Bumble Bee Tuna

Now don't be hard on yourself. Your "attempt at a joke" made me laugh out loud for a good 10 seconds. I'd say it was a pretty successful attempt, no? Just comparing the "Scatman" to fundies was hilarious. Indeed, John Scatman is the bomb diggity. Who knew he was really God's Messenger?

-B

Tercel

I don't see any good reason to think this.

Bubba

Fortunately, going to a tounges speaking church as a seventeen year old gave me experiences that made me start questioning my faith when I was 34. Okay...nobody said I was the quickest kid on the block.

Bubba

Demigawd

You would if you understood the claimed miracle that biblical speaking-in-tongues means. It's hard to remember in this day of world-wide instantaneous communication and true continent-wide languages how many languages and dialects a travelling evangelical in the days of the Jesus legends would have know and understand to be an orater of quality.

Yes, you had some common tongues then, but the average person wouldn't know them all that well. So, the true prophets could "speak in tongues" by having the language miraculously planted in his head or the listener miraculously understanding his words regardless of language barrier.

Tercel

Demigawd,
Paul however refers to people speaking tongues whom no one except God understands 1 Cor 14:2 and to people speaking the tongues of men or angels 1 Cor 13:1.
I therefore don't see why anyone would think tongues have to be a real human language.

emur

Except that the Pentecost version of tongues in Acts 2 does involve real human languages.

Mel

mike_decock

My father (a traveling missionary) often told a story about a hitchhiker he once picked up. He tried speaking to the man in several languages and when they couldn't find a common one, he tried speaking to the man in tongues. The man responded and they held a conversation until the man pointed at the side of the road. When the man got out, he shook my father's hand with tears in his eyes.

I don't know if the story is true (my father isn't the kind of man who would intentionally falsify a story), but it still makes me wonder what happened. My best guess is that it was a kind of "autistic" episode (my father is dyslexic).

-Mike...

Stephen T-B

In my father's congregation, healing, speaking in tongues and prophesy were regarded as gifts from the Holy Spirit - and necessary gifts for anyone claiming to have been touched by the Holy Spirit..
The belief seemed to be that the "tongues" was an ancient Middle Eastern language, but my parents told me of a "speaking in tongues" episode at the end of which either an African, or someone who'd been to Africa, stood up and declared that the language he'd just heard was the same as was spoken by a small tribe in the heart of the continent and which he happened to know..
Like Mike_decock I didn't really know what to make of the stories I heard from my parents; they wouldn't have lied, that's for sure. But they did pass on stories they'd heard , without considering their likelihood, and most of the stories were embedded in thick layers of wishful thinking.

Stephen T-B

In my father's congregation, healing, speaking in tongues and prophesy were regarded as gifts from the Holy Spirit - and necessary gifts for anyone claiming to have been touched by the Holy Spirit..
The belief seemed to be that the "tongues" was an ancient Middle Eastern language, but my parents told me of a "speaking in tongues" episode at the end of which either an African, or someone who'd been to Africa, stood up and declared that the language he'd just heard was the same as was spoken by a small tribe in the heart of the continent and which he happened to know..
Like Mike_decock I didn't really know what to make of the stories I heard from my parents; they wouldn't have lied, that's for sure. But they did pass on stories they'd heard , without considering their likelihood, and most of the stories were embedded in thick layers of wishful thinking.

jdawg2

ahhh!