A gift is given without merit, otherwise it is payment for work performed or payment for work to be performed, and therefore cannot be called a gift.
I grew up in the Pentecostal church, where people 'spoke in tongues as the spirit gave utterance'. The problem is not that they babble, the problem is that they say it is a gift from God. In reality, it is only a payment they've given themselves, which is evident by the fact that they have full control of the experience. It is solely the work and result of emotional triggers. When you read those passages in Acts about people speaking in tongues, it makes one think that first-century Christians could speak in languages unknown to them - which astonished passersby who spoke said languages. No amounts of dopamine activity in the brain could induce such an occurrence (like it does the Pentecostal babbling of today). Something like this, if it actually happened, could be considered a gift - and would change the face of the Church if it occurred today. Literally, the Church would have never gotten in bed with Caesar and would be very different if such things occurred - but they don't have 'the gifts of tongues' but only 'payments of babblings', and since Jesus obviously wasn't coming back anytime soon, the Church bent over and let Caesar 'do his business' (in the words of Celie and Shug). This, of course, is evident by the fact that no passersby are astonished by 'the gifts of tongues' (nor any of the other 'gifts of the spirit'). Not even the bastard children of Caesar's and Church's relationship currently living in Rome are astonished.
I watched a Youtube video of a Christian prophet who leans both toward the Acts version of 'speaking in tongues' and the Pentecostal church's version. He called up an Ethiopian couple, and told the congregation that, through the spirit, he would speak their language. I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes as this threw up many red flags for me, but the congregation cheered and shouted. He then proceeded to speak Amharic to the couple, and they were mildly impressed - forcing themselves to get excited - the whole thing was ridiculous. I read the comments of the video, and people fluent in Amharic stated he gave a simple greeting - like, 'Hello, how are you'. Even more, many years ago I worked with a lady from Ethiopia, and she took the time to show me the symbols/alphabet and the sounds they made and explain to me that Amharic is the national language of Ethiopia, and that there are many languages spoken in the country. In fact, though she knew how to speak Amharic, her family language is Tigrigna (she pronounced it Ti-grinya). I would have been more impressed if he spoke Tigrigna so that not even the Ethiopian couple could understand it, but could immediately tell that it was Tigrigna.
But the payments of the spirit in the Church today are only paid if you do the work of accepting Jesus as your personal lord and savior, and believe that he died for your sins. Then, in some Churches, if you do the work of being baptized, then and only then do you receive salvation. All of this is totally in your control. All of it. And no one has an issue with this! Payments for work done are not the same as gifts received, nor are they the same as God's power - not even imaginably close.
God said to the servant, "I want the tree in your front yard chopped down." Then the lord Jesus Christ said to the servant, "My faithful servant, go to Home Depot and purchase an ax. After you purchase the ax, go home and chop down the tree in your front yard." So the faithful servant, went to Home Depot, waited in line for 2 hours, and purchased an ax. They then went home and chopped down the tree in their front yard. The servant then began praising the lord, and knew they had performed the will of God by sacrificing only a little time to worship the lord by following his commandment. "What is a little bit of time for the sacrifice the lord has made for me?" asked the servant.
No issues with this? Of course not, this is a Godless and faithless planet.
God said to me, "I want the tree in your front yard chopped down." Then the lord Jesus Christ said to me, "Kelvin, go to Home Depot and purchase an ax. After you purchase the ax, go home and chop down the tree in your front yard." I said, "Absolutely not. You and your commandments can go fuck off you obnoxious liar." The next morning, I woke up, looked outside and saw that the tree had been chopped down by landscapers, then I got back in bed for another hour of sleep.
This has been the story of Kelvin for the last 12 years.
Reminds me of Micah, the Jews couldn't stand him and the Christians ignore him:
"With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:6-8
He literally tossed the 'Laws of Moses' out the window (which back then, included sacrificing children alongside calves and rams, probably somewhere in the middle of Deuteronomy).
