From: (Andrew Bromage)

Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian

Subject: Re: Preaching the Gospel ?

Date: 30 May 1997

G’day all.

(Michael Kennedy) writes:

Why can’t all Christians speak in Tongues?

Do you have any Biblical evidence of this?

*sigh* Here we go again, for the benefit of the audience. This is

from memory, so I may have left some stuff out.

Different people have different Spiritual gifts. This is the main

point of 1 Corinthians 12. Note especially Paul’s use of the metaphor

of parts of the body and v21 in particular.

Paul says explicitly in this chapter that not every Christian speaks in

tongues (v30, best seen in Greek, but the NASB translates it

particularly well).

In v28, Paul equates different jobs with different gifts. If all

Christians spoke in tongues, this would imply that everyone was an

apostle, everyone was a good administrator and everyone was a good

teacher, which is not the case. Especially in the case of teachers and

RCI/RF members on this newsgroup. It would also imply that all

Christians can interpret tongues which is implied by 1 Cor 14:28.

If all Christians exercised all Spiritual gifts, Paul would not need to

“impart” a gift (Romans 1:11) and we would not need to “earnestly

desire” any gifts (1 Cor 12:31).

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul describes marriage and celibacy as gifts.

Nobody in history has ever practised both simultaneously. He goes on

to say that “each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift,

another has that.” (1 Cor 7:7, NIV)

In Romans 12, Paul explicitly says that “We have different gifts,

according to the grace given us” (Rom 12:6) and goes on to say “If it

is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach” (NIV) and

so on for many gifts, “just as each of us has one body with many

members, and these members do not all have the same function” (v4).

Paul seemed to like that metaphor a lot.

And, most importantly, saying that all Christians speak in tongues

simply goes against the experience and thought of pretty much every

Christian ever, both those who speak in tongues and those who do not.

I don’t know why I’m bothering. The burden of proof should lie with

those who hold the novel and unorthodox belief.

Now here’s a question for RCI/RF members: Do you know of anyone who

has joined an RCI/RF group _after_ speaking in tongues. That is,

have you ever known a convert who spoke in tongues before coming into

contact with your group?

I have never seen someone who has been unable to receive the gift.

I’ve noticed that RCI/RF members tend not to see those who leave.

Some AOG churches are full of christians who ALL speak in tongues,

Now I’m not an AOG member and am not fully familiar with their

doctrine, but as I understand it, AOG churches teach of a separate

experience subsequent to conversion which is “way cool” but unnecessary

for salvation. (Would Patrick or David or someone care to correct any

mistakes?)

If they are Christians as you agree, and thus are led by the Holy

Spirit, why do they teach that tongues are not necessary for

salvation? And why does God bless such a ministry?

I don’t Christian or myself, have ever said “you must do it the same

said.

You say that we all have to be baptised using a minimum quantity of

water to be applied in a certain manner, and that those that do will

all have identical an experience.

Where is your proof God gives gifts to some Christians, but not

others.

No, God gives _one_particular_ gift to some Christians, but not

others, who receive some other gift or gifts.

Where is your proof that Christians receive different things

from God.

1 Corinthians 7:7 and Romans 12:6.

Where does the Bible say God plays favourites with us.

Did God play favourites with your body parts? Is the liver less worthy

because it can’t see?

Paul goes to a LOT of trouble to explain in 1 Corinthians 12 that there

are many gifts, but the SAME Spirit who gives them all. The fact that

one person has some gift and another person has another does not make

one person better or more favourite than another, it simply means that

they have a different job to do.

And Finally, forgetting RCI/RF for a moment, lets look at a sample AOG

in other words only some are suitable to be members of a AOG church.

I’m suggesting that different denominations carry out different

ministries, and so require a different distribution of gifts to carry

out that job. No, I have no Scriptural support for the assertion that

different denominations correspond to different ministries, that is

pure conjecture on my part. Scripture _does_ say that this happens on

a personal level, that different people have different ministries and

so require different gifts to do their different jobs. Any good

engineer will tell you that different tasks require different tools.

You can’t make a wood cabinet with just a hammer. Similarly, you can’t

evangelise with administration alone, and you can’t study Scripture

thoroughly with tongues alone.

That’s why we all need each other.

Cheers,

Andrew Bromage