Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
But even then, there was never any situation in which the language was known by someone else in the room. And virtually always, the English spoken was some kind of near-quotation of either OT (generally) scripture or a typical warning from a hell-fire kind of sermon. I don't recall anything that was unique or specifically meaningful (although years later my mom mentioned that the "warnings" were typically assumed to be for the benefit of some unsaved person there, and not for the majority of us — in other words, the assembly as a whole pitchforked it).
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Had to laugh at this one. I find it interesting that a proper interpretation of tongues -- a bona fide gift of the Holy Spirit -- could be "
pitchforked" by the entire congregation as hay, straw, or stubble. Another feature seems to be that the
tongue-message seems to mimic the general ministry of the church. In my congregation, there is no "hell-fire" kind of sermon, and hence, none of the
tongue-messages nor their interpretations are of the "hell-fire" kind. All the ones I have heard are the "blessing" kind of message.
It's actually the only part of the service which appears spontaneous and open to the members to initiate. Perhaps I am wrong. These tongue-messages and their interpretations could be planned for.
From my limited observation, tongues have 3 purposes --
- General praise and worship. This is both public and private.
- Messages given in meetings, which require someone to interpret.
- Gospel preaching, like in the book of Acts. I have not seen this.