Do you think that people who speak in tongues are making it up?

Question

Why do they do it if so? I know it's not real, but I want the Christian take on this.

Answer 1

It's a form of hypnosis. Fasting, chanting, even dancing can be used as inducements into trance states where people become highly suggestible.

Answer 2

Tongues are not supposed to be made up gibberish. If they are, then the speaker is making a mockery of God's gift. Tongues are known languages, just that the tongue God delivers the message through a believer is UNKNOWN to that believer. To better explain, it would be like a German man suddenly indued by the Spirit of God and being enabled to speak fluent Spanish, though he's never had a lesson! Remember the Day of Pentecost in the Bible? The people who heard the Galileans speak that day were "amazed to hear every man (Galilean) speak in his (their individual) language!"

Answer 3

I am a Christian.

First of all tounges was never meant to be a unintelligible vocal utterances. When you read scripture and especially if you study the greek, its is clear that tounges simply refers to an actual language. In the Bible the apostles were granted with the ability to speak a foreign language miracoulsly.

Therefore the majority of tounges speaking in American Pentacostal churches today is in fact not biblical. So why are they "making it up"? This has to do with the church culture or enviroment. If you are raised in a Pentacostal church or attend the services regularly you will see and expereince different people "speaking in tounges." Some say that you do not have the Holy Spirit until you have spoken in tounges and others just say that this is a very spiritual gift only for those who are truely spiritual.

So the church creates an atmosphere were you desire to have the same gift. If you have ever attended one of these services they are very exciting and adrenliane pumping. A lot of times they have excellent praise and worship leaders and musicians. The entire church gets into a overly emotional frensy. So a person is just overwhelmed both spiritually and emotionally. They may be to the point of crying or speechless and they feel their lip to start to shake......here is the moment.....the moment they decide to UNLESH their emotions in the way they have witnessed.

So its a overly emotional learned resposne to worship. If you ever witness people speaking in tounges you will notice that it almost always carries the same tones and the same rythmns.

There is nothing wrong with being excited about worship. There is nothing wrong with emotions. Its when these emotions control you and help you decide what is RIGHT and WRONG is when it goes to far. Christians need to be balanced emotionally and intellectually. And based on personalities some will lean one way or the other and that is ok. God wants us to expereince him with our natural range of emotions. And sometimes he will push us beyond our natural range but it will always be scriptural.

Answer 4

No they are not making it up...what would be the purpose of that...I speak in tongues and have received the baptism of the holy Spirit and until you have experienced it you can not know what it is like....why is it so easy for skeptics to believe someone can astral project or see visions or other supernatural things like that but yet have so much trouble with a gift of the Holy Spirit that is for every believer and act like it is some sort of lie....just because you know not what it is or have never experience d it doesn't make it any less real....instead of shouting it is fake open you heart to God and He will show you the truth if you really want to know.....His gifts are precious .....hanging on to ignorance only makes one more ignorant.

Answer 5

1 Corinthians 12:10
"To another the working of miracles, to another prophetic insight, to another the ability to discern and distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the ability to interpret such tongues."

If you read the whole book of 1 Corinthians you might understand the gifts of the Spirit a little better. It most certainly is real and I speak in tongues when I pray sometimes. It's like when you are so deep in prayer you don't know what you're praying for- the Holy Spirit just uses you to intercede for others.

Answer 6

Yes it is real. It a spiritual gift and it is the way Christians with this gift speak directly to God and the devil cannot intercede. So if anyone ever prays for you in tongue only good things will come of it

Answer 7

There are alot of people that do. But the people in my church does not. When people at my church around me speak in tongues i can tell the difference because i can feel God's prescence. When i am around those that make it up i dont.

Answer 8

The language they are speaking is called jibber jabber, it is made up on the spot but those that are speaking it think it really means something, then you have the ones that claim the gift of interpretation that claim they understand the jibber jabber and translate it into English.

Answer 9

the practice of "speaking in tongues" is not biblically supported.
the references in the Bible refer to God giving His diciples the ability to converse in the different languages of that time in order that they could effectively spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
who do people practice that foolishness today?
I can only guess that those people have a need to augment their experiences with wierd happenings.

Answer 10

Okay, I've only heard someone speak in tongues once, but it did happen in scripture. I think it's a gift some people have, but not everyone can do it.