Comments on: How I learned to speak in tongues, and then never do it again. The Conclusion

By: swift64

swift64 — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:57:10 +0000

Wow, I am very blessed by the honesty and humility of your post. Thank you for sharing your story. It is amazing that the study of scripture will change our life and our opinions. God truly does reveal himself to us if we seek him. I cam out of some very flawed theology myself, and I too found that by reading the word,and listening to christian sermons, that things became very clear to me. It was interesting when you explained about the pastor trying to slay everyone in the spirit. When I was in high school I went to the state fair, and was “hypnotized.” Many of the people on stage where asked to leave because they were not hypnotized so only a few of us remained. I know I can speak for all of us that were “really hypnotized” in saying that we were not really controlled by what the hypnotist said. We acted because it was what we were supposed to do. A few years later a hypnotist came to my school and several kids were pulled onto the stage. I told a few of them afterwords that I had been hypnotized once, and they looked at me and whispered under their breath, “Then you know?” It seems like a lot of the pentecostal movement uses this same concept. At least it sounds very similar to what we experienced.

By: NJ

NJ — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:09:21 +0000

Okay…although I think you actually are making an argument! ) Anyway, that aside, I do understand where you’re coming from. I, too, used to speak in tongues. I’ve grown much since then, and I now think that the whole speaking in tongues thing (as well as many other manifestations of religion) have much more to do with conformity than they do with spirituality. I have also come to find that the best form of prayer is silence. As with most circumstances, we are usually much better off when we listen rather than talk.

By: paperthinhymn

paperthinhymn — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 03:44:46 +0000

Welcome to the combox, NJ. , I’m not making an argument here. The purpose was not to say what specifically convinced me, and what biblical arguments swayed me, but rather to simply state that I was persuaded from the scriptures, and that that revelation was enough to reexamine and reevaluate not only a belief, but rather a personal experience that was close to me. I had to surmise that even though I didn’t feel like i was being deceived or that it was a learned behavior, that it must have my necessity been one.

By: Supertoast(Mel)

Supertoast(Mel) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:11:47 +0000

Thanks for sharing Dustin. It’s so nice to see someone I’ve always looked up to speak the truth. When we want truth, there is no better place to start than the bible. I agree it’s hard to let go of all emotions/experiences that you had for years, where you totally thought you were as close to God as you could be. And then only to find out in great disappointment that you weren’t. It takes extreme re-learning and starting over to reach a spot where you can finally believe that you and God are on the same page. It’s sad though because (we) put all our energy and effort into having this big devotion to God, so much that (we) will do anything..even getting out of our comfort zone and stuff because (we) thought that’s what God wanted.
Thanks for boldly sharing.

By: NJ

NJ — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:06:29 +0000

I appreciate you sharing your story, Dustin. I have to admit though, that I don’t really understand what the argument is. That is, what is the evidence for what you’re claiming? You kind of skipped over that part. “They were re-soundly refuted.” – what’s the refutation? A really interesting and compelling story from a personal perspective–I’m just really curious about the argument itself.