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[quote=Anonymous]My family was Lutheran, and when I was 14-18 I was very involved in church--confirmation classes, youth group, regular church attendance. I also got drafted into being pianist for friends of the family who had switched to Assembly of God and had a family gospel singing group. At that time, at least where we lived, the Assembly was a fringe church, the sanctuary was the same building as the parsonage. So I also had to go to their services frequently, I remember them doing Saturday evening services as well (I think there were a lot of recovering alcoholics in the congregation, that may have been a factor).

I was used to the structure of Lutheran services, but these had NO structure. No program for the service. The service just went on and on and on, not to mention the altar call (the preacher's wife used to take those opportunities to trap me in the wall end of a pew and work on evangelizing me).

The speaking in tongues (also, "possessed by the Spirit" and "dancing in the Spirit"--I remember there being 7 "gifts of the spirit", probably healing, casting out of demons, not sure what else) terrified me. I didn't understand it, I thought it was real, I didn't know if the Spirit would snatch me and make me do that. The female singer in the gospel group used to get possessed and pass out in the aisle for a long time at the end of the service, people would be stepping over her to get to the altar call, it was just crazy.

BTW, the gospel group once made an album and they called themselves the Afterglow Gospel Singers and did a little bit of church touring after I was no longer involved. They gave me their album. I was in college. That's when I learned what "afterglow" usually refers to.

It was explained to me once by Lutherans (I quit after I started college) that they are basically skeptical about the speaking in tongues because how do you know it's the Holy Spirit and not the devil making you do it? I believe they regard it as a gift that was bestowed on the apostles, period. [/quote]

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