulate truth (4:8), to embolden the spoken word (4:31), to empower for acts of service (6:3), to strengthen in face of opposition (7:55), to initiate ministry (9:17), to confront heresy (13:9) and to instill joy (13:52). The various gifts of the Spirit are a natural outflow from the Spirit. When we have the Spirit the multifaceted grace of God is resident and employed at His will. Jack Hayford defines grace as "the operational workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives". And one of the gifts is speaking with tongues. We must not emphasize any of the gifts over God the Holy Spirit. When we are enamored with HIM we will not be fearful or troubled by the gifts He bestows. The Holy Spirit now embodies the corporate Body of Christ and the gifts, in their various forms, are also 'set in the church' (1 Cor.12:28). They are 'appointed' there until we come into a certain state of maturity. Tongues shall be stilled only when the companion gifts of prophecy and knowledge cease functioning (Eph. 4:13, 14; 1 Cor. 13:8). The Birth of the Phenomenon With the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish festival of Pentecost and upon the charter members (120) of the church, something strange but wonderful occurred: "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come ... there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (or, the ability)." (Acts 2:1-4 NKJ) Cloven tongues as of fire sat upon each individual! Fire is emblematic of the Holy Spirit. These fiery flames rested upon each of their heads. The Holy Spirit's coming is designed for each of us. He individualizes Himself to each personality. The Holy Spirit "stood over" NCV (guarded) the minds of the 120. Our thoughts regulate what we become and accomplish in life, negatively or positively. Because we grew up with patterns of negativity the Spirit desires to renew our minds, removing these gloomy thought patterns so we can become all we were meant to be. One way this is accomplished is through the use of different kinds of unknown languages or tongues. Various versions translate 'sat upon' as 'rested' or 'settled'. Interesting choice of words! Suggesting that during 'tongues speaking' the abilities of the brain rests or settles down. A recent scientific experiment has shed light upon this phenomenon. The Pennsylvania Experiment The University of Pennsylvania study team published its findings in the November issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, the official publication of the International Society for Neuroimaging in Psychiatry. The project, carried out under the direction of Dr. Andrew B. Newberg, attempted to explain the physiological fuctionings of the brain of someone speaking in tongues. By using imaging techniques to track changes in blood flow in the brains of five people as they participated in two different religious activities, the scientists pinpointed various responses unique to speaking in tongues. The intellectual
regions of the brain became inactive in conveying the words spoken. Though
the subjects were conscious of their surroundings, the researchers could
not determine what area controlled the speaking in tongues. This indicated tongues originated from a source outside of the person's intellect. This collaborated their interpretation of what was happening, "The way they describe it, and what they believe, is that God is talking through them," Dr Newberg said. Scientifically, there was a decrease of activity in the frontal lobes - the center of control for the brain. The left basal ganglia controlling language patterns also slowed down. However the thalamus, involved in maintaining self-consciousness, increased in activity during speaking in tongues. One of the research subjects considers the ability to speak in tongues a gift. "You're aware of your surroundings," she said. "You're not really out of control. But you have no control over what's happening. You're just flowing. You're in a realm of peace and comfort, and it's a fantastic feeling." Newberg concludes the changes in the brain during speaking in tongues reflect a complex pattern of brain activity and "since this is the first study to explore this, future studies will be needed to confirm these findings in an attempt to demystify this fascinating religious phenomenon." Authentic honesty! Our Intellect and the Holy Spirit
God created the spirit of man as the governing or controlling influence in life. The mind and body were dependent upon the will of the human spirit. But something happened. Satan tempted and challenged this role of domination intellectually. Man yielded to this overwhelming intellectual desire and died spiritually (Gen. 1- 3). Whereas once the spirit was ascendant and the intellect dependent now the roles were reversed. And we have been paying the consequences ever since with mental disorders, illnesses, and stresses. The mind was never made to carry such a caseload as we put upon it today -- thus the breakdown. There is a higher life by which the human spirit can regain its ascendancy over the mind and body. Through tongues there is a proper realignment of spirit, soul and body. Tongues are a spirit-language with God without constraint. We are free in our expression of praise and need. Paul speaks in Romans 8 of the whole creation groaning for full expression. With life's state of affairs, personally and corporately, we often are left at a loss too to adequately say and pray perfectly and in order. The mind shuts down because of intellectual limitations. The spirit of man in alignment with the Spirit of God bypasses the intellect and creates from these inexpressible groanings and longings a prayer language in accordance with God's will. Such praying is unlimited in scope and results in miraculous answers that is beyond the intellect. We speak "outside of the box" and supernatural things happen. Tongues are a building block for faith to take charge of the impossible and improbable (Jude 20). Practical Outworkings of Praying with the Spirit and Mind Suppose we come up against a problem or need that absolutely baffles and stumps us. We face a brick wall. Intellectually it is impossible to even think of a solution, so how does one pray? Or, there may be many choices to pray from. How do we pray in God's will? We pray. We seek God. We surrender. We analyze. We consult. We pray again. All are good disciplines, but there is no release. Faith seems lacking, or absent. There is no confidence of a breakthrough. We turn once more to the Scripture. We fall upon Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 14, verses 13-15: "The one who has the gift of speaking in a different language should pray for the gift to interpret what is spoken. If I pray in a different language, my spirit is praying, but my mind does nothing. So what should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind." (NCV) Hmmm ... perhaps Paul's instructions are not for public worship only but can be translated into private prayer for personal edification and understanding. So we park our minds and pray in tongues. As we pray in tongues there is a divine release. We can then interpret back to our minds the gist of what was prayed in the Spirit. This brings an equally divine release and then with that understanding we can more effectively pray in our mother tongue. This is a union of mind and spirit, spirit and intellect. It isn't one or the other; it's a marriage. Powerful praying with amazing grace results! How can we get started? We ask according to Luke 11:9-13. Purposely switching off our minds from praying in our understanding we begin speaking strange sounding words welling up from within. We practice turning on and off, off and on and getting the feel of praying through both avenues -- praying in tongues -- then praying for its understanding. Fresh insights may arise, a visionary heart picture, a never-thought-of-before Scripture verse, etc. These may be the seeds that give impetus to praying now with the understanding. It's important to grasp Paul's instruction, and the progression of purpose: I ... I will .... I will pray ... I will pray with my spirit ... I will pray with my understanding ... I ... I will ... I will sing ... I will sing with my spirit ... I will sing with my understanding. Essentially
it is a matter of our will. We speak words of tongues as we would our
mother tongue. The Holy Spirit gives the ability but we speak. We act
upon His initiation (Acts 2:4). As a sidebar, the combination of these
two gifts may well have opened the door for the Gospel proclamation to
the non-Jewish nations, down to us today (Acts 10 & 11). The issue
of speaking with tongues need not be a divisive tool within the church
but a mighty weapon in our arsenal against the forces of darkness. That's
very relevant! Source: Seminary pulls plug on trustee's online sermon, Robert Marus (Associated Baptist Press: September 1, 2006) / Texas seminary bans promotion of speaking in tongues (Foxnews.com: October 19, 2006) / Southwestern trustee's sermon on tongues prompts response (bpnews.net: August 30, 2006). A Neuroscientific Look at Speaking in Tongues by Benedict Carey (The New York Times: November 7, 2006) / Language centre of the brain is not under the control of the subject who speaks in tongues........ Bio: Being physically disabled Albert Kienle communicates his faith and ideas best through writing. He has had his own column in various periodicals over the years. He now contributes to www.opentheword.org, www.reginaap.com, and his blog, www.albertkienle.blogspot.com. Albert lives in Regina and attends the Regina Apostolic Church.
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