Quote:
Originally Posted by Falla39
Jermyn,
Did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed!
If so, did YOU speak in tongues when the Holy Ghost
came!
If not, how did you know you had received the Holy Ghost!
Was there a sign of life! A sound, etc.
Blessings,
Falla39
Bump for
Jermyn Davidson
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Honestly, I had a very tender conscience and a healthy fear of the Lord long before I spoke in tongues.
I distinctly remember praying for the Lord to allow me to speak in tongues-- in a way that I would KNOW that it was Him and not me, at all. He has given me that experience, by His Grace, over and over again. Thank You Jesus!
Our Pentecostal culture teaches that there MUST be a verifiable sign of a person receiving salvation. Maybe this is a lack of faith on our part. After all, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The Bible does not make the case that a new believer or a newly saved person will always speak in tongues at the moment of conversion.
The Bible does clearly state in
Romans 14:17 what the Kingdom of God is:
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
I can have those attributes from the Lord, without speaking in tongues. But if I speak in tongues but lack love for my brother, then am I really saved?
So to present the Gospel in a way that mandates speaking in tongues for salvation is not strictly Biblical.
You really have to add that part of our doctrine to the scriptures in order to make it Biblically sound.
We have two examples in scripture where there are folks who are saved but do not speak in tongues.
We have the Cornelius example who followed the three step pattern, but out of order.
As a former 3 stepper, I don't see how anyone can really get by these examples and tell someone that a person must do X, Y and Z to be saved when the Bible (in its entirety) clearly does not make that case!