Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Vaughn
Option #1 - An ole time, Holy Ghost campmeeting with shouting & Speaking in Tongues,, Praising God and having a good ole time
Option #2 - The most effective missionary outreach in the history of the church
I choose #2 and here is why...
1)Not one time are we told anyone was Praise God on this day.. there is nothing about Magnifying God or any sign whatsoever that this was a church service...
Here's what I see..... of course you will tell me where I'm wrong.. good
Here is where the story begins:
Luke 24:47 - And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
This is Jesus speaking to his followers about their upcoming mission... they are to preach the gospel to ALL NATIONS.. which will happen or begin at Jerusalem
2 )In the course of conversation with Jesus, they must have felt the burden of this heavy responsibility, after all they did not speak the languages of the nations.... Jesus knowing their fear says this to them
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
3.)They were told to go and wait in Jerusalem until they recieved ABILITY (the original for power in this scripture) they would receive a supernatural ability to reach the nations at Jerusalem and this ability would come to them from on high... delivered unto them by the Holy Ghost
4.)So, what happens next? they went and they waited.. this was a time of waiting.. I can only imagine their wondering how they would be able to speak to all the nations about the gospel......
BUt God was up to something.. there was only ONE TIME a year when all the nations gathered at Jerusalem... for the Feast of Pentecost... and GOD KNEW that this would be the time to affect the most people with the gospel...
So they wait and wait... until they heard a sound and languages rested upon them (tongues in the original is languages) so languages of fire rested upon them.....
5.)and immediatly we see that they began to speak in foreign languages that they had never learned... they were ecstatic I am sure to see the ABILITY come upon them to obey the words of Jesus, supernaturally...
6.)Please note they were not speaking in tongues as Pentecostals do because Paul said "if one speaks in tongues he speaks unto God and not unto man and NO MAN could understand him:" but these men gathered around and UNDERSTOOD THEM...
7.)So what did these foreigners hear these disciples saying? They were preaching of the wonderful works of God,, which was the death burial and ressurection of Jesus Christ,.,,, they were testifying of these works supernaturally in other languages.. there was no one shouting and screaminga and rolling in the floors......
8.)finally when they couldn't figure out how these diciples had gained this ability to break the language barrier. they attribute this to some kind of new wine and then Peter.... stood to deliver the theology of the situation as he told them of Joels prophecy and once they understood they came to know Christ....
Is this not the correct understanding of Acts 2? |
Mr. Vaughn, I have numbered some of your quotes here from your opening post, to help deal with each opinion. Here are my responses.
#1.)
Acts 2:11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. (You wrote in #8 that they were preaching, the bible reads that they were Speaking the wonderful works of God. (which IMO,is praise, whether "the works" is about the gospel, as you stated, or not)
and if they were preaching the gospel to the crowd, as you wrote in #7, why did they need Peter to preach it to them again?
Peter did the preaching, NOT the people as you wrote in #7.
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to
the church(body of believers) daily such as should be saved.
#2.) This is your opinion, in which I respect. Do you have scripture for it? or are you just drawing a conclusion that they we're overwhelmed wondering how they we're gonna reach the world when they don't know everyone's language? (without any scripure)
3.)You wrote that they were told that they would receive a supernatural ability TO reach nations.
They WERE actually told that they would receive "power" after the Spirit had come upon them
AND they shall be witnesses....(you put in the "to", I'll leave it as "and", which, IMO means along with receiving that Spirit, you shall be witnesses....
So according to what you wrote, I assume you believe the "Power" of the Spirit was ONLY for the speaking in another language to witness?
I personally believe the "power" that comes with receiving his Spirit, is for more than just to be witnesses by speaking in another language.
I believe it to be for being a Godly example as a witness, or to have power to overcome the enemy of this world, overcome our fleshly desires, etc.
#4) Again this is your opinion of what must have been going thru their head: The burden of how they were gonna reach the world not knowing all the world's language. Please tell which scripture you use to build such intense burden and conviction upon the disciples, of them wondering how they're gonna reach the world, not knowing their language.
#5) This is your opinion used to paint your picture, which I respect, but is there any scripture for it as well?
#6) Let me get this straight, in #7 you said the people were preaching to the listeners about the gospel, yet in #6, you say they were speaking to God (according to Paul's writing)but the men gathered and understood them.
So they were speaking to God about the gospel that he already knew about since he designed it from the foundation of the world,then the people understood what the tongue talkers were saying to God, so then they were getting preached to (of the gospel)? ?? Please untangle/explain this.
#7) No shouting, screaming, and rolling around in floors. You could be right, but once again, scripture does not say.
(aside from acts 2, but pertains to subject
In
Acts 3:8 , when the lame man was healed, he got excited about it, and
went on into the temple walking AND Leaping and Laughing. And the people saw and praised God. Please answer this question:
Did the people stop praising God, the instance any of them followed him into the temple? Did he stop praising when he got into the temple?(it says he went in doing those things) Do you believe he and the others that were praising God for the miracle got thrown out of the temple for being too out of line? The real question is
WOULD PAUL HAVE THROWN THEM OUT FOR THEIR PRAISE? You may think so, I do not.
#8) You wrote that the crowd attributed the speaking in different languages to be because of drinking new wine.
Please tell me, do you really believe that? or could it be:
They had to be acting a little annevited to also make Peter say "These are not DRUNK as you suppose..... Would you agree to that? linking drunkedness to
ONLY the ability to speak other languages, as I understand you to have done, is a little out far fetched for me.
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