What is your take on religion and speaking in tongues? ( And please be serious, let's act like mature people.)

Question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_in_tongues
This explains the speaking in tongues part. I have facts to suport the speaking in tongues. Also if you literally want to see and hear it, here you go: http://www.spiritualabuse.org/issues/tongues.html
Thanks.

Answer 1

My take on religion? read almost any of my past answers. In a word, opposed.

My take on speaking in tongues? I've also answered this one several times, but can't find the old one to copy and paste.
So....

"speaking in tongues" is one of the supposed gifts of the pentecost, when the holy spirit descended on the apostles. Snake handling is also one of the "gifts"....now THERE'S a useful skill for converting the heathens....

The interesting thing is that there is overwhelming consensus among archeologists and biblical scholars, that the verses in Luke, the only place that refers to the gifts of pentecost, were added in the 3rd or 4th centuries...as the earliest known versions of Luke, don't have the verses.

Essentially, speaking in tongues is a form of mass religious hysteria. When people are raised in such a bizarre religious enviroment, and have seen others "speaking in tongues" there is an understanding of what should happen, and there is tremendous peer pressure to show that you have the "gift" too, so that you fit in with the group. It is similar to what happens when people go up on the stage for one of those hypnotist shows and they cluck like chickens etc. It is an agreement (usually subconcious) to act out a specific role that is expected of you.

Linguists have studied the noises people make (there really is no other way to describe it) and there is no syntax or structure indicative of any known language....or in fact language at all. It doesn't even have as much structure as animal calls...it literally is just random noises, though of course there are idiosyncracies, and certain noises that are found in different branches of the church but not others...like a dialect I suppose.

Kind of useless if the point of the "gift" is to be able to preach to foreigners about the myth of jesus....but logic has never stopped a christian from pressing on with delusions before.

Thanks for allowing a serious response to your question, and I'm sure there won't be any thumbs down because I answered seriously and honestly. Right?

Answer 2

It was Pentecost of the year 33 C.E. A change was due. A new covenant was to replace the ancient Jewish Law covenant. For what reason? To open up a better way to worship Jehovah God. He would use an outburst of miraculous events, including the speaking in tongues, to move the hearts of righteously disposed people. These would see that the almighty God of their forefathers was indeed now conferring his approval upon Jesus’ disciples.

The gift of tongues served another purpose at Pentecost. In Jesus’ day, printing and broadcasting did not exist, and written records were not common among the ordinary people. Hence, the good news of God’s will and purpose would have to be carried forth on the tongues of believers. Worshipers of Jehovah had come to the Festival of Pentecost in Jerusalem from over a dozen lands in Africa, Asia, and Europe, and they spoke several different languages. About 120 of Jesus’ disciples also assembled in Jerusalem. Empowered with God’s holy spirit, the disciples started to speak with different tongues. What a banquet of good news was served to a multitude of worshipers! These were able to “hear them speaking in [their own] tongues about the magnificent things of God.”—Acts 2:5-11.

How effective was this miracle? Three thousand listeners became believers that same day! (Acts 2:41) Returning to their far-off homes, these new converts then bore witness about true worship “to the most distant part of the earth.”—Acts 1:8.

Only a little more than two decades after Pentecost, Paul served notice that the gift of tongues would eventually cease. (1 Corinthians 13:8) Why would this be reasonable? Because the miracles at Pentecost, as a confirmation of early Christianity, had served their purpose well and were no longer needed.

Today speaking in tongues usually amounts to highly emotional outbursts of sounds that no one understands. So it cannot be from God. Jesus said that religious hypocrites would try to attach his name to such “powerful works,” but he rejected these “workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23) And Paul prophetically warned of a future time when there would be fraudulent miracles, or “lying signs and portents.” Thus, “every unrighteous deception” is a specialty of the archdeceiver, Satan the Devil.—2 Thessalonians 2:8-10.

Did you know that speaking in tongues was a part of certain pagan religions of Greece in Paul’s day? Their rites mixed speaking in tongues with practices such as the cutting of the flesh and frenzied nude dancing. Such historical examples clearly show that speaking in tongues can occur under influences that are most unholy.

Would you like to learn more?

Answer 3

Speaking any other language when you get a group of people together believing with all their heart and soul does NOT mean GOD... There is a WORLD of SCIENCE out there that is covered with a wet blanket by these religious delusions, so the true answers are always difficult to find. Millions and Millions of religious people versus a few serious researches in the area. Other people have spontaneously spoken in different languages and have NOT had anything to do with religion.

End this religious nonsense now and let's move forward into a true age of discovery!

Answer 4

In the bible when it said they spoke in tongues it was because they were able to then speak different languages of other people that didn't know Gods word and teach them so they could follow God. Today when people " speak in tongues " it is not in a "language" that anyone can understand so they aren't passing on any divine message because no one can understand what they are saying. I think they are overtaken by something but I do not think it is Holy spirit.

Answer 5

Speaking in tongues is in the Bible. Just like healing etc.....

We as people and Christians tend to "over do it." We usually go to far left or right.
I have seen tongues and healings as well abused.
It doesn't mean it's not possible or Biblical.

I know many people who speak in tongues and don't abuse it.
It's not somehting we can turn off and on at will........ it's God's will.

I've seen people like Rod Parsley say "On" and then "off" and his people would speak in tongues by Rod Parsley's command.... that's craziness.

Tongues are NOT to be spoken out loud in a congregational or public setting if there is not an interpretation. (and that doesn't mean someone making it up!)

Answer 6

It depends on whether you are talking about tongues in the Bible or "tongues" in contemporary churches started by pentacostalism 100 years ago. Tongues in the Bible was speaking in languages that a person had never learned. It was miraculous, for Israel, with a definate purpose. Contemporary "tongues" is not a miracle, anyone can do it, is totally sensual, and unbiblical. Those Christians who wish to be faithful to God and His Word have nothing to do with it.

Answer 7

I've been to a church where speaking in tongues took place. It seemed silly and contrived to me. If god felt the need to communicate a message don't you think he would do it in a language that the people he is sending the message to understood? The entire idea of speaking in tongues makes absolutely no sense and seems to me to be just another religious con.

Answer 8

I was into that years ago. But I saw so many of the people treating others like jerks doing the week,then going to church speaking in tounges and rolling on the floor. What good are the gifts without love. So I quit. All churches is just a money pit.

Answer 9

the gift of speaking of tongues is for the benefit of someone who needs to get an important gospel message to someone they normally would not be able to understand under normal speaking their own language.....the key to Truely speaking in tongues if if the recipient understands what is spoken....

Answer 10

If you think that's something you should see what we can do down south. We can speak in tongues and handle poisoness snakes at the same time.