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Saturday

Christian glossolalia, properly understood, is voluntary

I have yet to find the term "prayer language" in either the Bible or in ancient Christian writers.And you would think that people who speak in tongues would have an edge with Biblical languages. But they have the same difficulty that non-glossolalics do.

"So if I'm speaking in a room where no one understands me the only one that could possibly understand me is GOD. Does that fit into the context?"

First thing He'd say is "tone it down. I'm right inside you, not across the room." - 1corinth 14:28

I would suggest that Christian glossolalia, properly understood, is voluntary. This was its practice in the New Testament, where it is seldom if ever characterized as "ecstatic" in the popular sense of the term.In fact, regulations are laid down by the Apostle Paul for the public exercise of glossolalia in which he takes pains to tell people not to exceed three utterances in a tongue because it defeats the goal of the rational edification of those in attendance at gatherings.

Paul gives his own example as one heavily devoted to the practice and discusses how he of his own volition can choose to either speak/sing "in the spirit" or in the vernacular, as it were. You can read about this in First Corinthians chapter 14 if so inclined.

To tie speaking in tongues to the term "ecstatic" clouds the issue in my opinion and we do not typically see "uncontrolled" overwrought tongues speaking in the New Testament.

Full disclosure: I am a charismatic Christian and have been around this for 25 years +. Most people I know who speak in tongues do this voluntarily as and when they so choose and usually tongues is taught to be a volitional act under the control of the speaker who can "turn it on and off" at will.

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