1 Corinthians 14:10-17

in this passage it talks about spiritual gifts and especially about tongues. pauls suggestion here is that people should seek to excel in the gifts that build up the church. he says this because some are better than others at doing that. some christian denominations focus on tongues so much but it doesn't make sense with this passage in mind because it is not worth that much without an interpreter. For those that speak in tongues they should seek the interpretation. it's a tricky case here. if one is speaking in tongues with out knowing what it is saying the spirit is fruitful but the mind is not. it's like there's 2 things going on at once in 2 different dimensions. it might benefit the person somehow, but it doesn't benefit the listeners. so on the listener end it is useless. "amen" is also carefully used. it's not used as recklessly as people use it today. tongues is an important gift if an interpreter is around, but not as useful if one is not present. it's like me watching a foreign tv show. might sound interesting, but really i have no clue what's going on so i change the channel. same thing in the church. no subtitles then skip it for the church.