Friday, October 4, 2019

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Corinthians 14:13-15, 27

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Corinthians 14:13-15, 27
"Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
For if I pray in a unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
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.
If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, and at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret."

Like Paul, the prophet Joseph Smith taught about the gift of tongues. That if it is of God then there would be an interpretation of it. Reading this verse on singing in tongues reminded me of stories that took place during meetings in the Kirtland Temple. I also found an interesting quote that the Lord will never reveal Church doctrine through tongues.

"At another time a cousin of ours came to visit us at Kirtland. She wanted to go to one of the saints' fast meetings, to hear someone sing or speak in tongues, but she said she expected to have a hearty laugh. Accordingly we went with our cousin to the meeting, during which a Brother McCarter rose and sang a song of Zion in tongues; I arose and sang simultaneously with him the same tune and words, beginning and ending each verse in perfect unison, without varying a word. It was just as though we had sung it together a thousand times. After we came out of meeting, our cousin observed, 'Instead of laughing, I never felt so solemn in my life."

"At a meeting in 1835, Elizabeth Ann Whitney received a blessing from Church patriarch Joseph Smith Sr., in which she was promised the “gift of singing inspirationally.” During the meeting, Whitney arose and began singing in an unknown language. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Parley P. Pratt interpreted her song for other hearers. “In ancient days there lived a man,” the song began, “Amidst a pleasant garden, Where lovely flowers immortal bloom’d, And shed around a rich perfume; Behold, his name was Adam.” Joseph Smith Sr. believed Whitney sang in the pure language of heaven. Instances of glossolalia, like Whitney’s singing, occurred in some early American church meetings, and though it was frowned upon by many Christians, the practice resonated with early Latter-day Saints, who believed a revitalization of spiritual gifts was an important part of the Restoration of the gospel. Brigham Young regarded speaking in tongues as a spiritually “electrifying” experience and an important part of his conversion."
(Accounts of Heavenly Manifestations in the Kirtland Temple)
"The first, speaking or singing in an unknown language, is sometimes called glossolalia."

Prescindia Huntington recalled: “Brother McCarter rose and sang a song of Zion in tongues; I arose and sang simultaneously with him the same tune and words, beginning and ending each verse in perfect unison, without varying a word. It was just as though we had sung it together a thousand times.” (As cited in Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, pp. 208–9.)
(Truman G. Madsen, "Joseph Smith Lecture 5: Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Temple)

"Joseph later warned the Saints that Satan could manipulate tongue-speaking and that the Lord would never reveal Church doctrine by this practice. He further clarified, “Tongues were given for the purpose of preaching among those whose language is not understood,” adding that anyone “that has the Holy Ghost can speak of the things of God in his own tongue, as well as to speak in another.”
(Church History Topics - Gift of Tongues)



Day 1649

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