[quote name='MickinEngland;71343]Not at all' date=' if they quietly mumble it under their breaths.Or do they think they have to shout it out to make God hear them?The bottom line is that Paul said he'd rather people preached than tongue-spoke, yet they blatantly ignore him and go on babbling loudly regardless, not good. (1 Cor 14:37-38)[/QUOTE'] -- Mick, this is your response to my statement, "Paul's "firm sensible guidelines for tongue-speaking" are still going to make Christians look stupid to non-believers." Your statement is specious, at best. It implies that a Christian speaking in tongues/praying in the spirit is either going to mumble or shout and there is no middle ground. You know better than that. But many non-believers would be/are still put off at the site of a person standing with their eyes closed mumbling, whether they thought they were praying or not. And if you look at the day of Pentecost you will see that Peter and the other disciples did not 'mumble' when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began to speak in tongues. As far as what Paul 'preferred' you are correct, but he did not call for them to cease praying in tongues. Nor did he call for them to mumble it lest we embarass ourselves in front of non-believers. He spoke concerning the motive behind it, wanting to ensure that people didn't see it as the be all, end all, and that there is more to living/showing your faith than just that. Also, when someone at church has a prophecy, a non-believer would be offended by that. When someone at church raises their hands and praises God in their own native tongue, non-believers have an issue with that. When Christians tithe to their church instead of giving that money to Amnesty International, Greenpeace, or a charity to feed the poor, non-believers have an issue with that, as well. In getting back to the point, if a Christian prays in the spirit, prays/praises in tongues, he should care less what a non-believer thinks and should not have to worry what fellow Christians think. Christians need to be concerned more about the plank than the splinter.