Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jkk@aiai.edinburgh.ac.uk (John Kingston) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: speaking in tongues, etc Message-ID: Date: 27 Jun 90 05:12:07 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AI Applications Institute, University of Edinburgh Lines: 49 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Paul (Dubuc, not the apostle) writes: >Why would the effect of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost >be confined to the disciples only? >I've taken the moderator's suggestion >}>that what Acts >}>describes is as much the gift of understanding as speaking in tongues >as part of my interpretion of this >passage for a long time. It seems like, whatever the "tongues" were in >this instance, there must also have been some "gift of understanding" on >the part of the hearers involved. Why would those who heard have been >suprised to hear the same speaker(s) in different languages unless they >were listening to the same persons at the same time? One can't speak two >different languages at once. If they were spoken at separate times or >places or by different people, what would have been suprising in that? -- I take the point that Acts lists people from 15 regions who heard the disciples speaking in their own language, and there were only 12 disciples. I also agree that it is impossible to speak 2 languages at once. I imagine that some disciples spoke first in one language, then in another, although I don't claim to have any textual evidence for this. What was surprising about this was that those speaking all these languages were uneducated Galileans. I base my view on the following: 1/ The disciples had received the Holy Spirit, and there is evidence elsewhere in the New Testament (1 Corinthians) that speaking in tongues is associated with the Holy Spirit. 2/ The crowds had not received the Holy Spirit, and I can't think of any Biblical evidence for a gift of understanding of a foreign language. (Interpretation, yes; translation, no). 3/ I have heard a few stories of people in this century "speaking in tongues" and being understood by speakers of a foreign language. I can supply a reference for one such story: *Renewal* magazine (probably Jan, Feb or Mar 1990 - I can't find my copy), which deals largely with renewal in the Church of England, published an article by a mssionary couple who had returned home from Sri Lanka, and heard an Englishman speaking fluent Sinhalese in a Sunday service. They also noted that an interpretation was given, and was fairly accurate. God bless, John K. John Kingston, AI Applications Institute, University of Edinburgh, 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1HN, Scotland E-mail jkk@uk.ac.ed.aiai, phone 031-225 4464 ext. 213 FAX: 031 226 2730 Arpanet: J.Kingston%uk.ac.ed@nfsnet-relay.ac.uk TELEX: 727442 UNIVED G