GeoffB wrote:
An orthodox friend of mine who is now just re-discovering her faith posed the question to me that she acquired from some of her pentacostal friends... i tried to answer but couldn't convince her, so i am seeking other opinions: in the gospel of matthew as well as in the Acts of the apostles it suggests that in order to truly receive the holy spirit, one must speak in tongues as evidence after being baptized.
\" ... And he said unto them, Have ye received the holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not heard whether there be any holy Ghost ... And when Paul laid his hands on them, the holy Ghost fell on them; and they spake in tongues, and prophesied.\" (Acts 19:2,6).
her question to me was a) why do we have child baptism since b) the child is unable to speak in tongues as evidence of receiving the holy spirit.
thanks for all opinions!
geoff
There\'s a passage in the book of Romans which is very telling, as concerning receiving the Holy Spiritand glossalia/speaking in tongues.
The Apostle Paul says that \\"...if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.\\" O.k. the Holy Spirit marks ownership. Among other things which Our Lord said about the role of the Holy Spirit, He said \\"...but when He the Spirit of Truth comes, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.\\" (2) The Holy Spirit teaches.The disciples wre told to \\"...tarry ...\\"in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father. THis is the second half of The Great Commission so many speak of in evangelical Protestantism. (3) The Holy Spirit enables. If the Holy Spirit is \\"another one of the sme kind\\" who comes alongside, then what was the evidence of Jesus being alongside the Disciples; Was it not that whenever any of them received this \\"new wine\\". Thery showed the fruit of being filled with the life of of the Vine. I.E., the simple truth is that whenever anyone is filled with anything, they show evidence of being controlled by that which fills them. In this both the Apostles Paul and Peter write that the fruit of,...is character qualities which render you neither useless or unfruitful, and against which there is no law. (galatians 5, and 2nd Peter 1)
Scriptures tell us that God gives to each one individually as \\"He wills\\", which meansHe doesn\'t give to each one according to donominational doctrine. NOw;, none of this means that God does not \\"gift\\" anyone inthis present time with another language, again He does as He wills;, but it does mean there\'s an awful lot of faulty theology out there. Orthodox teaching points out that whenever we begin to \\"sek\\" an esperience we set ourselves up for future deception, which may be imediate. The Apostle Peter tells us that we should by the manner of our life\\"...silence the questions of foolish men...\\" To me having been in the Charismatic Movement that is a lot more powerful an evidence of the Holy Spirit being in my life than saying something someelse has to interpret.
the sinful and unworthy servant
