What is speaking in tongues?

Question

Can it be understood by anyone else?

Answer 1

It is gibberish which results from an emotional experience. Nobody can understand it. It can be a very lucrative business, with Benny Hinn and others profiting from it. Here is more information about it:

Answer 2

I guess that one could say that there are two types of speaking in tongues.

One was shown in Acts 2. Anyone that was there who did not have the Spirit of God at the time could understand the language and recognized it from their own country. Even though those speaking it were not capable of those languages otherwise.

Another, the one Paul talks about, is self edifying. It is to be done in private. It is supposed to be self-edifying, and the person addressed is God. I suppose you could consider it a form of prayer. Paul also wrote that IF that form of tongues was used in the church, that there would have to be an interpreter, so that the congregation could gain benefit from the message thereof.

It is an abused activity these days, full of those that wish to be a spiritual showoff. Pride and status, along with errant doctrine seems to be the reason they do it.

Though I was alone in a dark room when I gave myself to Christ, I did have the urge to speak in tongues. It was powerful! Though I do not believe that everyone has that experience when they give themselves to God. They don't need to worry about it. They need to keep their eyes on Christ, as Hebrews 12 says.

I hope that helped you.

Answer 3

Tongues originated in the Bible on the Day of Pentacost and was the starting day of the church. The Holy Spirit came down and indwelt believers. At that time there were Jews from all over the world assembled because of the Feast of Pentacost and the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and they were given the miraculous power to speak in the 16 different languages that those Jews from around the world spoke. There were 3,000 people saved that day and added to the church. These people then returned to their lands and took the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. It was truly a miraculous event and began the Chruch in a wonderful and powerful way. Tongues ceased shortly after that and has never reappeared.
The modern movement called the tongues movement which started the Pentacostal church has no similarity to that at all. It was started by Charles Fox and Agnes Osmond in 1901, and once it caught on was the start of the Pentacostal movement which started in 1906. They do not speak in languages, but bable in incoherent sounds. Ligguists have studied it extensively and all agree it is not language, therefore it is not supernatural. Anyone can do it, including non Christians. It is normally considered a psychic experience in which the conscience mind gives way to the subconscious mind and since reason does not exist in the subconscious the sounds come out disjointed. It becomes an addiction to those who do it because it causes quite a euporic sensation.
Any tongues believer could easily prove that it is supernatural if they just would speak to someone in a language that they have never learned. But it just doesn't happen.
Stick with the Bible, rejoice in what Gd has given us and don't try to fabricate that which God has not given.

Answer 4

Q)Are you a backslider by chance?
A)This is a blessing that can be imitated by the devil. For the saints of God, it is a sign of the in-filling of the Holy Ghost. It cannot be understood if it is done privately in prayer for the edification of that person unless God interprets. Not in an assembly either unless other gifts of a clear tongue are given along with the spiritual gift of interpretation for the edification of the church. In that case, it can be understood. Also, the answer is yes if the language is not heavenly but to witness to other unbelievers in their language. This has been witnessed many times when someone could not speak a language except the Spirit spoke through them. People have been approached after services by sinners who tried to speak to them in the language they heard and insisted that "You spoke my language". Often, it is to reveal and reprove sin and to reveal wolves in the flock.

Answer 5

According to the Bible people who speak in tongue or languages, are gifted people. It is very few people that have this gift to be able to talk with God in a different tongue that normal human-beings cannot understand. When speaking in tongue you communicate with the Lord. Correct me if i am wrong but when the tower of Babel was destroyed everyone spoke in different languages and couldn't understand each other. It might have a connection? The Lord only give this gift to those who can work through Him as a medium to others.

Answer 6

Glossolilia or "speaking in tongues". In the first Centuries CE, it meant the ability of a person to communicate in a foreign language that they had never learned. e.g. a person raised speaking Greek and unable to speak any other language would suddenly be conversing in Aramaic. At the present time, it refers to a person who suddenly, in a state of religious ecstasy, starts speaking sounds that sound like language but do not represent any known tongue, and thus others cannot comprehend. The manifestation of glossolilia is an expected development in all Pentecostal believers and is a sign of the grace of God. It is also a common practice among charismatic Christians.


EDIT: what's with the thumbs down??? I am merely stating facts!!

Answer 7

I went to a church with my in-laws a few years ago. They busted out and started speaking in tongues. It freaked me out big time. No, no one else can understand it. I laugh hysterically when I'm nervous. Yup..I laughed at my in-laws. Oh, what a bad memory!

Answer 8

Speaking in tongues, is when an individual starts talking some message God wants to relate. Sometimes you can understand them and sometimes not. Also, sometimes it is just the Devil that gets inside an individual that makes them say things usually about other members of the church. It all depends, I used to speak in tongues, when I was younger and really devoted to Jesus Christ. It is something you cannot stop, when the spirit of God gets a hold on you, you have no control over what you do or say. I remember I used to just try to think of something else, so that I would not speak, but sooner or later, when the church starts praying and praising the Lord there is not stopping.
I believed in it, and I guess to a degree I still do, but there are some many fakes, that I just got out of churches that still do that.

Answer 9

a language some people start speaking when the holy spirit enters them. And YES, some people (also filled with the Spirit) can understand them. I can't, but some people I know can.

Answer 10

People speak in tongues when they get taken over by the holy spirit. No on can understand it since it is a heavenly language.

Answer 11

It is religious fanatics rolling on the floor and speaking in gibberish. It cannot be understood because it is not a language. There is usually someone who says they know the translation but that is crap too.