Praying in Tongues - A Rebuttal, Part 1

My good friend, Roy Graham sent me a link of a minister, Robert Morris from Gateway Church, teaching on the subject of “praying in tongues.”  Roy asked me to listen to it which I enthusiastically did. Not only did I listen to Robert Morris’ message, but I listened with an open heart.  I was eager to learn how someone can defend the practice of praying in tongues from the Bible.

For those of you who may not know about me, I use to pray in tongues years ago. I enjoyed the experience. I didn’t know what I was saying or doing, but it felt good. To me, if it felt good, it must be good.  Of course, such wisdom is worldly.   I was doing it because I was part of a church that taught it.  However, I was never forced to pray in tongues. Rather I chose to pray in tongues myself. After doing so for six years, I started to see if I could defend my experience from the Bible.  No matter how hard I tried, I just could not. It was then that I decided that if I cannot biblically support my practice or experience, that I was not going to engaged in it any longer.   

For my brothers and sisters who still do, that’s fine with me. I was there. My goal is not to try to stop anyone from praying in tongues, nor is it my goal to encourage anyone to pray in tongues. My goal is to teach people to be like the Bereans, who “received the Word of God from Paul with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). If after examining the bible carefully you are still comfortable praying in tongues, then you do what you must do. Praying in tongues has nothing to do with eternal life.

Robert Morris gave a three point outline:

1. Scriptural Evidence for Praying in Tongues
2. Benefit of Praying in Tongues
3. Praying in Tongues is a Choice

I am going respond to Robert Morris’ teaching in parts in order to make it more readable.

But before I do, let me add what I enjoyed about listening to the message. Robert Morris taught with passion and conviction. I like that.  He said that he was once stubborn and hard head about praying in tongues. In fact, he said that he started out praying in tongues in his sleep, because that was the only time his spirit could do so was when his body was asleep.  I will touch more on this later.

Robert Morris also has quite a following. He was teaching to a pack house. This shows me that he is well liked and respected.

Robert Morris also did not put anyone down especially those who do not pray in tongues. He only said that praying in tongues is not like having a spiritual gift which is given to some.  But rather, praying in tongues is a means of grace given to whoever want to receive it.

But as I listen to his message and took careful notes, at the end, I still was not convinced. While he quoted some Scriptures, he did not show the context in which the verses were placed. He left out some very important data.

Next, he used Scriptural analogy that was not in keeping with good and proper hermeneutics.  Such as the phrase, “praying in the Spirit” in Ephesians 6:17-18 and Jude 20 was analogous of praying in tongues.

After he seemed to run out of biblical support, he then went onto what others who pray in tongues so often do and that is to rely on their own personal experiences. He even used his kids and granddaughter as illustrations of baby talk and making it in someway analogous to praying in tongues.

Finally, he used the baptism of the Spirit as his entry or starting point of praying in tongues. He did this without explaining what the Baptism of the Spirit actually is.

So, I am going to take each of his three points and offer my rebuttal.

End of Part 1