Glossolalia: A Gift of the Spirit
The ‘Gift of Tongues’ (Glossolalia) as described by many Christians in present day is said to be evident proof of the manifestation of the Holy Ghost in an individual. Although many outsiders see it as a new belief or ideology, Christians believe that it is not a new practice but rather a forgotten gift of the spirit given to the early church right after Jesus’ departure. Many believers provide proof of that by recalling the biblical event with the Apostles at the Pentecost, found in Acts 2 and also the twelfth chapter of the first Pauline letter to the Corinthians. Some of these manifestations and gifts of the Spirit emerged to the public, after a long period of time, in the late 19th century and early 20th century giving birth to Pentecostalism. But as any other novelties it brought strife with itself. Today many Pentecostal and nondenominational charismatic churches are firm doers of this practice. They not only think of glossolalia as an idea or a charismatic practice but hold it to be “a heavenly language that [is] unknown to the speaker but known in the heavenly spiritual realm,” a unique spiritual language through which one can communicate with God.
The earliest mention of Glossolalia or the “speaking of tongues” is found in the Bible. There are many arguments from Paul and Luke on how the gift of tongues was portrayed; one of those was that the gift of tongues was seen as an intelligible language understood by other people the other is of an unintelligible language that needed interpretation. However, the important argument, to which many Pentecostals hold on to, is that “Pentecostal glossolalia [as] argued by Peter… [fulfilled] the prophesy of Joel” that God will pour out his ...
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...ed, but most mentioned worship, praise, prayer, intercession, singing in the Spirit and prophecy; helping the person to build up their faith and find the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Cartledge 45).As a Christian I agree and can relate to the author of Evaluating the Charismatic Movement when he says that we Christians claim to have the Spirit, but make most of our decision without referring to his guidance (Culpepper 75). One can criticize and argue as much possible on how glossolalia and the ecstatic gifts lack a good theological explanation or perhaps that they only exist because the human being lacks faith and needs evidence that God is near but that’s the beauty of the gifts of free will and a personal relationship with God. One can believe and experience whatever we please but at the same time knowing that one day we will be held accountable of our decisions.
In the film “The Holy Ghost People,” right away we get individual accounts of what the “Holy Spirit” is to certain individuals. One woman says the Holy Ghost guides her and keeps her going. The people are very intense about their beliefs, which comes from the religion Pentecostalism, which has a hyper focus on personal experience with God and baptism with the Holy Spirit. We see them in their church, we hear the sermon, and see the ritualistic dances and the way the prayer overcomes them, and causes seizure like motions. We see and hear the prayers for the healing of one woman’s eyesight, and another woman’s back pain. One man, seemingly the pastor, says that “if God is not doing what they ask, people aren’t believing hard enough.” Later we get an account from a woman of how she was nursed back to health as a little girl brought her nutrients, and she believes it was
David Jauss, the author of Glossolalia, teaches at UALR and in the low-residency MFA in a writing program at Vermont College. His most recent book was You Are Not Here which was written in 2002. Michael Chabon has also written The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, A Model World, Wonder Boys and of course, Werewolves in their Youth. In Glossolalia, it is the gradual relationship between a father and son. At first, Dany shows his dislike for his father but gradually, his hate grows to love. In Werewolves in their Youth, it is about Paul whom first detests Timothy but gradually begins liking him and they become friends. In both if these short stories, the authors sentimentalize family.
We must acknowledge the significant contribution the Holy Spirit has when sharing the gospel with others. Knowing that the Bible is the inspired word of God we know that, “God speaks through his Word and by his Spirit in a way that the average Christian can understand” (Escobar, 2003, p.131). This coupled with the belief that God prepares all humankinds heart to hear the world, we can deduce that ethnic and cultural perspectives should not influence biblical interpretation because, “Scripture interprets Scripture” (Escobar, 2003,
William J. Seymour taught his recently discovered “new & improved doctrine of tongues” that was not his own. This doctrine actually originated in his professor, Charles Fox Parham. This was a far cry from Seymour’s background of tongues, which was rooted in the “unintelligible speech” spoken by witch doctors and conjurer men in African traditional religion and Haiti Voodoo. Conversely Parham’s doctrine was supposedly in line with the biblical account of Acts 2.
Pentecostalism is arguably the most important mass religious movement of the twentieth century. Today, this association is the second largest sub-group of global Christianity. It has over 30 million American adherents and a worldwide following of more than 430 million (Anderson, 1992). Pentecostalism’s gloomy beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century make the movement’s growth all the more
Pentecostalism is considered one of the greatest universal movement that transformed immensely the history of Christianity. It emphasized a personal interaction with God facilitated by baptism of the individual by Holy Spirit (Alexander, 43). One of the proponents of Pentecostalism is William Seymour. He is regarded as the initiator of Pentecostal movement because of his fundamental teachings on the role of Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life (Heaton 35). Therefore, this research paper aims to describe the contributions of William Seymour to evolution of Pentecostalism. The guiding thesis is that Seymour orchestrated the Pentecostal movement that swept the nation all over the world, which later contributed to the creation of new religious denominations that shared common beliefs, practices, and customs.
The Church as a whole debates many concepts that are in the Bible, in both theology and in practice. One of these debates surrounds the gifts that are spoken of in the Bible. In one corner are those who believe that charismatic gifts are alive and well in the church today. The Continuationist view believes that the gifts have continued on through Biblical times and are still relevant for today. In the other corner are those who believe that particular gifts have ceased to be used in the modern church and that they were only given for a particular reason in Biblical times. This view is called the Cessationist. Today each view, and other views in between, and the practice of the gifts in the current culture will be examined for truth, validity, and application by searching through each view and holding fast to the scripture as the final word of authority.
Biblical witness centers on the Spirits activity of “binding believers to Christ, incorporation them into the church as the body of Christ and equipping the church for mission.” Despite the best effort of the Church to be the hands and feet of Christ it is reassuring to know that the Spirit is still present and working in the hearts of people outside of the church’s work. Without the work of the Spirit in the hearts of believers and throughout the word, humanity would not know the love of God. The Holy Spirit gives liberates and brings new life it unites, encourages and brings hope to a world pledged by darkness.
Throughout the Western culture, Christianity has played a crucial role in the spiritual life of many people. In fact, it is a one of the largest religion in the world with an estimating range from 2 to 3 billion Christians (Religions of the World: Numbers of Adherents; Growth Rates). Spreading with this worldwide religion, the idea that God is at the centre of daily life has a high importance to many people. In the early 20th Century, one of the significant developments of Christianity was the Pentecostal Movement (A Brief History of Christianity). More specifically, Pentecostalism is “the principles and practices of Pentecostal religious groups, characterized by religious excitement and talking in tongues”; its most remarkable detail is its emphasis of the Holy Spirit and the value of prayer (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). It has outspread around the world by the people who believed that they had experienced the marvelous moves of God.
In Africa, the place of progeneration for those who traveled the Middle Passage, many of the original non-Christian indigenous beliefs and traditions exist still today. These quasi religions exist in the form of spoken word, handed down through oration often seeing embellishment or modification to fit the unique geographical demand. These beliefs are “spoken through tongue and written in hearts”.
When mentioned to the general public, the word “Pentecostalism” generates three diverse responses: confusion, mockery, and tolerance; some people never heard of the word, some people view it as being infamous, and the rest accept it. According to the Oxford dictionary, Pentecostalism “relates to any number of Christian sects emphasizing baptism in the Holy Spirit.” Misconceptions originated from the misunderstanding of the history of Pentecostalism, along with the notion that Pentecostalism is one sect when, in fact, there are many divisions. The largest of these is the teachings of Charismatic’s, which make up the most prevalent part of the denomination and have been the driving force for the assumptions and reputation that Pentecostalism has garnered. To truly understand Pentecostalism, one needs to learn the religions history, the standard beliefs of the various sects, and the contemporary changes that some followers have made in the recent years that have fueled the current fallacy about the belief system.
A debated issue throughout the Christian world since the early church has been the issue of baptism of the Holy Spirit. Questions of when does a follower of Christ actually receive God’s Spirit have been in dispute and scrutinized with very different understandings of the scriptural references to this splendid transformation that takes places in the life of a Christian. In both the Old and New Testaments, The Holy Spirit is a constant person that works in and amongst God’s people. In Numbers 11:24-25, the Spirit of God is displayed when “the Spirit rested on them”, referring to the seventy elders that were appointed to aid Moses. 1 Samuel 16:13 states that the mysterious Spirit of God rushed upon David during his coronation as the King of Israel. In Joel 2:28, the Spirit is promised by the prophet. “And it shall come to pass, afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” These are only a few of the references that appear in the Old Testament to the Spirit of God, but there is a very active present of the Spirit of God. John Stott writes, “In the Old Testament days, although all believers were indeed regenerate, the Holy Spirit came upon special people for special ministries at special times.” The differences in the Old and New Testament inner workings of the Spirit seems to be for temporary appointment in the Old Testament and permanent indwelling in the New Testament.
For Christians it is impossible to comprehend all of God’s mysteries, all of God’s plans, all of God’s desires, abilities, mercies, and blessings. It’s impossible to comprehend all of God. This is the price they pay for serving a divine God of infinitive complexity. Even when he spells it out for them, as he did with creating the bible, the human mind is incapable of understanding how God works. Since people are simple minded and selfish beings, debates over what God is trying to tell them in scripture can be formed, and can get to the point where these debates spilt the Christian churches. The question of whether or not the gifts of the holy spirit still has an active role in the modern day churches is one that has been greatly argued among the believers. Although many ideas have been presented on the matter, three major viewpoints have been formed; Cessationism, Continuationism, and an open but cautious view. Whether or not the gifts of the spirit are still part of the Christian chu...
First major theme of the book of Acts is the work of the Holy Spirit in the apostles and the early church. Jesus appeared to his disciples and commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift, the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3b-5) As they gathered together and prayed in one place, the Holy Spirit came to rest on each of them (2:1-3). The disciples who were filled with the Holy Spirit boldly proclaimed God’s word and performed miracles (2:14-42, 3:1-10). Throughout the book, the author focuses on how the Holy Spirt ministers the apostles and the believers in their lives and the community.
Green, Chris E. "'The Body of Christ, the Spirit of Communion': Re-Visioning Pentecostal Ecclesiology in Conversation with Robert Jenson." Journal of Pentecostal Theology 20, no. 1 (2011): 15-26.