So, tuesday night, Christian Lindbeck taught on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. At the end of the night Christian ended with the question "What Gives?" Why don't we see some of the gifts of the Spirit as prominantly as 2000 years ago? James, from Sinners and Saints, had an encounter with a Russian and wished to be able to speak to him in Russian. (Speak in tongues in the respect that the audience/interpreter hears you in their native language).
At first my reaction is to say that if an individual thinks that way, it belittles the other spiritual gifts that are more prominant (like encouragement or prophecy) and may be more applicable in this postmodern context. But on second glance, I think I was wrong.
There's no denying that the Holy Spirit is active and I see the gifts in action all the time. I have even known at least four people who have witnessed excorcisms (involving people, not cursed toilet seats or things like that). But why couldn't James talk to the Russian dude?
Maybe I won't know until I die ask see my homie Jesus. Or maybe we don't see things like that so that when we do see them happen, we know the second coming is soon. In a similar way, there was a period of 400 years without a prophet or any supernatural event worth recording. But I have come to the belief that we should continue to think about those seemingly weak portions of Christianity, because that's when we notice God's strength. The things that don't make sense in Christianity, are the same things that give it it's power. ("Pray for those who persecute you", "Forgive them for they know not what they do.") Why would this be any different.
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Being a non-Pentecostal, I'd rather not comment too much on the whys and why-nots of spiritual gifts today. But as for languages, I can say that as a part of the vocation to mission work in Brazil God especially enabled me to learn the Portuguese language. Yes, I had an aptitude for languages already, but it's interesting to me that my attempt at a college class in Spanish a semester before going to Brazil ended in me withdrawing early, but then in two months in Brazil I mastered the basics of Brazilian Portuguese. I'm very fluent in Brazilian Portuguese now, but haven't learned any other languages since.
I think folks are still failing to make distinctions between "tongues of angels," "the supernatural trandlated language of Acts 2," and "miracles and wonders." For some reason, these all get lumped together (as well as over sensationalized). But I think scholarship, dialog, and understanding can go a long way in answering Christian's question, what gives.
Dissecting "gifts" / Theories that seem reasonable to me...
a) [Type I] Acts 2 "supernatural language" / listener understand in own language / what I call
"SuperTonuges" (translated word = "glossolalia") could be considered separate from [TYPE II] "speaking in tongues"/"tongues of angles" (translated word ALSO
(unfortunately, at times) = "glossolalia" - though clearly different than Acts 2 - read
Cor 13 - listener does not understand w/o translator = clearly different than Acts 2.
And, both types of "speaking in tongues" could be considered separate from "miracles and wonders" or - what I like to coin - "SuperMiracles."
Folks often "require" that all three ("SuperTongues,"
"Tongues," and "SuperMiracles") go together automatically where I would postulate that just
because a small "outpouring" of "tongues of angels" occurs (in various religions) in the 20th Century, you can't assume that signs and wonders and miracles will
automatically follow in a "formulaic" or "ritual" way
(though someone could easily accuse me of self-fulfilling prophecy - pardon the pun...)
For example, even assuming if 50% of "SuperMiracle" Signs and Wonders that occurred were not recorded, "periods" of "SuperMiracle" (e.g., Red Sea parts, axe-head floats) usually occur many centuries apart -
if you hold to the biblical accounts - enough to skip one or more lifetimes.
=)
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