1a) What is the gift of tongues for? (b) Is speaking in tongues the evidence of being infilled?

Question

(1c) Why or why not? (1d) Has the gift of tongues ceased to exist?

Answer 1

The tongues were different languages that the apostles had not learned which the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak on the day of Pentecost. It was not something understood just by them and God. Every person heard the gospel proclaimed in their own language that they spoke. Read the account in Acts chapter 2. These gifts were temporary to help the apostles complete their work for the Lord since they did not have a copy of the Bible as you and I do. After the Bible was completed, there was no more need for those spiritual gifts and yes the tongues ceased along with all other gifts. 1Corinthians 13:8.

Answer 2

According to the bible, when someone speaks in tongues, there will be someone present to interpret the message and a third person present that the message was for. I've been in church many times and have seen people falling out on the floor and speaking in "tongues". I don't believe they are truly speaking in tongues though because the other elements are not present, no interpretator nor the person the message is for. That is not to say the individual who is "speaking in tongues" is not caught up in the moment. I don't believe that the Lord communicates this way with us anymore. I have never seen a honest case of this.

Answer 3

It's called glossolalia.

* Linguistics

The syllables that make up instances of glossolalia typically appear to be unpatterned reorganizations of phonemes from the primary language of the person uttering the syllables; thus, the glossolalia of people from Russia, the United Kingdom, and Brazil all sound quite different from each other, but vaguely resemble the Russian, English, and Portuguese languages, respectively. Many linguists generally regard most glossolalia as lacking any identifiable semantics, syntax, or morphology. Glossolalia has even been postulated as an explanation for the Voynich manuscript.[citation needed]

* Psychology

The first scientific study of glossolalia was done by psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin as part of his research into the linguistic behaviour of schizophrenic patients. In 1927, G.B. Cutten published his book Speaking with tongues; historically and psychologically considered, which was regarded a standard in medical literature for many years. Like Kraepelin, he linked glossolalia to schizophrenia and hysteria. In 1972, John Kildahl took a different psychological perspective in his book The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues. He stated that glossolalia was not necessarily a symptom of a mental illness and that glossolalists suffer less from stress. He did observe, however, that glossolalists tend to have more need of authority figures and appeared to have had more crises in their lives.

A 2003 statistical study by the religious journal Pastoral Psychology concluded that, among the 991 male evangelical clergy sampled, glossolalia was associated with stable extraversion, and contrary to some theories, completely unrelated to psychopathology.

Nicholas Spanos described glossolalia as an acquired ability, for which no real trance is needed (Glossolalia as Learned Behavior: An Experimental Demonstration, 1987). It is also known as a simplex communication.

* Neuroscience

In 2006, at the University of Pennsylvania, researchers, under the direction of Andrew Newberg, MD, completed the world’s first brain-scan study of a group of Pentecostal Practitioners while they were speaking in tongues. One of the study's authors is a practicioner of glossolalia and a born-again Christian herself. The study concluded that while participants were exercising glossolalia, activity in the language centers of the brain actually decreased, while activity in the emotional centers of the brain increased.

During this study, researchers observed significant cerebral blood flow changes among individuals while exercising glossolalia, concluding that the observed changes were consistent with some of the described aspects of glossolalia. Further, the researchers observed no changes in any language areas, suggesting that glossolalia is not associated with usual language function.

New York Times wrote about the study, and it has been published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Volume 148, Issue 1, 22 November 2006, Pages 67-71.

Answer 4

The "gift of tongues" as you put it, is one of seven spiritual gifts. It is only referred to one place in scripture, and that is the second chapter of acts. I study people, and part of that is the study of linguistics. When referring to "speaking in tongues" in this passage, it is only referred to in this manner in the King James version of the bible. In formal English, King James period, it means that they spoke in other languages. It does make sense, if you put the passage in the context of what is being said, overall, in the chapter.

Think of it this way: There were a lot of people, followers of Christ, in that upper room, and not all were from the same area. Not all were even from the same country. Historically, people from all areas of the known world were there at the time, and there were a lot of native languages represented there. When God speaks, the message becomes clear to everyone involved, not just the people who speak the same language as the speaker. God had a message to certain people and another message to others. Immediately, people went out about the work of God, and not everyone to the same task, or to the same places. Not even to their home land. But, certain people went to certain places to do certain things. How is it that you think they got their instructions about what to do and one was not confused for another? It is important to note that the people doing the speaking were all Jews. This should sufficiently answer question "A".

I actually saw this put into action once. A long time ago, I was an evangelist. I directed a christian pantomime team, and on occasion, we would have the opportunity to do outreaches in churches. We went to a certain church that was not, well let's just say they were not of the pentecostal persuasion. We didn't have a person that was a dedicated speaker, and it was customary, at one time, for an evangelistic outreach ministry to do the spoken part of the service, as well. One of the guys on the team had been to bible college, and was on his way to becoming a pastor, and so he volunteered to do the message. Near the end, he said something to the effect of "I feel God leading me to say something, so, please stand to your feet and close your eyes and pray with me..." After everyone was standing, eyes closed, he started to speak, and noone understood a thing he was saying. A couple of us knew the whole thing about this church being intolerant of pentecostal beliefs, and were almost instantly mortified. We thought "he's praying in tongues, and these people are gonna be ticked!! We just lost any credibility and opportunity to reach anyone in the building because of this!!!" After it was over, we were tearing down the sound system and prop sets, when a middle eastern man came up to the stage and asked my friend where he had learned Farsi. Of course, my friend had never been to Iraq, or anywhere else in the middle east. The man told us that my friend had called him by name, used specific and perfect Farsi (enunciation, inflection, accent and all), and told him that he was to go to Cleveland, and he would find a man there who would help him multiply Christ among his own people. He did so, and still runs an outreach to local Arabs to this day. This answers question "D", I think, with a no.

As for question "B", there are some fringe pentecostal groups that believe it is. I do not,though, because it is a GIFT of the spirit, not a right. Did your dad give you and all your siblings the exact same gift for your birthdays and christmas this past year? probably not. There is also scripture that says he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some pastors, etc. That's like saying he made some to be doctors, some lawyers and some ditch diggers. Do these modern people use the same tools to do their work? Of course not. Why would those roles listed in scripture use the same tools all the time to do their jobs? These extreme pentecostal people also tend to choose to leave off the words in the passage "AS THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE". It gets brushed over, and shorted in the verse as far as importance goes. I tell you it is VERY important, in that it tells us that it did not happen to everyone present that day, and the ones it did happen to, were at the mercy of the spirit to speak only particular languages.

Note: I have been to some churches where they preached just what the subject of your question is about, and they actually try to TEACH people how to pray in tongues. When God teaches you a new language, you won't need anyone else to tell you what it means. Be forewarned that scripture warns of a "Familiar Spirit" masquerading as the Holy Spirit. It would pay not to get the two mixed up, you know?

Hope this helps...

Answer 5

Tongues is the initial evidence but it is not the only evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I would say "tongues" is a spiritual language that comes from deep within your spirit. It is the only language the devil can not understand. If you want any further information check Acts chapter 1 and 2 in the Bible.

Answer 6

1a) It is for personal private prayer and for corporate edification of the church body
b) Yes, it's an evidence. I was actually filled with the Holy Spirit a full week before I spoke in tongues.
c) because it's just evidence not the actual gift.
d) no, it hasn't stopped existing. I know I pray in tongues all the time, especially when I don't know how else to pray.

Answer 7

In the Bible there was a Early rain on Pentecost when all the desciples were gathered together. Read the beginning of Acts, speaking in tounges means the voice of God speaking through you, ,manely speaking where all languages can understand what your saying. It isn't babbling wich is what many churches today do and call it speaking in tounges, there will be a latter rain again were people will trully speak in tounges, read through Daniel and Revelation.

Answer 8

a) It's a heavenly language in which you speak through the Spirit you use it to pray to God about things you can't put into words and it can also be used while healing a person.

b) basically, you'd be speaking gibberish but you can tell that it is being fulfilled when you finish and feel an overwhelming sensation of lightness. :)

it still exists, i hve a bible study with a group and most of us can speak in tongues, it seems to not exist because we don't speak it in public coz it might scare or confuse people.:)

Answer 9

1a: To preach the gospel in a different languages.
1b: Yes.
1c: So you know you got the Holy ghost.
1d: No.

Answer 10

Interesting how Christians call it a Gift Of Tongues ( like they are divinely blessed ) but in Voo-Doo they call it being possessed....and Christians say it comes from the Devil/ Evil spirit. I personally think it is a self induced trance.