Does anyone have any knowledge of speaking in tongues?

Question

I have been to churches where I have heard people who believed they were speaking in tongues and I read about it in the scriptures but I still do not really understand. I read Acts 2:4 and 1 Corinthians 12-14. I have heard in some churches that they do not believe the signs and wonders were continued after the authority of the New Testament was established. Do any of you believe in tongues and can you help me to understand more about it?

Answer 1

It is complete nonsense - self-induced hysterical nonsense.

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Answer 2

To my knowledge there are generally two Christian faiths that believe in the speaking in tongues. The first are the Mormons, who believe that it is a gift given to some to be able to learn different languages very quickly. Generally it is seen more often when American missionaries are sent to a foreign country on their missions and in about 6 weeks they learn a whole new language well enough to be able to speak to the natives of that country and be understood. Genreally this gift wans as they get closer to the end of their mission, although not always. I was once in a church meeting where a new member only spoke Spanish and the missionary would interpret for him when he would stand to bear his testimony. Once it was like the missionary was just in the way, and we could all understand what this new member was saying with out any help. - but that's interpretation of tongues.

The only other religion I know of that believes in the gift of tongues are the Pentecostals. They believe that there is some "angelic" language that some are given occasionally that can not ever be understood by human ears unless someone has been given the gift of interpretation.

I guess it just shows that two faiths can interpret the same scripture differently.

Answer 3

The Greek "glossalalia" means speaking or languages. If by chance you really want to learn the entire story about tongues and babble then contact www.tomorrowsworld.org Click onto Tomorrow's World - Magazine and Television program and on their search type tongues and read Charismatic Renewal and the Gift of Tongues - by John H. Ogwyn, or save time by using your search engine an type in Charismatic Renewal and the Gift of Tongues - by John H. Ogwyn It's free. You can learn about tongues by reading all scriptures from you own Bible as given by Mr, Ogwyn.

Answer 4

I don't understand that whole speaking in tongues thing at all. The way I understand it, someone commences to babbling incoherently, and it requires the preacher to interpret what is being said.
When I was growing up, what I was taught in church, was that at the Pentocost, the holy spirit came down upon the Apostles, and bestowed the gift of tongues upon them, so that they could go out and preach the Gospel to all nations, and be understood by everybody, no matter what language they spoke. How in the heck did it go from being a gift of communication, to becoming something that requires the preacher to translate it. If it were a true gift of tongues, wouldn't everybody in the congregation understand what is being said??? *shrug*

Answer 5

22 years ago my boss took us to Camp Gunnison in Colorado for a nice break. She didn't know it was a religious cult! (our planned 3 nights turned into a hurried trip back 12 hours later). They had a prayer thing we went to and some of the cult members convinced themselves they were able to speak in tongues. What I witnessed was the most backwards idiotic thing I could have ever imagined. According to them spirits had entered their bodies and were trying to communicate through them! Psychotic babbling was all I heard. It was almost scary to be around people who could be manipulated and brainwashed so easily. These people gave up their life savings to 'be saved' by a couple of guys with a plan for a good scam.

Answer 6

Even the Mormons Believe in Glossolalia
Some say that there is a Biblically laid out "Method" for Speaking in "Tongues" in Church, i.e. Someone Speaks, someone translates, someone interprets.
And in some Places, its a Madhouse, just ranting like a crazy house, or working in a Call Center :-)
If it is supposed to be your own Prayer language , as some say, and these same people have told me that your own prayer language is your spirit speaking with God or the Angels, and you may not necessarily understand the prayers.... Overall sounds more like a form of Possession like in the Exorcist... etc :-)

Answer 7

Eldad9 has a good answer.

In terms of it's biblical weight, though, it is a misinterpretation.

The models that are given (scriptural) speak of a phenomenon which allowed everyone present to UNDERSTAND various "tongues"; and advised those whom communed in different "tongues" to have a translator present.

Simply stated, scripture was referring to communing in different languages! If you read the scriptures you provided in your questions with this in mind, you are bound to have a fuller understanding of them.

Glossolalia, though, is a phenomenon much older and not limited to Christianity.

Answer 8

I beleive in the gift of tongues, but I doubt what you saw was actually it.

When it happens, it will not be in a public place, it will be in a sacred place. And like any other sign, it will not be there to make people have faith, it will be there to help them increase faith that they already have.

Like any Gift of the Spirit, it can have different levels and applications. Many times when it was mentioned in the bible, it was referring to those who were in pure communication with God (being in tune with the Holy Ghost) and were given the capacity to speak in His language. Often there was a person near by who could interpret what was being said. Another level of application would be that the Spirit of God helps those who have received the Gift of the Holy Ghost to learn a new language often for the purpose of spreading His gospel to to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.

The churches that think the signs and wonders didn't continue after the authority of the New Testament are wrong. God is and always has been a God of miracles. He has called men in our day with the same authority as those of the New Testament.

Answer 9

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.

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 10

you should consider that "speaking in tongues" is not at all how it is portrayed today. laying on the ground and babbling is mere foolishness. christ said that one should even obstain from public prayer... or being long winded in prayer... so consider how silly babbling on is.

to speak in tongues is a "gift". but understand that to speak in tongues is to "speak another language". it is a gift to speak in a language you don't know.

the purpose of such a gift was given on pentecost to proclaim the word of god to the ends of the earth. so for this to happen, the gift of tongues was established. it was merely to translate the good news in a rapid and effective way. it was to translate the judeo-christian religion into the words and phrases of another culture so they could know god.

does it exist now? i say no. why? because the word of god has already been proclaimed throughout the world. it had its purpose and now god is done with it.

Answer 11

Tounges is a gift of the holy spirit.
Some believe that speaking in tounges is for every christian, but that is not biblicaly acurate. Tounges also need a translater, which is also a gift of the HS. The acts virgin of speaking in tounges is different than the gift of the HS. The acts version we wouldn't know if it was happening, because it is said that everyone heard what he was saying in there native language. Importantly don't let someone tell you you are not a christian because you don't speak in tonges.check this out for more questions.
www.clarifyingchristainity.com