Speaking in tongues....real?

Question

I have often wondered about this. I was raised a Nazarene and was taught that speaking in tongues no longer existed and those that do are not speaking in tongues in the biblical sense.

Through studying the bible, all I can find is that there will be a time when "all theses things(tongues, prophecy, etc) will cease". Who says that it has already ceased? Maybe it will cease when Jesus returns.
The gift of tongues, as I understand it is from the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit exist, shouldn't the gifts one receives exist also?

Answer 1

Praise God for this question.
1st of all, I am one who was raised believing the same thing as you.., from the Church of Christ. They are that group that don't believe anything the New Testament teaches as far as I am concerned.
No Holy Spirit baptism, no tongues, no laying on hands by believers today, no supernatural healing unless God initiates a miracle on His own, no voice for women in the church, no present day apostles, no prophets, no instrumental music, no tithing.. and on and more!!!
Anyway, after I was defeated with life, I overheard a true believer teaching about not just asking for forgiveness and believing that Jesus is the Son of God and doing water baptism..., that even the devil believes Jesus is the Son of God and that with water is NOT salvation...!
He explained Romans 10:9-10 that I must believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that JESUS IS LORD!! And ask him to be MY Lord!! to be born again. I DID and I actually had a salvation experience after I was a grandmother!! I was so happy and I was SAVED!! Then I knew what a salvation experience was all about.., and IMMEDIATELY I knew I NEEDED the baptism of the Holy Spirit..., EVERYTHING in me said I did and I KNEW somehow IT WAS A REAL AND TRUE EXPERIENCE FOR BORN-AGAIN PEOPLE!!
I located the phone # of a spirit filled lady that I had known for years and asked her to pray with me and she did and I RECEIVED the BAPTISM, the infilling of the Lord's Spirit WITH THE EVIDENCE OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES!!! Just like it says all through the book of Acts... READ IT!
In 1 Corinthians we are told that when that which is perfect is come..., that's Jesus to come get His church..., those things will cease. OF COURSE! In same book, chapter 12, we are told that not all will speak in "other tongues" meaning: languages; but in chapter 14, it is not talking about foreign languages or giving out a message in tongues that must be interpreted, it is talking about a believer's personal prayer tongue language. In 1 Cor.14: 2 plainly says we are talking to GOD, not to man BECAUSE NO MAN UNDERSTANDS HIM..., that's because it is "unknown" and not even the person speaking understands what they are saying!.., in verse 4 scripture says the speaker edifies himself..builds himself up.
In verse 13 it is said to pray you can interpret. Sometimes the Lord will tell me what I was praying about even I decide when to pray or sometimes I FEEL like I am prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray.., but in verse 14, it says that I can pray in understandable words or in tongues and my "understanding is unfruitful". In verse 15, I am told I can SING in the spirt.., which means IN TONGUES! as explained and/or made clear in verse 15.
Anyway, it's too late to tell me now that it isn't real..., honey, it's REAL and it is a GIFT from the HOLY SPIRIT so you can pray beyond your brain and deeper than what your head thinks and so the devil can't hear it!!!
Cool huh? It is supernatural and you never lose your ability to CHOOSE to pray or not to pray.
Some folks just don't believe because they have been taught a lie!!
Ask the Lord to assist you and find someone who IS Spirit filled to pray with you. Sometimes it takes more than one prayer to receive..., especially since we were falsely endoctrinated and those authority figures over us hold the "lid" on it!
Read also, Ephesians 6: 12-18; then, Jude: verse 20.

Answer 2

I was raised to believe that they no longer speak in tongues.. which was prophets when they were blessed by God preaching in the language of the country/city/town they were in.

I have also heard it said that today what could be thought of as speaking in a strange tongue is when a preacher gets blessed and is filled with the Holy spirit while preaching and sinners cannot understand what they are saying as those born again can.. it actually frightens them.

Answer 3

Speaking in tongues is of no use if there is not an interpreter present, since no one at those churches tell what they are saying then they are just babbling and of no use to anyone. Many people are lead astray by buying into what others do and not seeking the facts for themselves. Gift of prophecy is still alive and going strong.

Answer 4

No, it isn't real. If you read the part in the Bible where it talks about the Pentecost, the Apostles were supposed to have been suddenly able to speak in real, understandable languages to others around them who weren't able to understand them before--in their own native languages (or "tongues", hence the term.)

Do you really think that you can just somehow "induce" the holy spirit to bestow something like that on you, on command? In church, at the same time as everyone else babbling nonsensically and scaring away anyone else left with a shred of common sense? Seems pretty silly, once you think about it.

Answer 5

I personally have spoken in tongues.

I was in Brazil on a mission for my church. My first day in a certain city someone asked for a blessing. I was new in the country and knew fewer than 50 words in Portuguese. However, the words just flowed during that blessing.

When talking about tongues, you must remember that the apostle Paul taught that we should only speak in other languages if there's someone there who can interpret - otherwise it's just confusion.

Answer 6

It's "real," meaning that people really do it. It's basically a kind of cultivated hysteria. It's (let's face it) generally unintelligent people working themselves up into a frenzy of emotion, with predictably weird results. As the excitement builds, it becomes impossible for them to express the situation in intelligible terms; the wild impromptu babbling is a means of release.

People who have done it could probably recognize themselves in what I've just said, if they were being honest with themselves. (And if they weren't simply "faking" it because it was expected of them, which accounts for the balance of cases of speaking in tongues or "glossolalia.")

It's not really a question of "tongues" at all, of course - these aren't actual languages, but mere strings of nonsense syllables. Analysis of the brain activity of glossolalists shows decreased activity in the language centers and increased activity in the emotional centers (2006 University of Pennsylvania study).

Answer 7

Generally speaking, according to most sources, "speaking in tongues" is the result of a meditative state. The sounds produced are not words, but nonsense syllables.

Answer 8

Speaking in tongues still exists. There are actually two types. Speaking in tongues in assembly is for enlightenment and will be followed by translation. Individual speaking in tongues is used during individual prayer time and is the "groaning" of the Holy Spirit, if-you-will.

Answer 9

If you put things into perspective, tongues is only ONE of the things to cease. So, too, are pastors, prophets, evangelists, teachers, missionaries, apostles.
If you see a need for any of these, then you can see that tongues is to be right there alongside these other things.

Answer 10

Tongues in the Bible were actual languages so that the recipients could understand the gospel. The modern jibberish you hear in some Charismatic or Pentecostals churches is nonsense.