There is, unfortunately, just no instance of actual documented xenoglossy – anywhere.
Clearly, this is false. You may be thinking of a particular kind of literature. I spoke with a Pentecostal historian, the founder of the field, and he mentioned accounts that were documented. I have a book on my shelf of accounts of events at Azusa Street. Eye witness testimony is a form of documentation if it is written. Eye witness testimony is a form of evidence scripture addresses, and experiments in a lab are not.
I have to disagree. As mentioned, there are numerous accounts in the tongues-speaking community of instances where a person supposedly heard someone speaking in tongues and it was perceived as the person’s native language, or someone recognized it as such-and-such a language. All instances of these are purely anecdotal. Virtually nothing is known about either party; the speaker or the ‘hearer’), nor is any specific details or information on what transpired given. I suspect many of these stories are told to bolster and promote the tongues experience within the tongue-speaking community. Such accounts essentially amount to hearsay with minimal detail.
Azuza Street has to be taken with a “grain of salt”, as the saying goes; people were purported to be speaking literally dozens of different languages which, when “tested in the field” via several missionary trips, proved to be, as they say, an ‘epic fail’. Not one person was reported to be able to speak in the language of the country they were in. It’s shortly after that experience that the Pentecostal understanding and teaching of tongues was changed from xenoglossy to ‘prayer language’. They needed a way to justify the experience since the original assumption, xenoglossy, obviously wasn’t what was happening. With all due respect to her, Agnes Ozman never spoke or wrote a word of Chinese in her life.
In ancient times, there was no documenting evidence as we have today – eyewitness testimony was really all you had. If three people swore they heard Joe speaking language X, then Joe indeed was speaking language X (despite the fact that said three witnesses may not have been able to speak a word of language X; to them it just sounded like it, so it was assumed that was it). Such accounts too need to be taken for what they are.
I do believe that this is the most logical and reasonable interpretation and the one that, given the context and point in history, makes the most sense…..
Nobody has the natural ability to prophesy, work miracles, or discern between spirits. Some of the other gifts could be "natural" but taken as a whole, they can't be. Unsaved persons can have a "knack" for certain things too... clearly not "gifts of the Spirit".
Some people do have these abilities – again, a natural propensity to be able to do something with seeming ease can be, and usually is, considered a gift. A person’s religious path is irrelevant; they just have this gift. One does not need to be “saved”, or even Christian to be able to be said to be able to prophesy, work miracles, or discern spirits. Though they may be called by different names in different spiritual paths, these things do exist outside the world of Christianity. They are all gifts.
It is only in Christianity however, and specifically if the possessor of said gift chooses to use it for the church and the further glory of God, is it them usually referred to as a “gift of the Spirit”.
As to the "tongue" always being known by the speaker, there is no scriptural support for that assertion. If the person knows the language, it isn't a "gift of the Spirit". Any person with moderate intelligence, saved or not, can learn a second language.
I have to disagree – the speaker always knows what he himself is saying; it’s the audience that doesn’t always understand as they may not speak his language. To them, he is speaking “in a tongue” (one needs to remember that “tongue(s)” simply mean language(s)),and may be “uttering mysteries” – another way of saying “it’s all Greek to me”, or as they say in Poland, “I’m listening to a Turkish sermon”.
A random individual speaking his/her native language doesn’t have a ‘gift of the Spirit’, but someone who is gifted in learning languages and uses this knowledge to further the word/glory of God can certainly be said to have a ‘gift of the Spirit’.
Yes, just about anyone can learn another language, but not everyone has the ability to learn them quickly and easily and to learn several, perhaps even at the same time; that’s a gift (whether considered “of the Spirit” or not).
I’ve said this in previous posts and I’ll repeat it again – if you speak in tongues, record yourself for about a minute; if you can control the speed of your speech, try and speak a bit more slowly than your normal speaking pace (makes transcribing easier) – post the recording here and we can take a look at it.
Most phones have a voice recorder by which you can save a file of the recording and send it to your computer. From there you can attach it to your post here. I'd love to hear a few examples of clearly spoken tongues-speech.
