60IN60 Day 39 - Thurs Feb 11

It's Day 39 and we're in 1 Corinthians 13.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 3 - I need to have love at my core and not just good works.

Help:
- Verse 12 - This means that in this world we don't always see spiritual things as clearly as we'd like, but someday we'll see clearly.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Questions:
- "Why would speaking in tongues have vanished when it s a gift of the Spirit?  If this gift can vanish, does this indicate other gifts can as well?" - First of all, there are two things people are referring to when we talk of "speaking in tongues": a. early in Acts, the disciples were given the miraculous ability to speak in known foreign languages in order to communicate the gospel; b. later in the New Testament, it refers to unknown "languages of the Spirit" or "prayer languages" that some Christians spoke in, but which were not known languages and required a Spirit-inspired translator to understand.  Most Christians believe that the first of these two was only around right at the very start of the church; the second may have been around longer, but is historically thought to have disappeared by the end of the first century.  The standard Baptist thought on the second phenomenon is that God gave "speaking in tongues" as a miraculous sign in the early church to confirm His power and presence, but once the New Testament began to come together that was no longer necessary so it died out.  I think it is possible that other gifts could disappear as well.  For instance, the ability of the apostles to lay hands on someone and heal them consistently and miraculously is a gift that I do not know of anyone having today.
- "What is your Biblical evidence that speaking in tongues is no longer [from God]?" - No big surprise - as a Baptist, I don't believe that speaking in tongues is operative for today.  My Pentecostal brothers and sisters disagree and I consider them as genuine family in Christ, even though we disagree on this issue.  My main arguments are two-fold: 
1. It is a historic fact that "speaking in tongues" vanished early on (perhaps by the end of the first century) and that throughout the majority of church history "speaking in tongues" was only associated with heretical groups.
2. My experience with Pentecostals has been that while they claim Biblical authority for the renewal of "speaking in tongues," they simultaneously flagrantly ignore the specific teachings of Paul on the public use of "speaking in tongues" (only 2 or 3 in a service; they have to speak one at a time; only if there is someone present to translate).