The FIDE-O Blog: The Private Prayer Language Error

Some today believe that they have a special spiritual gift of praying to God in “tongues.” The problem with this belief is that the Bible does not teach any such gift. Those who claim to have this gift believe that in their prayer time the Holy Spirit takes over their voice and they begin to speak unintelligible words to God. To defend this practice they use Romans 8:26 and 1 Corinthians 14:2-3.Let’s discuss this error for a moment.

Read the full post and especially the comments via The FIDE-O Blog: The Private Prayer Language Error.

My comment after reading the posts and the comments

Wow what an amazing discussion for a new Christian to read.

It all raises but one question to me:

I read 1 Corinthians 14 and all the other references. Personally I do not believe that there is a need for such lengthy discussions on this matter. In the end it has nothing to do with what we do or claim but what God does, what the Spirit does isn’t it?

All the references are great encouragement to me but I keep on coming back to 1 Corinthians 12:11:

“All these (gifts of the spirit which includes speaking in different kinds of tongues, see previous verses) are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”

Perhaps just accept what happens around you, in and through you as gifts as he determined? The gifts of the spirit and being baptized in the Holy Spirit the way I understand it, comes with a range of potential gifts. Personally I have no doubt that I have been baptized by the Holy Spirit yet I have never spoken in tongues other than with my youngest son with who I do this as a game. I am grateful every all for all the other gifts that came with that. I am in utter bliss when I see the fruits of it all.

Then again I may well be misunderstanding it all. Thanks everyone for such an amazing range and richness of insights. What a great way of learning.

Photo Journal: Winter Magic in Hagley Park

What a glorious day today I felt an urge to make pictures but also to clear my head and just be quiet. I ended up in Hagley Park and even if I would have had an urge to talk, sing, pray out loud, I was so blown away by the scenery that I would not have been able to speak a word anyway; it felt at times like I was walking through a fairytale. So, I’ll keep it short and just let the pictures do the talking.

It was an amazing play of mist, light, sunbeams and with that shadows, lines and sun rays and other magic.

What’s left to say but ‘what an amazing collaboration between Creator and the created.’  All I could do is stand back in  awe. I suggest you go and check it out yourself.

From the Old Box: Old Mobile Phone Pictures Redone

When I stumbled upon the enormous amounts of pictures I have been taking with my old mobile phone some weeks ago when cleaning up the inevitable mess on my hard drive, I relived the joy of starting of with what is basically a very low quality picture and challenge myself to try and make something out of it that is still pleasurable for the eye. At the time I remember how so often I was frustrated about the quality and so happy when some of the pictures had a nice quality or something extra. Now finally starting to understand more about this incredible photo editing software I am amazed again at what simple mobile phone pictures end up looking like.

Hagley Park

Amazed by the colors that I did not see before to see an ordinary little photo transform to impressionist painting. It seems like every time we wander along the Avon it looks a bit different depending on the season and the time of day.

An otherwise ordinary tree was caught by the light an its silver trunk lit up amazingly.

One of the many ponds in the Botanical Gardens showed this amazing play of color, light, shadow and reflections in the water.It was as if the white of the flowers in the front made everything else look softer on tone.

On another walk the trees appeared particularly incredible as a result of a mix of dark skies an at the same time the sun trying hard to break through.

The amazing colors of the sky and the fine pattern of branches, an amazing view.

And there it was finally the sun breaking, and all people were happily accepting the light that day. As for the tree: it was as if it had left open this opening in its crown for the light to shine through.

Light Through the Trees

We had been driving to the West Coast and we had been encountering rain, rain, rain. During our stop, a bit of sunshine broke through the clouds in beams that you could almost touch. It let for a beautiful scene when it came through the trees.

The Massive Trees in a Park in Singapore

What an amazing walk this was. These trees were enormous and provided nice an beautiful shaded walkways on an otherwise sunny, moist, beautiful day in Singapore.

More to come soon so keep coming back here.

I am the Gate

Another mobile phone picture. It reminded me of John 10:9

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.

I am the gate? When Jesus compares himself to the door or gate one should keep in mind the way things worked in those days. The sheep pen in those days (unlike the gate in the picture) only had one entrance/exit. Very often the shepherd would sleep in the entrance thus functionally being the actual door.

Through this metaphor Jesus tells us that He is the means by which the sheep (us) may enter into the promised fullness of life. It is also good to remind ourselves, in these times of religious pluralism and syncretism  that Jesus did NOT say I am A gate but THE gate, so as to keep us reminded that through Him and through Him only we are saved. Furthermore he presents us with a certain liberty ‘to come in and go out’; in His presence we are able to live our lives in freedom, peace, protected and in His presence we’ll  find ‘good pasture’ or a fulfilled life.

Overcome Writer’s Block With Plinky Prompts (via WordPress.com News)

Do you ever think “Ugh, I’d totally write a new blog post, if I just had something to say?”

It maybe me but is this not the world upside down? If you have nothing to say than perhaps say nothing.

At the same time, looking at the questions I could imagine this site offering just another option to say something else for a change or it could just give you an idea.

But really, if you are getting anxious about not having something to talk about on your blog and start looking around for “fixes”, does that not mean that your blogging activity has just progressed to being a compulsion, perhaps even a compulsive disorder that needs serious attention?

Having said all that I do like the idea and will probably sign up myself.

Do you ever think "Ugh, I'd totally write a new blog post, if I just had something to say?" Or maybe, "I'm sick and tired of writer's block but I don't know what to do about it!" We've all been there — those days when the light bulb seems dim, if not burned out. To give you a little creative push and get that writerly mojo flowing again, we've added a new service called Plinky.com. Each weekday, Plinky provides a prompt — like a question or a c … Read More

via WordPress.com News