Common Arguments and Alleged Proof Text 1. “Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God”. When challenged to proof their claims that “miracles” were performed by them; a common evasive is “ Argumentum ad Verecundiam”- Latin phrase for “appeal to reverence”. Does God command that we should not prove our faith? Not less then three times the Lord volunteered proof of Himself Exodus 16:4; 20:20;Deutronomy 8:2. And challenge people to prove Him. “10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10. There is no sin to prove the faith. “5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Matthew 4:5-7 So, in what context did Jesus make the statement? Firstly, the devil already knew who He was and secondly the devil; knowing that self inflicted abuse: physical or otherwise is a sin 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. It is an invalid argument as all things are not the same. 2. Speaking in tongues are the language of angels and prayer is to God. Again, “Argumentum ad Verecundiam” with a twist of mystical manipulation to the uninitiated. There are two issues to be addressed: a. What is the “tongues” mentioned? And b. For whose benefit is it? a. “What is the “tongues” mentioned”? The first mention of the activity of tongue speaking happened on Pentecost: “2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:2-3 The word used to define “tongue” in both 3 and 4 is “”-“Of uncertain affinity; the tongue; by implication a language (specifically one naturally unacquired): —tongue.” Strong’s Exhaustive. Thayer gives the following definition for the word; “”-“1) the tongue, a member of the body, an organ of speech 2) a tongue 1a) the language or dialect used by a particular people distinct from that of other nations The word is therefore, ambiguous; one word with two meanings. The former being visible looks like a tongue and the latter is language because it is audible. One relevant phenomena cited by the babblers are found in Acts 2:14-15. “14But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: 15For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.” Acts 2:14-15 Did Peter imply babbling in “unknown language”? or was it a structured language of the audience? “5And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.” Acts 2:5-13 There are no less then 15 regions mentioned with their own distinct languages. Therefore we conclude that the tongues they heard were structured languages. So, why did the mockers claim the Apostles as drunkards? Were they babbling? Because all spoken languages may be divided into classes like “Labial”, “Palatal” or “guttural”, “Lingual” or “dental” and divided into orders of smooth, middle or rough; the observer who is unfamiliar with the language may mistake the language for babbling of drunkards. It is clear from verse 8 that they understood their own language. The miracle was a “sign”; “”-“Neuter of a presumed derivative of the base of G4591; an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturally:—miracle, sign, token, wonder”: contained in prophesy Mark 16:17, it would have made a poor “sign”, seeing that any drunkard could do it. This brings us to our second question, “Who are the beneficiaries? “1Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. 2For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 3But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 4He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. 5I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.” 1 Corinthians 14:1-5 Paul did not say that the beneficiary is God for one thing, God being omniscience Does not need to be edified. He understands the prayers of people immaterial of what language they make their petition known. In verse 1, all that Paul said was, if you spoke in tongue, in other words in an unknown language; human language: only God will know. He would rather that prophecy be made so that the church benefits through edification. There is no mention of God needing edification therefore, there is no need of the babbling in the ‘language of angels” as assumed by practitioners of miracles. It is just an attempt by deluded individual(s) to gratify their own ego in their insecurity of the lack of true righteousness when in doctrine, work and worship, there is little to identify them with New Testament Christianity. The rational man will always ask do we have adequate evidence (Bible, chapter and verse in accordance to it’s context) to justify our conclusion (doctrine, work and worship). The admonition of Moses still applies today even though we may not kill just because of disagreement: “1If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 13:1-3
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 11:44:08 +0000
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