I remember confronting our pastor about the fact that they believed you weren't "filled with the spirit" unless you spoke in tongues. I was on my way out to a mission in Romania and I didn't speak in tongues. How could you send someone on a mission that you didn't believe was "filled". At that time I had no idea what gate-keeping was, but oh the peer pressure was astounding. It still makes me angry for my younger self.
You're probably going to get some comments on this one because it's so polarizing and honestly, triggering for a lot of people. But, it's your past, and sometimes your present. That's the point of this series.
My kiddo has Autism and sometimes the pressure in her mind and body builds up causes her to stim. This makes some people incredibly uncomfortable to watch. This reminds me of that. Sometimes you just need a way to release pressure.
The things people in charge come up with to shame and control the people they are supposed to serve never stops surprising and disappointing me. You having the nerve to confront your pastor is awesome though.
I hope today's post wasn't triggering for a bunch of people. Mostly I imagined people reading it and thinking, 'You did what now?'
We all know that I'm not good at being submissive. My favorite phrase is that doesn't make sense, which always makes my Jeff giggle when I bust it out at parties. I think it's lovely how different your experience was from mine.
I find speaking in tongues to be an issue to my believability of faith. But I do find it interesting and worth debate.
To my limited knowledge the gift of tongues was given so that the disciples could go into the world, to countries with non native language to spread the word of God.
Now the tongues spoken by ( usually pentecostal / Evangelical) Christians is mostly of a non earthly language. This is conveniently explained as language of angels.
Secondly what is the point? Why would God need to do this. It has no purpose and is almost like possession. Maybe it is demonic possession?
Thirdly, all these tongues sound similar. I can do a close approximation. If there was someone from Botswana in the congregation who could not speak English and then someone spoke in their language then, hold my coffee, I would be impressed!
Your last line about logic is a throwaway line with humour but really logic is everything and all this seems like man made hypnosis and hysteria and not really scriptural or of use to modern preaching.
I remember going to church and feeling a bit like, 'I'm not worthy' as I couldn't / wouldn't speak in tongues. Then some other person would stand up and give a generic, God loves you, translation. Interesting though!
Speaking in tongues is an interesting subject, though these days I'm less interested in the inside baseball of what it is and who it's for and more interested in its effects on personal wellbeing because of its positive effects on me when I practiced it regularly I wonder if the practice of speaking in tongues is in any way comparable to meditation?
Now the last line – 'Imagine trying to live your life 100% rationally. You’d go insane, right?' – for me, that's probably the most important in the post. I was thinking about music and falling in love and experiencing a sense of awe. These things can be at least partially explained rationally, but the only way they can be fully experienced is beyond rationality. When I'm at a concert jumping up and down with a crowd I'm being irrationally manipulated by the music and the environment AND that's why I'm there. So many of life's best experiences aren't against rationality but they are beyond it. That's what I was thinking about, but I didn't make that explicitly clear at all.
I remember confronting our pastor about the fact that they believed you weren't "filled with the spirit" unless you spoke in tongues. I was on my way out to a mission in Romania and I didn't speak in tongues. How could you send someone on a mission that you didn't believe was "filled". At that time I had no idea what gate-keeping was, but oh the peer pressure was astounding. It still makes me angry for my younger self.
You're probably going to get some comments on this one because it's so polarizing and honestly, triggering for a lot of people. But, it's your past, and sometimes your present. That's the point of this series.
My kiddo has Autism and sometimes the pressure in her mind and body builds up causes her to stim. This makes some people incredibly uncomfortable to watch. This reminds me of that. Sometimes you just need a way to release pressure.
The things people in charge come up with to shame and control the people they are supposed to serve never stops surprising and disappointing me. You having the nerve to confront your pastor is awesome though.
I hope today's post wasn't triggering for a bunch of people. Mostly I imagined people reading it and thinking, 'You did what now?'
We all know that I'm not good at being submissive. My favorite phrase is that doesn't make sense, which always makes my Jeff giggle when I bust it out at parties. I think it's lovely how different your experience was from mine.
I find speaking in tongues to be an issue to my believability of faith. But I do find it interesting and worth debate.
To my limited knowledge the gift of tongues was given so that the disciples could go into the world, to countries with non native language to spread the word of God.
Now the tongues spoken by ( usually pentecostal / Evangelical) Christians is mostly of a non earthly language. This is conveniently explained as language of angels.
Secondly what is the point? Why would God need to do this. It has no purpose and is almost like possession. Maybe it is demonic possession?
Thirdly, all these tongues sound similar. I can do a close approximation. If there was someone from Botswana in the congregation who could not speak English and then someone spoke in their language then, hold my coffee, I would be impressed!
Your last line about logic is a throwaway line with humour but really logic is everything and all this seems like man made hypnosis and hysteria and not really scriptural or of use to modern preaching.
I remember going to church and feeling a bit like, 'I'm not worthy' as I couldn't / wouldn't speak in tongues. Then some other person would stand up and give a generic, God loves you, translation. Interesting though!
keep up the good work.
Speaking in tongues is an interesting subject, though these days I'm less interested in the inside baseball of what it is and who it's for and more interested in its effects on personal wellbeing because of its positive effects on me when I practiced it regularly I wonder if the practice of speaking in tongues is in any way comparable to meditation?
Now the last line – 'Imagine trying to live your life 100% rationally. You’d go insane, right?' – for me, that's probably the most important in the post. I was thinking about music and falling in love and experiencing a sense of awe. These things can be at least partially explained rationally, but the only way they can be fully experienced is beyond rationality. When I'm at a concert jumping up and down with a crowd I'm being irrationally manipulated by the music and the environment AND that's why I'm there. So many of life's best experiences aren't against rationality but they are beyond it. That's what I was thinking about, but I didn't make that explicitly clear at all.
You wrote: 'I remember going to church and feeling a bit like, 'I'm not worthy' as I couldn't / wouldn't speak in tongues.'
Church isn't the only institution that taps into and amplifies people's worries about their worth, but it's certainly one of the most skilled at it.