Speaking in tongues/Charasmatics
Day one of Spiritual Emphasis Week and I already have a rant. Woohoo!
**Re-reading this, I realize it doesn't have much to do with chapel...read it anyways. :p**
This morning, chapel was pretty good. This evening started out fine, but when the speaker got up and practically conducted a mini-healing service before he started preaching...I was definitely uncomfortable, and I don't think it was in a good way. He reminded me a little too much of Benny Hinn (minus "being slain in the Spirit." If you don't know who Benny Hinn is...be glad.)
For fun, let me state my position on speaking in tongues/the whole Charasmatic movement. I have friends who are Charasmatic. I love them dearly. I have also been in churches where people have spoken in tongues on many occasions. When we Bible quizzed on the Corinthians, I memorized 1 Cor. 14 where Paul clearly says in verse 27, "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. (Can you tell I feel strongly about that?) ;) I have never seen/heard anyone interpret tongues.
Point number two--Paul also says that "in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue." Point being? Speaking in tongues is not the evidence of the Holy Spirit. We make too big of a deal out of it.
I may be wrong on this, but I believe the only times tongues are mentioned in the Bible in great detail are Acts 2 (where it originated), 1 Cor. 12 (spiritual gifts--no one has them all) and 1 Cor. 14 (instructions for the chuch). I see nowhere where it says we are to speak in tongues. Communion--obviously something for the entire Church. Foot washing? Tongues? Prophsey? Nope.
So the guy in chapel said he'd gotten these "impressions" from God and was basically "speaking healing" on illnesses in the room. Now, I personally believe that if God wants to heal someone, He will do it with or without permission from a human. God doesn't need your permission to do anything. Like Steven Curtis Chapman says, "God is God, and I am not." So simple, but so true, and quite frequently, so forgotten.
The Internet Monk has a very good article on this that you can find here.
I've never spoken in tongues or had a vision from God, and you know what? I'm okay with that. It doesn't make me any more or any less of a Christian than someone who has.
Anyways, that is tonight's rant. I might write another one relating to the Internet Monk's article "When I am Weak," just because I like it so much and he does a good job of expressing what's in my heart. Like anything on the internet, I don't agree with it 100%, but he does have some amazing things to say.
**Re-reading this, I realize it doesn't have much to do with chapel...read it anyways. :p**
This morning, chapel was pretty good. This evening started out fine, but when the speaker got up and practically conducted a mini-healing service before he started preaching...I was definitely uncomfortable, and I don't think it was in a good way. He reminded me a little too much of Benny Hinn (minus "being slain in the Spirit." If you don't know who Benny Hinn is...be glad.)
For fun, let me state my position on speaking in tongues/the whole Charasmatic movement. I have friends who are Charasmatic. I love them dearly. I have also been in churches where people have spoken in tongues on many occasions. When we Bible quizzed on the Corinthians, I memorized 1 Cor. 14 where Paul clearly says in verse 27, "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. (Can you tell I feel strongly about that?) ;) I have never seen/heard anyone interpret tongues.
Point number two--Paul also says that "in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue." Point being? Speaking in tongues is not the evidence of the Holy Spirit. We make too big of a deal out of it.
I may be wrong on this, but I believe the only times tongues are mentioned in the Bible in great detail are Acts 2 (where it originated), 1 Cor. 12 (spiritual gifts--no one has them all) and 1 Cor. 14 (instructions for the chuch). I see nowhere where it says we are to speak in tongues. Communion--obviously something for the entire Church. Foot washing? Tongues? Prophsey? Nope.
So the guy in chapel said he'd gotten these "impressions" from God and was basically "speaking healing" on illnesses in the room. Now, I personally believe that if God wants to heal someone, He will do it with or without permission from a human. God doesn't need your permission to do anything. Like Steven Curtis Chapman says, "God is God, and I am not." So simple, but so true, and quite frequently, so forgotten.
The Internet Monk has a very good article on this that you can find here.
I've never spoken in tongues or had a vision from God, and you know what? I'm okay with that. It doesn't make me any more or any less of a Christian than someone who has.
Anyways, that is tonight's rant. I might write another one relating to the Internet Monk's article "When I am Weak," just because I like it so much and he does a good job of expressing what's in my heart. Like anything on the internet, I don't agree with it 100%, but he does have some amazing things to say.
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