Speaking in tongues Part 2 of 3

Ok, we have looked at the Old Testament…now let’s keep on digging.  But first, a message in tongues. 

Hope you found that to be cute.   But I actually posted it there for a reason….which will become clear in a moment. 

I think before we go on in the scriptures we should take a clinical look at tongues and understand what we can from the natural side of things.

The phenomenon of tongues actually has an official name:  Glossolalia which is constructed from a Greek word which itself is a compound of two words “glossa”, meaning "tongue" or "language" and “lalein” meaning "to talk".  The word itself was first used in 1879 by a man named Frederic William Farrar  who was considered to be a theological writer.  The only problem was that the theology he wrote about most often…was called the Doctrine of Universal Salvation which is absolutely wrong doctrine.

Glossolalia itself has been studied by medical professionals and by amateurs.  As recently as 2005 neuroscientists used imaging techniques to track changes in the blood flow of the brain in five Pentecostal women.  They compared two activities:  First, each woman sang a gospel song then they spoke in tongues. By comparing the patterns created by these two activities, the researchers could pinpoint blood-flow peaks and valleys unique to speaking in tongues.  They found that their frontal lobes…the thinking, willful part of the brain through which people control what they do…were relatively quiet, as were the language centers.  When these results were compared to the tests of other people who had performed pseudo-spiritual activities like meditation the frontal lobes were very active.  If I may paraphrase their results….science has proven what we have always known…speaking in tongues is a giving of oneself over to the direction of the Holy Spirit…The Apostle Paul said it like this….

1 Corinthians 14:14 (KJV)

 ¹⁴For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

So…we are praying with our spirit empowered by the Holy Spirit…an activity that cannot be measured by scientists.

Additional research in this area has its focus on the electrical activity of the brain while praying in tongues.  There are five identified states of brain activity ranging from “Delta” which is very little activity to “Gamma” which means there is a bunch going on.  The ability to quiet your mind is a much sought after experience.  Many of the websites promoting methods to achieve this… deal with meditation and bio-feedback.  A couple of scientists wrote a paper in 1989 outlining their findings that when a subject began praying in tongues…their brain activity dropped immediately down to the “Delta” level…this happened at will unlike other subjects whom after hours and hours of meditation were able to achieve the same thing.  Again, if I may be so bold as to paraphrase their results…Once again science has proven what Christians have always known…Jesus brings peace.

Philippians 4:7 (KJV)

⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

One other item I think we should briefly explore is the linguistics of the tongues languages themselves.  There are some very educated scholars that have done some very impressive work in the study of glossolalia.  One scientist sampled glossolalia recorded in public and private Christian meetings in Italy, Holland, Jamaica, Canada and the USA over the course of five years; his wide range included the Puerto Ricans of the Bronx, the Snake Handlers of the Appalachians, and Russian Molokan in Los Angeles.  This Scientist found that glossolalic speech does resemble human language in some respects. The speaker uses accent, rhythm, intonation and pauses to break up the speech into distinct units. Each unit is itself made up of syllables, the syllables being formed from consonants and vowels taken from a language known to the speaker.  He found that the resemblance to human language was merely on the surface, and so concluded that glossolalia is "only a facade of language".  {Kind of like the baby talking in the video above}  He reached this conclusion because the syllable string did not form words, the stream of speech was not internally organized, and…most importantly of all…there was no systematic relationship between units of speech and concepts. Humans use language to communicate, but glossolalia does not. Therefore he concluded that glossolalia is not "a specimen of human language because it is neither internally organized nor systematically related to the world man perceives".

This seems to be some pretty harsh stuff where speaking in tongues is concerned…but…if I may…let me present this to you in a slightly different light.  Speaking in tongues is a spiritual event.  There are things about it that can be measured, quantified, recorded and catalogued but science has not been able to explain the…Why?..of it.  I personally totally agree with what the scientist decided…Tongues isn’t related to the world man perceives.  Speaking in tongues is a physical manifestation of a spiritual event and the physical world will never be able to understand it.

Sooo, let me summarize this information:

1.  Tongues does produce measurable changes in brain activity and blood flow in the brain.

2.  Certain parts of the brain experience decreased activity…those that reflect conscious (cognitive) control, structured language, learning and memory.

What this means is:

a)   That the mind is not controlling the tongues,

b)   Tongues language is unstructured and something the person is not
       familiar with,

c)   Tongues is not a learned or remembered activity,

d)   Tongues is not due to increased mental effort.  It is equated with deep
       sleep or deep relaxation.

Speaking in tongues Part 1 of 3

Does God say to speak in tongues?........Geez, let’s not start with anything simple.  Let’s just jump right in to probably the single most disputed question in Christianity.  When you type “speaking in tongues” into Google….it comes up with 13,100,000 hits! ….so I guess we can add one more.

 

The simple answer:  Does God say to speak in tongues?.............Yes!

 

Ok….see ya….bye…have a good day!

 

However, if you would like a slightly more detailed answer…it will probably take a few more words….soooo, fasten your seat belts, drink another Red Bull, flip the switch and ignite the NOS…. and here we go!

 

The very first time God shows his divine right where language is concerned is in Genesis 1:3.  God is the first to speak.  What language did God speak?  No idea…..Adam?...again no idea.  However, many of the scholars (not all) who work in the field of language and its roots agree that Hebrew or some form of Hebrew was the first language.  All other languages point back to Hebrew at some point.  I think it also important to note that the scripture points out that the very first communication between God and man was a commandment.

 

Which brings us to The Tower of Babel.  Again, God asserts his divine right over language.  Languages never imagined are suddenly spoken with fluency and understanding.  Peoples brains were shifted so that they didn’t think or dream in their original language any more….now they even thought in a different language!....and it happened with all of humanity in a single moment of time on a specific day!  But it is important to note this occurrence was an instance of God’s judgment in the earth.

 

Now comes Moses a man who had a lot of face time with God.  Moses gave Israel God’s Law and it came with blessings and cursings.  If you follow the law…good stuff will happen.  If you don’t follow the law….bad stuff will happen.  One of the bad things that Moses outlined was in Deuteronomy 28:49 a nation whose language you do not understand will come against you.  God is again using language as an instrument of judgment.  This particular curse has come upon Israel a few times in their history because they harden their hearts against the simple truths of the scriptures.

 

The next time that language becomes an issue between God and man is during the life of Daniel in the story of the writing on the wall.  It is interesting to note that the language written on the wall was the language that King Belshazzar spoke, it was the common language of the day…but he couldn’t understand it and neither could anyone else.  Scholars all have their views on this mostly focusing on the way the words were written.  Personally, I prefer the explanation of the Tower of Babel…God is divine and we only understand…because He reveals it.  Again, it is interesting to note that this occurrence of the use of language by God was an instance of God’s judgment.

 

Isaiah is our next contestant!  Isaiah 28:11 KJV and Isaiah 28:11NIV.  God is having the prophet write about language again but I think we need to understand the context.  Isaiah 28 takes place in the latter years of Hezekiah, King of Judah.  Before his rule, Assyria invaded Palestine and the Northern Kingdom.  Now, many years later, Isaiah warns the people of the Southern Kingdom, that the same thing is going to happen to them.  However, instead of trusting in the Lord for their deliverance from Assyria, they make a deal with Egypt. Their unity with pagan Egypt brings an influx of heathen practices, and their hearts turn from God.  So, the prophet makes his prophetic announcement of coming judgment.  Since the people will not listen to God when they hear the stammering lips and another tongue on the streets of Jerusalem, as well as throughout the land (i.e., the Assyrian language which they understood not), they will know that God's judgment is upon them according to the Law of Moses.

 

Do you see the running theme here?  God has used language repeatedly in terms of judgment but specifically as a “sign”…..when you see Event “B” happening (a language issue)….then Event “A” (they turned their hearts from God) is what has occurred.  Is it possible for God to show the “sign” without commanding the curse?

Does God say to speak in tongues?

That is absolutely positively what I was talking about when I had mentioned a long distance Bible study.

Which beings me to the first thing I wanted to talk to you about.

Travis and I were hanging out at his house about a week ago, and his dad and him began arguing about tongues. His dad was saying that he doesn't believe tongues or from God or the Holy Spirit and he didn't feel speaking of tongues was from God. That it had its place only once when everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit on the passover (or something to that effect).

Now I have been raised better than that, and the Holy Spirit kept me guarded at that time. I felt like I was told to not allow that topic to cause any confusion in my heart or head, and left not worrying about it. But when he asked me what I thought, I told him I spoke in tongues when I felt I needed to pray but didn't know what about. Or even when I had something on my heart I wanted an answer to I would speak in tongues til I had gotten peace or even an answer. But I didn't know what to say when he said "where in the bible does God say to speak in tongues?"

Anyways, I'm going to print your email off and read over more of it. Thanks Dad.

Love,
Chris

Living Life

Howdy!

 

Our Pastor preached a sermon that I disagreed with on a couple of points and it just got me to thinking...so I am just going to explore those things with you.

 

By the way...in your life this is probably going to happen over and over again.  Some preacher is going to preach or teach about something that you personally believe to be different...in fact you might absolutely know for a fact that they are wrong.  The bible teaches that a wise man will be quiet more than having to talk.  Do a search on the word "tongue" and only look at the results from Proverbs.  If you try to correct a man's theology...more than likely you will not end up as friends....even though you are right and he is wrong....its better to have a friend that you might be able to have a relationship with... than an enemy.  God never said that you or I had to go around teaching people where they were wrong....The Holy Spirit is the teacher.  Now....on the other hand....the scriptures do teach the concept of "iron sharpening iron".  It means that people who have a relationship can learn from each other and the rough and dull edges (like wrong theology) can be straightened out and both people can be better equipped for the Lord's use.  Do you remember Les Montgomery?  Les and Karen were our good friends and Pastors of a church called Action Faith.  Mom was attending their church initially and then I came along later.  Les preached a really good sermon one time called "Lively Stones" and it was based on this scripture in 1st Peter.  One of the examples he used in that sermon was a rock tumbler and the analogy was that as Christians in relationship together we are going to rub the sharp edges off of each other which helps us to be better used by Christ.

 

So, you have just learned something about me...I am an expert in what preachers call "rabbit tracks".  I haven't even begun to write about the subject that I initially started out with.....which was....

 

Our Pastor preached a message on the "Image of God".  Positing the questions..."What is it that makes us different from animals?"  "What does it mean to be made in the image of God?"  His response was that it was the ability to empathize with another person.  When he initially asked the question about animals, one of the people in the congregation said out loud that it was our spirit that makes us different....to which the Pastor replied that it wasn't and he went on further to say that animals have spirits and that all we need to do is to read the scriptures to learn that....(it sounds harshly said here but it wasn't at all that way).  Well, he is absolutely wrong on both those points....but as to the point about empathy he is partially right....It's kind of like saying cement is made out of sand....that is only partially right..but you need some other stuff.

 

So...here is the way that I believe the theology works where these questions are concerned:

 

In Genesis 1 it tells the story of the creation with the order in which he created things.  Did you ever realize that humans were the last thing that God created.  He created plants and birds and fish and animals all before he created humans.  The scripture also specifically notes that they grew and flew and swam and moved...they were alive!

 

Something else interesting here...and a definite "rabbit track" is that the scripture specifically states that he created the human male and female at the same time!

 

In Genesis 2  there is a recounting and summary of the creation with more specific details.  It is here that the scripture shows that God formed a body out of the ground for man.  Gen 2:19 refers backward to how God had also formed all of the other living creatures out of the ground.  Remember...they were all formed out of the ground and they were alive.

 

Here is the difference.... Genesis 2:7 .....God does something different here with the body he formed out of the ground...it says that God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life".  It doesn't say that God did that to any other thing that was alive.  Are we to assume that this whole process of "breathing the breath of life" is implied to all the other living creatures? or should we see that the scriptures have said exactly what they meant and that this process was something altogether different?  I don't think that cows have changed that much over the last hundred years...or five hundred years...one thousand or two thousand years or even longer....sure i think there has been a natural selection in the gene pool...(enter Charles Darwin....but that is another rabbit track...) but in all the time that cows have been alive i don't think that they were alive without breath at one time and then ...now they breathe.  I believe that for God to point out specifically that He "breathed the breath of life" into man's body must mean more than we see on the surface....and it does!...but it requires a little digging into Hebrew of which I am not a scholar...I am an absolute amateur...I just rely on the work that scholars have produced.

 

Obviously, the bible is a collection of books translated into English meaning that each of the words or phrases we read correspond to a word or phrase in another language.  It is Gen 2:7 that bears a closer look.  The Hebrew language doesn't use all the same parts of language in the same ways that we do as outlined here.  Written below is Genesis 2:7 with links to the definitions of the actual Hebrew words used in the scripture.

 

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

 

Look specifically at the word "breath"..if you do a little research you find that the Hebrew word translated as "breath" here...is also translated as "spirit" elsewhere.  This is where very educated scholars doing the translation give themselves license to translate as best they can...this isn't hidden truth..its just truth that has to be looked for.  Now look at the Hebrew word for "life"....it is used interchangeably in the same way as we do...We might say "That pond is teeming with life." meaning that it has plants and algae and fish and frogs (physical life) or we could use the same word as Dr. Frankenstein did when he said; "Life! I have created life!" meaning that he had made something animated or alive that used to not be alive.  So a possible translation so far is that God breathed into his nostrils the "spirit of life"...

 

look further at the words "living soul"  the word "living" is just a variation of the word "life" that we just talked about.  "Soul" is the key...it's very different.  The word speaks of our core existence...our innermost self...it is what makes us...us! ...and it is differentiated from physical life..it is life..but a different kind of life than physical life...spirit life!  So then, the scripture becomes...that "God breathed into mans nostrils the spirit of life and man became living life"...not that man was living a life but that the physical life and the spiritual life had become one.

 

This is what separates us from the animals they are alive but we are living life!....It is within this that we understand that sin causes spiritual death...that man becomes "living dead"..physically alive but spiritually dead.

 

Soooo..I have more to say on animals and spirits but I think for now I used up all my words for one sitting....hope this wasn't boring...I sure did enjoy writing it.

 

Love You

dad