What really is "speaking in tongues"?

Question

Hmm... to my understanding according to 2Nephi 32:2-5 (my fav. scriptures by the way along with 8-9 in that same chapter ^_^) and Elder Holland's discourse in the last General Conference, it is to speak without harming anyone, speaking and showing your faith, be careful with your words, etc... Am i right?
But according to some questions and answers here it seems like it is something else? like another language or something? hmmm.... what is it all about, am I missing something?

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! ^_^

Answer 1

Well Sister there are both. One of the gifts of the Spirit is The Gift of Tongues (D&C:24) and also The Gift of Interpretation of Tongues (D&C 46:25) Those men and women who go throught the MTC to learn a different language in a very short time excersize these gifts. Without it their missions to far off countries would be quite difficult.
But also, as you mentioned Elder Hollands talk earlier, speaking with the Tongue of Angels is also a form of speaking in tongues.

Answer 2

Elder Holland is obviously avoiding the subject and mis-interpreting the Bible.

Jesus promised in John ch.14-15 that He would send another comforter who would be the Holy Spirit that would lead us into all truth. In Act ch.2 after Jesus ascended the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles and followers some 120 people. They spoke in other languages and many people from other countries heard them praising God in there own native languages and some 3000 people became believers.
I Corinthians ch. 12 the apostle Paul talks about speak in tongues or different languages. Some believe that this is a mystical language that is spoken intuitively as the Spirit leads and others believe that these are just other languages. Therefore there is a debate over what tongues are. Pauls writings seem to imply that it is mystical and intuitive, however, I believe that the issue won't be settled this side of heaven.
I have never heard of your scripture references. If that is one of the Books of Mormon I do not believe you will find any of this debate in them and that's probably why it's all a mystery to you right now. Please get a real Bible and check out the verses I referenced.

Answer 3

1. The ability to learn a foreign language to preach the
Gospel.
2. The ability to communicate very well in any setting, approved by the Spirit.
3. The ability to speak the Gospel in one language and it being understood by someone in another language.
4. Bibble Babble La De Da and waveing your arms about is not speaking in Tongues. It's closer to the hoke poke.

Those are my personal definitions as to what it can be.

Answer 4

The gift to speak in tongues was given to the Christians in the time of the Apostles (Acts chapter 2).

It was in the day of the Pentecost. In that day, there were in Jerusalem jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

You can see here that these men from every nation have different languages.

The disciples spoke the languages of these men and they heard them speaking their native languages. They were amazed.

"And they were all amazed and marveled, saying, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
And how hear we, every man in our own language, wherein we were born? " (Acts 2:7-8)


Now...

If you're hearing people in our time CLAIMING that they have the gifts of speaking of tongue, CONSIDER FIRST, if they REALLY have the gift of SPEAKING IN TONGUES, are the words they're saying being UNDERSTOOD?

------------------------------------------------

1 Corinthinas 14:9

" So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye will be speaking into the air. "

------------------------------------------------

There are groups nowadays who CLAIM it, but they ARE NOT ACTUALLY speaking in tongues. They're saying things which NO ONE COULD UNDERSTOOD. "ghowmd.ghw hdlsdjgsdhola;g".

It's not like that. If someone speaks in tongues and it's a gift from above, people will understand what that person is saying from his native language.

I hope you got the point.


For more information, visit

http://esoriano.wordpress.com
http://www.theoldpath.tv
http://www.truthcaster.com

Answer 5

I have heard stories about people who have gone to see General Conference live that don't speak English. Some of these stories relate that they heard the talks in their own language, even though the speaker was speaking in English.

Answer 6

jb-grilled ham and cheese has a great answer. There is one more that I've heard about. At the Kirtland temple dedication someone (I can't remember who) spoke in a language that almost no one recognized. Joseph Smith said that it was the language of Adam and then I think he translated it. It's been a while since I read about it, so I may be off track a little.

Answer 7

what is probably meant in the text in acts is that the guys started talkin in languages that they had not known before in order to communicate what they had to communicate to people belonging to other cultures and from different countries.

Answer 8

I cannot speak to the Book of Mormon, as I have never studied it.

But I can speak about the evangelical understanding of tongues-speaking as my tradition understands it.

In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, Jews from all over the world (as they knew it at that time) were in Jerusalem. That is very important.

When the Holy Spirit came, one of the things that happened was that those in the upper room began speaking other languages.

Jews from all over the world heard about the wonders of God in their own language by people who did not even speak the language.

Thousands of people believed, and accepted Christ.

The tongues speaking that I have seen in many "pentecostal/charismatic" churches is quite different. Sometimes they will stand up in a worship service and begin to speak in a different language. Typically, it is your own church members there, and you know that no one knows what the language is, or what the interpretation is.

The apostle Paul said he would rather speak five intelligible words in the church than ten thousand in a tongue. He also said to desire the greater gifts.

I believe there are people with the gift of languages, but not in the sense that it is commonly understood by the charismatic tradition.

I believe there are people who have the gift of languages in the sense of being able to tell people from other cultures about the wonders of God, and the greatest wonder of God is Jesus Christ, his life, ministry, death and resurrection.

Which is what they were doing on the Day of Pentecost.

EDITED:

Dreamstuff, I disagree with your last paragraph.

Joel is talking about the Day of the Lord. Peter is saying that with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Day of the Lord is being ushered in by the Holy Spirit.

Another thing it is important to keep in mind is that there are two different words for time in the greek language. One is chronos time, having to do with clocks/sundials, calendars, etc. That is what Dreamstuff is referring to incorrectly.

Another word for time is kairos time. That has to do with events, opportunities, moments. It has been described as "God's time".

God does not operate on chronos time.

God operates on kairos time. Therefore, the assertion that we are in the last days is still very much valid. We have been in the last days for 1900+ plus years (chronos).

God will bring about the final culmination in his time (kairos).

Further, speaking gibberish is not a sign that God loves you. Declaring his wonders (which is what they did on Pentecost), however, is a sign of our love for Him.

Answer 9

In Acts, it was speaking a language you had never studied, as happened on Pentecost.

Answer 10

true speaking in tounges would be someone speaking fluently in a language that they could not know. (i.e. if they were speaking a dialelect that had not been used for hundreds of years)

most of the ones i've seen tho, just start making dumb noises and waving their tounge around.