07-24-2012, 07:37 PM
Shlama Chuck,
I agree with everything you posted, wholeheartedly. My only point was only that there are SEVERAL groups who abuse the tongues issue, as I wanted to contribute to the thread, and your post as well. By citing the vast groups who utilize Corinthians as "proof texts" when developing the tongues doctrine, I only wanted to illustrate the many denominations who may be confused about the very passages they claim to uphold. These groups number in the hundreds of thousands!
I totally agree with you; we can only blame ourselves for walking away. However, I still think it was a major factor, at least for an impressionable 20-year-old. I specifically remember thinking that "if people need a spiritual gift for salvation, then Christ died for nothing." I would not say I was forced to walk away from YHVH, but some people told me I was "deceived" for saying that tongues (as I knew them) were not of God (at least those as demonstrated in Acts 2 for example). 'Tongues' was one of their prerequisites for salvation, so you could say I was forced to leave that particular denomination. I just couldn't believe then how so many people had so many doctrines, and how God could allow it (again, thinking as a 20-year old). If I knew then what I know now, I would've been much stronger in my faith, and wouldn't have given up so easily.
I agree with everything you posted, wholeheartedly. My only point was only that there are SEVERAL groups who abuse the tongues issue, as I wanted to contribute to the thread, and your post as well. By citing the vast groups who utilize Corinthians as "proof texts" when developing the tongues doctrine, I only wanted to illustrate the many denominations who may be confused about the very passages they claim to uphold. These groups number in the hundreds of thousands!
I totally agree with you; we can only blame ourselves for walking away. However, I still think it was a major factor, at least for an impressionable 20-year-old. I specifically remember thinking that "if people need a spiritual gift for salvation, then Christ died for nothing." I would not say I was forced to walk away from YHVH, but some people told me I was "deceived" for saying that tongues (as I knew them) were not of God (at least those as demonstrated in Acts 2 for example). 'Tongues' was one of their prerequisites for salvation, so you could say I was forced to leave that particular denomination. I just couldn't believe then how so many people had so many doctrines, and how God could allow it (again, thinking as a 20-year old). If I knew then what I know now, I would've been much stronger in my faith, and wouldn't have given up so easily.