Thank you for your reply, Larry. I have not had that experience of speaking in tongues, but I have no reason to suspect that your experience was anything other than a genuine manifestation of the Spirit of God.

I guess what I am saying is that I would feel better about that if I knew that Christians throughout history have had experiences similar to yours. Do you know of any believer hundreds of years ago who spoke in tongues like you describe and wrote about it?

Hi Mike,

A few of the statements of the church fathers indicate that they were aware of some miraculous activity in their day, speaking in languages and prophecying particularly.  The History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff records that speaking in tongues occurred among the Camisards, the Cevennes in France, among the early Quakers and Methodists in the Irish revival of 1859, and among the Irvingites in 1831. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that glossolalia (speaking in tongues) has recurred in Christian revivals of every age — among the mendicant friars of the thirteenth century, among the Jasenists and early Quakers, the persecuted Protestants of the Cevennes, and the Irvingites. 

The fifth century church father, Augustine of Hippo, was very insightful about the beliefs held by the early church regarding speaking in tongues and supported this view. From his comments about Acts 8:17-19, it was his assumption, due to his own experience in such matters, that Simon must have seen the Samaritans speaking in tongues. Augustine wrote, "We still do what the apostles did when they laid hands on the Samaritans and called down the Holy Spirit on them by laying on of hands. It is expected that new converts should speak with new tongues." (Augustine, vol. 4) 

Most Pentecostals and Charismatics generally agree that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is evidenced by speaking in tongues, and is separate and distinct from the birth of the Spirit (John 3:7), which occurs when faith is placed in Christ for salvation.

They believe that speaking in tongues is involved in four distinct functions: (1) As the initial, physical evidence of the baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:46), (2) as a spiritual prayer language which is used for personal edification (1 Cor. 14:4, Rom. 8:26-27), (3) as a special utterance gift to the church, which when interpreted, serves to edify the body (1 Cor. 12:10, 14:6), and as a miraculous sign for unbelievers (Acts 2:5-12, 1 Cor. 14:22).  Paul indicated that not all persons would have the latter "gift of tongues" used to edify the church or as a sign to unbelievers, but desired for all believers to be able to speak in tongues for personal edification. "I wish you all spoke with tongues..." (1 Cor. 14:5).

Sadly, as the church progressively fell into the "dark ages" the various manifestations of the spirit, including tongues, grew increasingly scarce, until the Reformation when there were small groups of Christians that began to once again believe that God desires to build his kingdom through the power of the Spirit.  The Huegenots (17th Century), Quakers (18th), and Methodists (19th) showed signs of such.  But the current Pentecostal beliefs concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit did not find full expression until the early 20th Century.

Why did the church slip into the dark ages?  I believe much of it has to do with the church becoming the state religion, as well as the church rejecting it's Jewish roots and instead being based much upon Greek Philosophy, especially Plato which sought to elevate Reason and suppress Emotion and discredit those who appear emotional.  In many ways, Greco-Roman Christianity moved from being a religion of "being" to a religion of "thinking".  Instead of Christianity being primarily about character and how one lives one life, it degraded into simply mentally accepting the doctrines of the church, being obedient to church leadership, and performing the various sacred rites.  It lost it's vitality and became calcified. 

Salvation is far more than accepting a list of doctrines; it's embracing a real relationship with God!

Thanks Larry.  I'm glad they're a blessing.

It's very sad that tongues is such a devisive issue in the church - from both sides, those that affirm and those that deny the present reality of such.  I believe that we should always seek to be respectful and gracious with one another, though we disagree concerning our beliefs.  Respect, like love, is something given, not something earned. 

Blessings upon you and yours,
Sherman

I certainly do not mean any disrespect or even get into what people do or believe. My goal is to seek the truth and within my group as with others, scholars quoting scholars are often innocent enough but incomplete like "proof texts."  My goal--since I declare a pox on most institutes--is to bypass the scholarly flow of quotes and intend to believe nothing until I have tracked down the writings most often misquoted.

In my quick studies which I post my goal is almost never to quote from page number 12 of some modern book if I can track down the original.  With the internet it is usually easy to do that.  I have looked at too many of the "scholarly" or "encyclopedic" works within the church of Christ and find that the REST OF THE STORY would get them flunked.  Casual readers tend to believe anything in print.

The Augustine first quote above is his reading of Psalm 33.  I haven't found the other quote but I am still searching.

I apologize for my Engineer's approach: I like machines better than people especially if they have wires attached.