If you are a parent, or have had the responsibility of raising a human being from infancy through childhood, you have had the opportunity to observe language become comprehensible to mind. It is truly an amazing process to behold to watch mind achieve self-conscious understanding. And it teaches you this:
Every human being born into this world has spoken in tongues.
It’s called baby talk.
Pentecost is without doubt one of those events that Christianity has largely turned into a disgusting mess of human dogma. A Urantia Book CLIFF NOTES synopsis of what really occurred::
Jesus promised to do two things after he had ascended to the Father. He promised, first, to send into the world— and in his stead— another teacher, the Spirit of Truth; he did that on the day of Pentecost.
Second, he promised his followers that he would sometime personally return to this world. When might this happen? Will he come unannounced and as an isolated event? No one can say but him.
On the day of the Jewish festival of Pentecost, the apostles had been in hiding for over a month. After weeks of seclusion, the apostles (and the disciples) suddenly became relatively conscious of having received a new spiritual endowment of insight and power. Several of them boldly appeared in the temple, where they began to preach the new message of Jesus as a risen Messiah. Naturally, they spoke in the languages they knew: Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, and a smattering of others they were partially familiar with.
Pentecost was a day of great joy in the Spirit World. It said to the religions of primitive fear, dread, and anger, that the religion Jesus taught and practiced is founded on faith, hope, and love.
The amazing thing about Pentecost was not some strange, miraculous ability to speak in “tongues,” or unknown languages, or experience “spiritual” seizures; but rather the sudden insight and power of their spiritual convictions around Jesus, as a consequence of his Spirit of Truth being somehow present in their minds.
This spirit— the Spirit of Truth— comes to lead all believers into all truth; into the expanding knowledge of the experience of the living and growing spiritual consciousness of the reality of eternal and ascending sonship with God.
Christianity gradually evolved many weird teachings to become associated with this important event in our spiritual nature, and these notions today manifest as foolish outbreaks of rampant emotionalism, incoherent babbling, and mock seizures. The following tube may be difficult to watch for those of you with little or no idea how completely bizarre this practice is. It shows an unhinged aspect of Glossolalia as it is “practiced” today— supposedly spontaneous, uncontrollable shaking and flailing about, most of which appears to border on mimicry of epileptic convulsions.
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We now have a vice-presidential candidate who participated in a Pentecostal church for twenty years— a church which sanctions such behavior; (coincidentally the approximate amount of time Barack Obama attended Rev. Wright‘s church— say those who insist Obama simply must be a full believer in the personal philosophy of Rev. Wright). Americans are completely justified in examining the religious lives of any and all candidates for our high offices. The questions have been asked of Obama regarding Rev. Wright— and if recent attacks on his character are instructive, they will be again; but will they ever be asked of Sarah Palin and her involvement in this practice?
Don’t count on it.
Many things in this life are hard to understand, and even more difficult to reconcile with the idea that the universe is one in which truth prevails. It often seems that slander, lies, dishonesty, corruption, and evil— prevail. Intelligent people ask: Does faith, after all, triumph over evil, sin, and iniquity?
I believe it does. Whether or not it prevails here— now— depends entirely on the will of those who pursue truth wherever it may lead them, and if there are sufficient numbers of them to ensure that truth is lived out through the actions of the collective will of the American people.
The change in direction that an astounding 82% of Americans are yearning for has a possibility of coming to fruition in the candidacy of Barack Obama, and more importantly, the American people that believe in his message of hope and citizen empowerment. If we can somehow ensure that a fair and honest election occurs, I believe we will begin to get the changes we so desperately need.
