proselytizing

[Samson]

dry land fish... I'm a little deeper south than you (Louisiana) and can promise you that back woods is all this state is made of...lollol

Southern Baptist make up over 50% of this state, along with, I was raised as a Southern Baptist.

If they believe in speaking in tongues where you were at, then they have went against what defined Baptist from the Pentecostals and Apostolic teachings that Pentecostals do their damndest to hang on to.

As far as snake handling and Exorcism, you are correct...Baptist believe in possession to it's fullest and;

Mark 16:18
18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

I'm not saying you are wrong in what you have been to.. .We all know how shit is made up from one church to the next.....

[Violet]

What, exactly does it mean to 'speak in tongues'? I realize you probably consider this to be obvious, but i cannot be quite sure what exactly it means. So if anyone wanted to tell me while they are discussing it: i would be appreciative.

[fr0d0]

Speaking in tongues:
There are two forms. The main form is, as most people understand, speaking so that you can be understood by people in all languages at the same time, as recorded happened to the apostles at the day of pentecost. I've witnessed this supposedly happening in modern churches and I personally think it's a pile of crock (the modern incarnation, not the original). Someone will suddenly blurt out some gibberrish, and then someone else will stand up and translate for everyone.
The other form, which is what seen as a proof of being filled by the spirit, is a type of worship where you vocalize in a baby like language, making no recognisable sounds just gibberrish. I managed to make myself do it. People commonly sing in it too. It is quite fun.

The official term is "glossolalia". Some good deifintions etc here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia
http://www.skepdic.com/glossol.html

(BTW your MySpace photo's are still not 'public' DLF)

[Samson]

Frodo, you were the lucky one then...

I've witnessed this supposedly happening in modern churches and I personally think it's a pile of crock (the modern incarnation, not the original). Someone will suddenly blurt out some gibberrish, and then someone else will stand up and translate for everyone.

They actually went by what Paul said in always having a translator to interpret back to the people.

1 Corinthians 14
27If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

28But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.


Of course I agree, it's all a crock....I'm not sure of your understandings of why you believe it's a crock, but if it's because you believe the Bible to be true, then you have verses to back up the cease of speaking in tongues.

I've witnessed this battle between Baptists and Pentecostals on more than one occasion. As to who interpreted the right to speak in tongues still today, and who said it ended almost 2000 years ago...

[fr0d0]

Well how do you logically counter it? It's one person's word that they're inspired to 'vocalize', and another's that they understood it.

[Samson]

And that's a good point and I had thought of that in the past when discussing the speaking in comparison to the translator.

It all boiled down to faith and believe, along with, interpretation of the Bible from which they believed.

Of course I do not put any stock into people who claim to, "Speak in tongues"....I just think it's interesting to see two sets of Christians argue over an interpretation of something that truly does separate their faith in coming from the same book.

I was raised in a Southern Baptist home, but had family which were hardcore UPC (United Pentecostal Church). You should have been to some of the family reunions when two decided to share their faith with the other........

You could have grabbed a bag of popcorn and just watched the show for hours.........lol (Or maybe not "Show", but fireworks...lol)

[fr0d0]

Haha nice (or not).

For a couple of years I went to a church that did the tongues thing (! lol ). The pastor was a clever bloke and told ppl off for abusing it/ warned ppl to be careful. Clearly sometimes it was used to push an agenda. That said it introduced an atmosphere of free expression, in that there was a lot of emphasis on inspiration over rigid observation. No bad thing IMPO.

[Samson]

You mentioned them having an interpreter when they did.... The funny thing is, whenever I went to any UPC church here in Louisiana, they did have anyone beside them translating anything.

It was the reason I said you were one of the lucky ones to at least have someone there telling the congregation what the hell the preacher was saying....

[fr0d0]

Preacher as in the one speaking in tongues you mean?

Well to have a word in tongues (as opposed to the other type I mentioned) explicitly requires an interpretation or it's clearly wrong. No one would get away with that. Are you sure??

An interpreter could be anyone.. according to the rules, there has to be someone in the gathering that understands and can relate what is being said to everyone.

So I guess this is a third type of tongues

[Samson]

Simply the preacher, as he was praying, would go off into a babbled (AKA, Unknown words, language, whatever) rant, and of course the congregation start praising and jumping up and down etc. etc.

While he was screaming his babble, no one stated what he was saying. I've been to 2 UPC churches and 1 Assembly of God that this exact thing took place.

Of course, back then I had no clue that the Bible called for an Interpreter...It wasn't until during my read through of the Bible that I cam across 1 Corinthians and Paul's statement of the translator etc. etc.