Speaking in "toungues?"?

Question

What is this exactly? I mean I have seen it, but I am not sure about it all. It seems kinda unexplainable. How does this really happen? Is it just the individual making up words or is this a real language and is there a dictionary for it? How does someone all of a sudden start speaking another language they have never been taught... and I really want to know from a non-Christian point of view because I already know what Christian's will say..."it's God speaking through you...blah, blah, blah..."

Answer 1

It's called glossolalia and is claimed by some to be an unknown mystical language; others claim that glossolalia is the speaking of an unlearned foreign language (see xenoglossia).

Answer 2

The tradition stems from the Day of Pentecost in the Bible, when followers of Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit after his resurrection. Even though they were of varying nationalities, they all spoke in "tongues" and everyone apparently heard what they were saying in that person's own native language, or something like that.
This story is found in the book of Acts in the Bible.

As for modern speaking in tongues, who knows? Maybe the person is really being moved by the spirit and they so overwhelmed by the experience they are having that they speak in an uncomprehendable language and praise God.
If God is universal, as many people believe, then it is entirely possible that He could give people the ability to transcend language barriers and speak directly from the heart.

Don't know if there's a scientific reason or not.

Answer 3

No there is no dictionary for it. And it is the same gibberish phrases. But that is not what really happened during the day of Pentecost 2000 years ago. At that time people from all over the world came to Jerusalem to attend the feast of Pentecost. And they represented 16 languages. But everyone of them heard what the apostles spoke in their own language or tongue.
Today, a native of America or Asia spoke in what is supposed to be "tongues", but none of the hearers understand what the speaker say.
It is the opposite of what is described here.

7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
(Acts 2:7-12).
But let me tell you these: I have been preaching and teaching in Southeast Asian countries in Indonesian, Malaysian, Iban, English, Manadonese, Sundanese, Makassarese and Mandarin, and all my listeners understood what I said, and many of them repented and were baptized just as it happened 2000 years ago.
On the other hand, I also know some instances where witchdoctors perform miracles where people spoke fluently in foreign languages that they never learned and in ordinary situation they did not know a single word of it.
But of course the devil can imitate any miracle. By the fruits you shall know them. The devil can perform miracle but, the result can be seen when they continue to transgress the Law and the testimony, they are not being inspired by the Spirit of God.

19 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:19, 20). So be careful and don't be deceived by so called miracles.

Answer 4

Read Acts chapter 2. In the Old Testament, God the Father promised to pour out his spirit upon his people. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. After his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon the believers in the upper room. The apostle Peter spoke to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, and told them that "the promise is for you, your children, and all who are afar off." "All who are afar off" means all generations, not just those living at the time of the apostles. When a person is filled with the Holy Spirt, the Holy Spirit can guide their speech to say whatever he wants them to say, whether or not they have learned a particular language. I will give you a "non-Christian" point of view on this. A Jewish rabbi heard someone speaking Hebrew who had never learned Hebrew, and the Jewish rabbi understood what was being said in Hebrew. There are other documented cases like this one.

Answer 5

Authentic and useful tongue speach occurred on Pentecost, when the apostles went out into the street to preach, and they were miraculously understood by people from all over the known world, and in their own local "mother" tongue.

There was no doubt that this incidence of tongue speech was authentic, as the crowd was so amazed, that many chose to become baptized that same day.

The other type of tongue speech is an unintelligible form of speech that can't be understood by anyone other than (hopefully) God.

Because of that, it's hard to tell the authentic from the fake.

Both kinds of authentic tongue speech can be traced to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Answer 6

Easily explainable. Everyone can 'speak in tongues', since all it involves is yelling gibberish. Any child can do it. They aren't speaking another language they haven't been taught - if they were, maybe there could actually be something to it. Except no one has ever proved that they could actually do that. I'm sure someone on here will relate a story where a guy actually WAS speaking a real language - I'm sure we'd all like to see some proof of that.

Answer 7

I can tell you what LDS (Mormons) believe as "speaking in tongues"...there can be several meanings. We do not however believe it is just "jibberish" or a "made-up" language someone just starts speaking...that would be more satanic.
We do believe, like with our missionaries, they are able to learn languages that are EXTREMELY hard to learn, in just a short time - like 6 weeks while at the MTC. We believe that through the spirit, the Lord works "language miracles"...
Also, we believe that the gift of 'tongues' is a spiritual gift and that one must have a reason to be using the gift or it is not of God. (like the jibberish, that's not of the Lord)

According to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the purpose of the gift of tongues is to preach the gospel “among those whose language is not understood” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith [1976], 148–49).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve explained: “In their more dramatic manifestations [the gift of tongues and their interpretation] consist in speaking or interpreting, by the power of the Spirit, a tongue which is completely unknown to the speaker or interpreter. … Frequently these gifts are manifest where the ordinary languages of the day are concerned in that the Lord’s missionaries learn to speak and interpret foreign languages with ease, thus furthering the spread of the message of the restoration” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd edition [1966], 800).

Hopefully that gives you a little insight to what LDS believe.

Answer 8

It's basically when people utter random syllables and claim that they're speaking some "hidden language of God" or something like that. I'm not a Christian so you probably know what I think of it: I think it's not real at all and there's no evidence to support the idea that it is. Anyone can utter gibberish; how people get the idea that gibberish sometimes comes from a supernatural source (or whatever) is beyond me.

Answer 9

its just blabbing and jibberish. They may feel its from the Lord but its just blabber.
The 'speaking tongues' as referred to in the scriptures, is for teaching the gospel to those of another language. eg. Japanese of French of something.

I learned Japanese in just a few months from the LDS Missionary Training Center, then serving as a missionary in Japan, and some people spend years and years in Japan and can barely communicate. Is this not the gift of tongues?
Some people can speak a number of languages, its a gift.
if no one can understand it, whats the point?

PS> Wow I just watched a video link of kids speaking in tongues and it made me shiver and scared and there is the devils power in it. Oh so wrong.

Answer 10

The individual isn't making up words. I know a woman who was praying in tongues and another woman came up to her and thanked her because she knew the language she was speaking and it said for her to go to some country that she had been considering going to as a missionary.