Christians--->speaking in tongues?

Question

Hi, I've kept on wondering about this speaking in tongues! Yes, I am christian, but I don't quite understand the concept of speaking in tongues.
Could you please clarify it for me because I would love to speak in tongues-thank u

Answer 1

My friends at work claim that speaking in tongues is "the first initial sign of the filling of the Holy Spirit." I tell them that I am filled with the Holy Spirit just as they are but I have never spoken in tongues. After praying about it and doing some research on the subject here is my own personal conclusion:

The gift of tongues is often counterfeit brought about by peer pressure. But there is also the genuine gift which is real. People who speak in tongues seem to think that everyone filled with the Holy Spirit does so. I disagree. The gift of tongues is simply given to people who need a sign. This is clearly illustrated in the New Testament when the disciple, Thomas, doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus offered Thomas his nail peirced hands to touch as a 'sign' to help his unbelief. To those of us who are fully convinced of the reality of Jesus and His saving work, no 'sign' is needed. Why offer a jury more evidence if they've already accepted the truth? So, contrary to tongue speaker's popular belief, speaking in tongues doesn't mean you are more spiritual (the Corinthian church spoke in tongues and they were the most corrupt church in the NT!), if anything, it means your lack of faith needed an extra boost and God was gracious enough to give it to you.

Answer 2

Speaking in tongues really happens. It is for people to day. When you speak in tongues it is the Holy Spirit speaking through you, a prayer in a language spoke somewhere in the world. Only God knows what you are saying. There can be an interpretation but doesn't have to be unless someone is speaking in tongues to a whole group then generally there should be. To receive it ask for it and be willing to let it come out. Do not think that you will understand it or that it should sound a certain way or you may not receive it. He will give it to you if you ask and really want it.

Answer 3

Speaking in tongues is the evidence that the Holy Ghost has entered into your life as described in Acts. It is meant to be a communion of praise/worship and to be used to deliver a message (with an interpretation of course). The language isn't some made up gibberish either. True tongues are "known" languages, like Spanish, German, latin, and etc. but they are UNKNOWN or UNLEARNED by the person speaking them. A true instance of tongue-speaking would be someone delivering a message under the inspiration of the HOLY GHOST in a language they've never spoken before and have someone that may or may not be fluent in that same tongue stand up and interpret it under the same guidance of the Holy Ghost.

Answer 4

It's a gift given by the Holy Spirit and a verbal sign of his living within you. It's not something to be learned. It's a gift.

On the day of Pentecost when the Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit they left the upper room and went out into the streets where their gift of "tongues" was evident by their ability to preach to every man there in his own language "as the Spirit gave them utterance."

I personally think the practice of it is abused today. I think a lot of people fake it. A lot of what I hear in church is not a language that anyone in our congregation understands as an earthly language and we have MANY different nationalities and cultural backgrounds in our church representing many different languages. It seems to me that the Holy Spirit would speak through a person in a language that another person would understand.

I think we don't truly understand the infilling of the Holy Spirit and a lot of people fear it yet they want to appear "holy" so they try to use it anyway.

If you want to learn how to do it I would ask that you do so prayerfully and with the right intentions. Ask God for the gift of the Holy Spirit then ask Him for the gift of tongues.

God bless you!

Answer 5

It is considered a special gift from God by some sects & by others it is considered the manifestation of a work of grace. What ever it is it is special. My mother told of an event wherein someone spoke in tongues & the person was actually speaking in the native language of another person present who had never heard of salvation.

Answer 6

The Bible tells us that if a person speak in tongues there is to be someone to interpret. Many Churches that do this never have an interpreter and no one I ask can tell me what was said, so, I have my doubts about this. Paul actually addresses this and says he would rather people prophesy than speak in tongues. I Corinthians 14:1-5

Answer 7

Why in the World would you want to join others that claim to speak in tongues?..it's not true...been there done that!...The time for Tongues is not yet.
2:7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another *, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
2:8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born ?
Notice that THEY understood what was said in Tongues..
Dont fall into that fantasy..

Answer 8

Speaking in tongues is not Biblical for these days. God gave that gift to the men then and said it would cease when the bible was complete. Read Acts 2:1-6
Paul said in Corinthians 14:19 "Yet in church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue". He also says in verse 23 "will they not say that ye are mad?"

Answer 9

The purpose of speaking in tongues is for other people to hear the Gospel in their own tongue (language).

Answer 10

In the Book of Acts, the following miracle occurred, attributed to the presence of the Holy Spirit: Everyone began speaking in his own language, but although the people present spoke many languages, they all understood each other. Kind of like the concept of the Universal Translator on Star Trek. Somehow, some modern Christians have taken this to mean that they can be "filled with the holy spirit", and start to babble, and this is "speaking in tongues". They think they are speaking some actual foreign language. Mind you, in the book of acts, no one spoke in a foreign tongue, only understood the speech of foreigners. I'm a Christian so God forgive me if I shouldn't be saying this, but I think most modern Christians who claim to "speak in tongues" are really just getting carried away and performing, and it's kind of embarassing for the rest of us. Sorry.