• Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Private Prayer language

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
Most Baptists believe that speaking in tongues ended with the Apostles.
But there are some who believe in "Private Prayer Language"

Open for discussion

FROM BAPTIST PRESS:
 
Last edited:

Mike B

Active Member
Straight up 100% English here.

In truth, if I started uncontrollably speaking in some unknown gibberish language it would scare the
daylights out of me, and I'd probably go to the ER for a brain scan to make sure I didn't
have a stroke.

Some consider it a gift of the Holy Spirit, and yes it is biblical, but I would very much
prefer never to experience it.
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
...Some consider it a gift of the Holy Spirit, and yes it is biblical, but I would very much
prefer never to experience it.
Is Biblical or WAS Biblical

And if we are to still have a private prayer lanuage:
A) What is the purpose
B) IF it is of the Lord - would we not want to experience it?

Could we say the same of immersion? Someone states they were sprinkled as a baby,
so why would they want to be dunked???.......
 

Mike B

Active Member
Not quite sure I see the need for a "private prayer language". Of what benefit
would it be when God speaks perfectly good English, Dutch, Mandarin and any
other language His children speak.

Are the "babbling type" of tongues considered as some type of angelic language
that brings a deeper connection with God?

The Lord knows our thoughts, and the intent of our hearts, so I have to wonder
how speaking in some babbling tongue edifies the Lord?
 

Ben1445

Well-Known Member
Do you edify yourself if you speak a language you don’t know, or do you edify yourself if the language you use is known to you but unknown to others?

Kgxicoyckck xltskx xlsitxzzixxdhvuvvdrzotdjddhdxhp

Okay, I know that means nothing to you but it means nothing to me to. Mashing the keyboard might feel good, but in perspective, it is the feeling of accomplishment and seeing something done or hearing something uttered that has the ability to accomplish nothing.
Whited sepulchers?? Empty?? I think so.
Looks good (to some) in the outside but has done nothing to the inside. If you can’t interpret your unknown language into a language you know with accuracy and precision, you are a pretender, or, you may have had a stroke.
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
The very thought of a "private prayer language" is abhorrent. Why in the world would God want me to pray in a language I don't understand for something which I don't know? Our God loves intelligent, sincere and personal communication with His children.

In my experience, the "private prayer language" becomes needful when the Charismatic finds that his or her public "prayer language" is not allowed in the church he attends, so he goes private.
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
The very thought of a "private prayer language" is abhorrent. Why in the world would God want me to pray in a language I don't understand for something which I don't know? Our God loves intelligent, sincere and personal communication with His children.
My questions exactly !!
In my experience, the "private prayer language" becomes needful when the Charismatic finds that his or her public "prayer language" is not allowed in the church he attends, so he goes private.
Hmmmmm
 

Ascetic X

Well-Known Member
There was, maybe still is, a type of speaking in tongues that could be called a “private prayer language.”

We should not let the spectacle of contemporary charismatics cause us to delete chapter 14 of First Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 14:2,14,15

2 For 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.

14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.


My issue is that, while I believe all the gifts of the Spirit are still available today, the speaking in tongues that I hear by Pentecostal believers typically all sounds the same, like they are imitating each other. It generally tends to sound like a variation of Aramaic.

So I refrain from mocking or condemning anything that could be a genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit, if it has a biblical basis.

However, slaying in the spirit and the Toronto Blessing activities of shaking the head, acting drunk, barking like a dog, rolling on the floor, “holy laughter”, etc. are things that I reject as unbiblical.

In 1 Corinthians 14, speaking in tongues is never called ecstatic, babbling, or uncontrollable.

I accepted Christ at a Mennonite church camp as a teenager. As I read my Bible, I saw mentions of speaking in tongues. When I asked the pastor who led me to Christ about tongues, he said it was a valid thing, but he did not talk about speaking in tongues because it was divisive in the church.
 
Last edited:

Ben1445

Well-Known Member
There was, maybe still is, a type of speaking in tongues that could be called a “private prayer language.”

We should not let the spectacle of contemporary charismatics cause us to delete chapter 14 of First Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 14:2,14,15

2 For 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.

14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.


My issue is that, while I believe all the gifts of the Spirit are still available today, the speaking in tongues that I hear by Pentecostal believers typically all sounds the same, like they are imitating each other. It generally tends to sound like a variation of Aramaic.

So I refrain from mocking or condemning anything that could be a genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit, if it has a biblical basis.

However, slaying in the spirit and the Toronto Blessing activities of shaking the head, acting drunk, barking like a dog, rolling on the floor, “holy laughter”, etc. are things that I reject as unbiblical.

In 1 Corinthians 14, speaking in tongues is never called ecstatic, babbling, or uncontrollable.

I accepted Christ at a Mennonite church camp as a teenager. As I read my Bible, I saw mentions of speaking in tongues. When I asked the pastor who led me to Christ about tongues, he said it was a valid thing, but he did not talk about speaking in tongues because it was divisive in the church.
I think in context, praying in an unknown tongue is not something that you do by yourself or even could do by yourself. Praying in an unknown tongue would be praying with somebody else who is not speaking your language. The entire idea is that you’re in the assembly not alone.
 

Ascetic X

Well-Known Member
I think in context, praying in an unknown tongue is not something that you do by yourself or even could do by yourself. Praying in an unknown tongue would be praying with somebody else who is not speaking your language. The entire idea is that you’re in the assembly not alone.
I gently disagree, brother. Praying in an unknown tongue would be praying to God, speaking mysteries — without any human audience. I think it is different from the speaking in tongues of Acts 2, where it was a supernatural form of evangelism.


I Corinthians 14:2

For 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.

But there is a sense in which speaking in tongues can be done in the church. It will edify others when it is interpreted.


1 Corinthians 14:27,28

27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.



I do not care to get too deeply into this topic, for I am not certain of how genuine has been the speaking in tongues that I have heard in
Pentecostal churches.

If speaking in tongues passed away with the original apostles, there is no need to discuss it.

If it is still available today, I have not yet heard it.
 
Last edited:

Ben1445

Well-Known Member
I gently disagree, brother. Praying in an unknown tongue would be praying to God, without any human audience. I think it is different from the speaking in tongues of Acts 2, where it was a supernatural form of evangelism.

I do not care to get too deeply into this topic, for I am not certain of how genuine has been the speaking in tongues that I have heard in
Pentecostal churches.

If speaking in tongues passed away with the original apostles, there is no need to discuss it.

If it is still available today, I have not yet heard it.
Was Paul speaking to individuals about their behavior at home or the behavior of an assembly assembled?

Tongues instruction in Scripture is about how to use languages. We use language to communicate.
 

Ascetic X

Well-Known Member
Was Paul speaking to individuals about their behavior at home or the behavior of an assembly assembled?

Tongues instruction in Scripture is about how to use languages. We use language to communicate.
If the tongues are interpreted, there is communication to the church assembly.

If it is not going to be interpreted, the tongues must be done silently and is communication to God.

I Corinthians 14:27,28

27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
 
Top