'New life' as an early Christian/temple theme (and major mantic symbol), part 3

My previous two posts (here and here) lay the foundation that 'new life' is an ancient doctrine re-taught by Christ and early Christians rather than invented by them at that time. Joseph Smith learned this through revelation. 'New life' doctrine is taught numerous times in the Book of Mormon.  We also find it in the Book of Moses, where Adam is taught the purpose of the Gospel:

59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; (Moses 6)

This is supported by archaeological discoveries which came later. I'll outline a few ancient examples below.

The Damascus Document

This is a Jewish text discovered relatively intact in 1897 and then found in fragments among the dead sea scrolls in the 1940s.  This text is from the pre-Christian era and includes language that sounds surprisingly Christian, including talk of eternal life through God making atonement and "hidden things" revealed in connection to the covenant (also insinuating that all Israel had gone astray, perhaps by suppressing this teaching).  For example:

But with them that held fast to the commandments of God, who were left among them, God confirmed His covenant with Israel for ever, revealing unto them the hidden things in which all Israel erred: His holy Sabbaths and His glorious festivals, the testimony of His righteousness and the ways of His truth and the desires of His will which a man shall do and live by them. He opened before them and they digged a well of many waters, and he that despises them shall not live. But they wallowed in the transgression of man and in the ways of the unclean woman. And they said that it belongs to us. But God in the abundance of His wonder made atonement for their sins and forgave their transgression. And He built them a sure house in Israel, the like of which never arose beforetime and hitherto. They who hold fast to Him are for the life of eternity, and all glory of man is for them; as God confirmed it to them through Ezekiel, the prophet, saying: "The priests and the Levites and the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of His sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from them they shall bring near unto me fat and blood." (Damascus Document ch. 5, source here)

Notice the mention of the "sure house in Israel" connecting the concept of the Atonement for sin and eternal life.  This is a clear reference to the temple, where those sin offerings were to be made according to the law of Moses to point the mind forward to Christ. For me, this is clear evidence that branches of Jews maintained the original understanding of their religion and looked forward to Christ who would come and make atonement for sin, leading them to eternal life. 

Qumran Hymns

These hymns come from the same Jewish sect living in exile from Jerusalem in the centuries leading up to the time of Christ. Margaret Barker quotes the hymn known as QHXVIII: "Thou hast taught them thy marvelous mysteries ... that he may stand before thee with the everlasting host ... to be renewed with all the living and to rejoice together with them that know."  Multiple hymns "tell of someone raised to the everlasting height to be part of the congregation of the sons of heaven." (The Great High Priest, p. 26-27)

Conclusion

History is written by the winners.  This applies to doctrine as well.  It is important when we look at truth claims of the restoration to be wary of assuming the mainstream view of a doctrine is the correct or original version of that doctrine.  In light of the general human trend to drift from mantic to sophic, and in light of the evidence that indicates the original Israelite religion knew of the importance of the Messiah, we should be cautious in how we approach the topic.

What is the gift of tongues? -- Part 2

In part 1, I suggested a more expansive view of the gift of tongues. It is not just about speaking a different language in a miraculous way, it is about speaking a heavenly language, the tongue of angels. Nephi explained that it simply means speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is a game-changer for me. But is this really true? I think so, but I will be careful to not eradicate the whole language element. It is definitely there. Let's have a closer look at what Moroni says when he lists the spiritual gifts in Moroni 10:

15 And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;
16 And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues.

"All kinds of tongues" implies there are many different ones. This would suggest different languages. But in the next verse he seems to make a distinction between languages and tongues. We know that poetic parallelism is common in the Book of Mormon, so "languages" and "tongues" could just be synonyms. But this does not seem like poetic parallelism. It implies that tongues could be understood as something else than just languages. I honestly am a bit unsure how exactly I should understand these verses. 

1 Corinthians 13:1 gives an interesting clue. In chapter 12, Paul also listed lots of spiritual gifts, the gift of tongues being one of them. Then he writes:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

In the next verse he goes on to mention other spiritual gifts, making the point that charity is better than all of them. So speaking with tongues in this verse should also be understood in this context, as one of the spiritual gifts. That is why I find it interesting that he mentions

1. Tongues of men
2. Tongues of angels

I understand "tongues of men" to mean languages (one aspect of the gift of tongues). Nephi has defined "tongues of angels" to mean speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is another aspect of the gift of tongues, and from what I can find in the scriptures, this seems to be the most common one. Here are some examples of this aspect of the gift of tongues in the scriptures:

2 Samuel 23:2

The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.

2 Nephi 1:27

27 And it must needs be that the power of God must be with him, even unto his commanding you that ye must obey. But behold, it was not he, but it was the Spirit of the Lord which was in him, which opened his mouth to utterance that he could not shut it.

Moses 6:32

Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance

Helaman 13:5

And he said unto them: Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart

Focusing on this aspect, we suddenly see that there are plenty of examples of the gift of tongues manifest in the scriptures, not just the day of Pentecost. There is another interesting example that is not found in our standard works. I came across the tongues of fire fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Unfortunately, lots of text is missing, but these are my observations:

• It mentions "tongues of fire" several times, one of the symbols of the gift of tongues, as discussed in part 1
• Interestingly, the tongues of fire are connected to Urim & Thummim (Only Urim is mentioned but a lot is missing and it also mentions "the left-hand stone" and "the right-hand stone")
• The setting seems to be priests and prophets, possibly doing temple service(?)
• They speak to the people and also "interpret His will"

The fragment is very incomplete, but it is another case of tongues of fire, before the day of Pentecost, in a setting that supports the gift of tongues as a type of heavenly language.