A quick note and another Letter

Hi all, I'm back after just one day, now that's amazing. To make one quick note about yesterday's post, "Terry's" story was a question that God asked during my prayer time, and He asked me in a "what if" sense, it's a question that I hope and pray that I never have to face in real life. Now, for the other letter! Another good friend of mine recently wrote me a letter and as a sidenote asked my a question. I was going to attempt to make a quick reply to it, but it ended up being a three page reply. I'm going to post it here (again changing names and little details that might give the names and places away), e-mail me or comment it to tell me if you thing I might have it right, or if I'm totally whacked and out there. Thanks all,

Hey Tom, No problem about not going to My Old Church, I fully understand your dilemma. If you miss this week, don't feel bad, whenever you have the time. Speaking in Tongues, whew, you know how to really lay a good question on. Forgive me if I sound a little too theological, but I really try to be careful about this and use the Bible to back me up, so every statement that I make will be backed up with scripture. Alright, lets see if I can say this right. There are biblically two different types of Speaking in Tongues, each being divided into two sub groups. They are... 1. Speaking in the Tongues of Men... 2. ... and of Angels (1 Corinthians 13:1) The sub groups being... 1. Speaking in the Tongues of Men A: Holy Spirit speaking through you in a language that you know (Luke 12:11-12) B: Holy Spirit speaking through you in a language that you do not know (Acts 2:4-6) 2. Speaking in the Tongues of Angels A: Holy Spirit speaking through you for the growth of the Church as a group (1 Corinthians 14:5) B: Holy Spirit speaking through you for the growth of the Church as YOU (1 Corinthians 14:2) Many churches that believe in the speaking of tongues agree with the previous statements, but here is where my personal study of the Bible sometimes gets me in trouble. (Most scriptures I use will be taken from 1 Corinthians and Acts, but I probably will bounce back and forth throughout the Bible, and I will be using multiple versions i.e. New King John, The Message, New International, etc.) Paul is the foremost Biblical authority on the speaking of Tongues (1 Corinthians 14:18) so most of my thoughts come from his teachings. Most Christians agree that Holy Spirit will give you "the words to speak (Luke 12:11-12)," but many are divided over what is more commonly called "the speaking of Tongues." Biblically, by far, this is the most common form of speaking in Tongues is when Holy Spirit speaks through you in a language that you know, sometimes with a physical manifestation of power (Acts 3:6) sometimes not (those times are often labeled as "words of wisdom") (Acts 9:20-21). The most obvious part of the Bible speaking of this aspect of Holy Spirit is when the Bible says the all scripture is "God Breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16). An actual translation of Holy Spirit is "Sacred Breath." So all scripture is given by "God's Sacred Breath." So there's 66 Books and Letters of "Speaking in Tongues." If my understanding of scripture is accurate, this also includes the gift of Prophesying. Ok, so much for the very easy part. Speaking in other languages that you do not know, this has been the cause of much division, probably because there is only one example (that I am aware of) in the Bible of people speaking in another human language that is unknown to them (Acts 2:4-6). In my personal experience, I do not believe that I have ever personally heard anyone speaking in a Language that is unknown to them, of course, I would probably not even realize it if I did, seeing as I am proficient only in English, and I expect most people in our country to know English. Pastor John has seen this gift before, if my memory serves me correctly, on one of his missions trips one of his students began to speak fluently in the French tongue, a language which she did not know. So much for the semi-easy part, now to the hard. If you have never read 1 Corinthians 13-15, you might want to before you go any farther. Much of what you see of the speaking of tongues is done as private prayer in a group setting, a concept with which I wrestle often. 1 Corinthians specifically divides the languages of the Spirit into two separate groups, for you and for you and others. Paul says that while in church he would rather speak only five words in a language that everyone understood to instruct them, than he would ten thousand words that no one understands (speaking in tongues) (1 Corinthians 14:19). Beyond that, Paul says that when believers come together, everyone has something that God wants them to say to strengthen the church (1 Corinthians 14:26), but there are two things specified. First, very few people is God ever going to give in one period of time to them to say in a "strange tongue," and they should only speak One-At-A-Time (1 Corinthians 14:27)! And even beyond that, the MUST be an interpretation (1 Corinthians 14:27). If there is not interpretation, Paul goes as far as to say to keep quiet (1 Corinthians 14:28) "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." (1 Corinthians 14:33) What a lot of us believers do, something I used to do when I was at My Old Church, is I would confuse the Public speaking in Tongues and the Private speaking in Tongues, almost completely forgetting the simply speaking in our own language what God has for us to speak. So I did "give thanks well, but the other is not build up." (1 Corinthians 14:17) Paul said that speaking in Tongues by itself is useless to the church as a group (1 Corinthians 14:6). That seems harsh, but unless there is an interpretation, we all might know that God is speaking, but no one knows what God is saying (1 Corinthians 14:9; 14:16-17)! Something that we seem to have missed, is that Public Speaking in Tongues is to be understood and interpreted by someone! Now this might get me in trouble. Most people teach that when we are praying in Tongues that we are supposed to "clear our minds" and "press in." Unfortunately, it seems that Paul's teaching was to "pray in our spirits AND in our minds" for if we pray in "the spirit" and not in our minds, our minds are unfruitful (1 Corinthians 14:14-15) (emphasis mine). Here comes the other trouble spot. "Wherefore he who speaks in an [unknown] tongue -- let him pray that he may interpret." (1 Corinthians 14:13) I do not know if this is only for Public speaking in Tongues or also Private speaking in Tongues, I can only read it and beg for wisdom. In conclusion, if we were to together study this one aspect of God, we would "never even scratch the surface." Some people use that as a way of saying, "Let's move on to something else," but I mean it as that there is so much that is amazing in this part of God, that I will never tire of learning more about this. If the Lord ever gives you knowledge about this aspect of himself or any other, please, don't hesitate to write me and tell me, I am always hoping to hear wisdom from people our age, and in so few is it shown. Thanks my friend for letting me delve into this aspect of our Lord again, and for letting me grow from it. I'll be seeing you,

Talk to my y'all, tell me if you think I'm way off track or not. Thanks eveyone!