No offense to any Pentecostals on here but I have a friend who is Pentecostal and I was curious as to what they believe and I was very confused and somewhat scared by what she told me.
I am a life-long Pentecostal, and someone who speaks in tongues. I have a master’s degree in history, and my thesis was on Pentecostalism and Popular Culture. I also briefly considered going into the ministry, applied and was accepted to the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, but alas chose a career in public education instead.
I will try to answer your questions as best I can.
My friend said that Pentecostals can ask God for the “gift” of speaking in tongues or glossolalia? And she said only certain people have it and that God can take it away as fast as he gave it to you? Is this biblical?
We do not ask God for the gift of tongues. We ask for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as it occurred in the early church, the promised baptism in the Holy Spirit of which speaking in tongues is
one sign. Pentecostals teach that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is available to all Christians who ask for it. Acts 2 states that all in the upper room were “filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
As for whether the gift of tongues can be taken away . . . I have never heard of anyone “losing” it per se. However, someone’s effectiveness in the things of the Spirit will always be hindered if they are living in such a way that grieves the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts are not abilities found within ourselves; they are graces given to us by the power of the Spirit and we must be willing vessels for Him to work through.
I know they believe in the feast of Pentecost but I thought by speaking in tongues, they spoke in their own language and that everyone listening, could understand it in their own language? Why would speaking in tongues be necessary now?
Pentecostal doctrine on tongues comes from both Acts and 1 Corinthians 14. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, he instructs them that “one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” (verse 2).
He goes on to say that speaking in tongues serves several purposes for the individual Christians and for the larger church. The content of tongues can be “revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching” (verse 6) or what Paul refers to as prayer in the spirit (“if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays” verse 14).
Paul also says that because no one can understand what another says in tongues, the person who speaks in a tongue “should pray that he may interpret” (verse 13). In one of his lists of spiritual gifts, Paul mentions “the interpretation of tongues” as a spiritual gift.
The gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation are closely linked. In Pentecostal churches, people with both gifts work together to make messages in tongues understandable to the wider church. In this way, we are taught how all the members of the body of Christ are linked together in the work of the ministry. It is no accident that Paul discusses how all the members are one body in the same place he discusses the many spiritual gifts that have been placed within the church. The diversities of gifts mirrors the diversities of the members of Christ’s body.
My friend also said that only her mom and aunts have this special gift? Babbling? I don’t understand? And she said that some times they need to be careful because if they aren’t careful with their words, that they eventually start babbling random things…she also said that once she caught her mom speaking another language perfectly, like she was in a “trance” while praying and that her mom didn’t even remember what she was saying while in this “trance”. Can someone please explain all of this?
Any Christian can control what comes out of their mouths. The Fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Furthermore, Paul teaches us that in regards to the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy that “the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:32-33).
I suspect that the mom and aunts speak in tongues at random times because they want to speak in tongues at random times. Why they do this is something you would need to ask them.
I know a Christian lady who is diagnosed as being bipolar. She wears her emotions on her sleeves. Once she was baptized in the Holy Spirit, she could speak in tongues. Now, it is very common for her to slip into tongues-speech during prayer or if she gets excited or aroused in any way that makes her resort to prayer.
It is just her personality. She fears many things, and prayer gives her comfort. For Pentecostals, prayer in tongues (or prayer in the spirit, as we call it) is a more effective method of prayer because it bypasses the limits of human speech and gets to the unspeakable heart cry.
Nevertheless, she is always in control of when and how she speaks. If or when she speaks in tongues, it is because she has willed it to happen. We are not in control of what we say once we began to speak in tongues, but it is always our decision whether we are going to pray in tongues or pray in English.
