Sis. Renee
You responded to my quote of
Mark 16:!6 with
Mark 16:17 "and these signs shall follow them that BELIEVE, they shall speak with new tongues....."
My comment would be that we cannot take all of the signs of
Mark 16:17-18 as normative for every believer. Of course as oneness Pentecostals we see tongues there right after baptism, and want to jump on it. But Jesus didn't only say those who believe will speak with new tongues, He also said they would cast out devils, take up serpents, (possibly) drink deadly poison, and they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So contextually speaking IF we make tongues a requirement for salvation for every believer, then should not all of these other signs be evidenced in each and every believers life? Does this mean that if someone speaks in tongues, and heals the sick, but has not cast out a demon, they are not saved? They lack evidence of salvation?
And if the answer is NO that does not mean they are not saved, my response is:
Then why is one sign of
Mark 16:17-18 more important than the others. For example, how can you say someone hasn't believed to salvation if they cast out demons and heal the sick? Are not those equally valid signs?
I believe that
Mark 16:17-18 speaks in reference to the whole body of believers, the church, for the sake of furthering the gospel, and not to the works that each individual believer will do. I believe this is true to the context as 16:20 says "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following."
Furthermore I do think it is of extreme interest that this is the one and only place in any of the 4 gospels that Jesus refers to tongues by name, and that in the very highly disputed ending of Mark. *IF* speaking in tongues was
the one and only universal initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, without which no one can be saved, and failure to speak in tongues will result in eternal damnation, it would seem that Jesus would have made that clear throughout the gospels, or in the very least inspired a very clear explicit statement in the epistles. (The epistles of which only 1 out of 21 even mentions tongues by name....hmmm....)
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