Speaking in tongues Real, or BS?

I'm jumping on this late and it may have already been said but I'd rather hear 1 word that I can understand than a thousand that I can't.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Wow. I only got halfway through that wall-o-crap........

What a bunch of nonsense.
Absolute nonsense.
Keep your women silent? Listen to the gibberish made-up "interpretations" by two or more men?

You've got to be kidding....yet, I know you are not.

Hence: Uerm, no, thank you.
I'm withdrawing from your class. Waste of my time. Do whatever with your life, however, and Godspeed!

a reply to: St Udio

My pleasure!!!!

It's how I healed the pain in my heart.

Where else but organized religion will you hear gibberish? Just another trick in their bag to fool people into following them.

Its not evidence of anything. The spirit isn't about spoken words, intelligible or not.

originally posted by: intrptr

Where else but organized religion will you hear gibberish? Just another trick in their bag to fool people into following them.

Its not evidence of anything. The spirit isn't about spoken words, intelligible or not.

You're quite the fool if you think gibberish is confined to organized religion. Of which, of course, there is no doubt.

In fact your statement itself, if you are not a part of organized religion, which I infer you are not, is proof in and of itself that gibberish exists elsewhere. In fact you just proved your own (gibberish) words as totally false.

a reply to: SlapMonkey I'm in that boat with you. My deeply religious southern Baptist parents take the bible as seriously; literally, it really happened. I keep reminding my mother she is too intelligent but her upbringing has a strong hold on her.
On another note, I attended a revival, tiny white Baptist church deep in the middle of Georgia, with a friend from high school. During the sermon her cousin who as sitting next to me, promptly stood up shaking, crazily spitting out crazinees, and then a person on the otherside of the church started his own preaching. My friend explained the person speaking English was interpreting her cousin. The whole crowd seemed to stand; gyrating and preaching. I immediately told my friend "Im outta here."

I felt safer out in that dark night in the boondocks than I did with the crazies. My family was deeply religious, Southern Baptists but did not speak in tongues or believe it was from God. I have no idea as an adult as to religious organizations, but enough to know its not for me.

a reply to: JarofRice

Christians may not be of the world in the sense that we are not to be worldly and immersed in it to the exclusion of our spiritual lives, but we still must live in it.

Jesus sent his apostles out into the world with the intent that they try to convert as many as possible to Him. If they were successful ... then the world would be His world, so what then? How do you avoid the world?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: JarofRice

Christians may not be of the world in the sense that we are not to be worldly and immersed in it to the exclusion of our spiritual lives, but we still must live in it.

Jesus sent his apostles out into the world with the intent that they try to convert as many as possible to Him. If they were successful ... then the world would be His world, so what then? How do you avoid the world?

Your argument is answered by Jesus himself. When he prayed to his Father before he died:

"I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them, because they are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world. “I do not request that you take them out of the world, but that you watch over them because of the wicked one. They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world." John 14:14-16.

Also this is pure worship that is undefiled by God:

"The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world." (James 1:27).

So while in the world, his followers, just as he was, are no part of the world. And that is why God must protect them, because they are not of this world, the world hates them. Because if they were of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own:

"If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you." - John 15:19.

In any event, this world and is desires along with it is passing away. Why oppose God and love the world? Why pledge your allegiance to a corrupt system in Satan's control? Or did you not know that by trying to be a friend of the world, its wars, its divisions, its racial hatreds, its rebellions, its lusts, its sins, its politics, you are putting yourself down on record as an enemy of God:

"Adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is making himself an enemy of God." - James4:4.

"Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but the one who does the will of God remains forever." - 1 John 2:17.

a reply to: JarofRice

I don't disagree with what you say, but I must point out again that we still must live IN this world until He comes for us.

There is a difference between being IN the world and being OF the world. The two are different words with different meanings. I invite you to remove yourself entirely from the world. The very fact that you are able to post what you are on the Internet says to me that you have not. I'll bet you still work IN the world, you likely have friends or family IN the world, and all this while you maintain your heart and soul for Him which keeps you from being OF the world.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: JarofRice

I don't disagree with what you say, but I must point out again that we still must live IN this world until He comes for us.

There is a difference between being IN the world and being OF the world. The two are different words with different meanings. I invite you to remove yourself entirely from the world. The very fact that you are able to post what you are on the Internet says to me that you have not. I'll bet you still work IN the world, you likely have friends or family IN the world, and all this while you maintain your heart and soul for Him which keeps you from being OF the world.

Agreed. There is no doubt about that. There is a HUGE difference between being in the world as we all are, and "a part of the world" and its political system of things in Satan's control.

I must apologize, I took your argument as an excuse to turn your back on God's kingdom government and support the politics of this wicked world ruled by Satan.

a reply to: JarofRice

You're quite the fool if you think gibberish is confined to organized religion.

They tongue lash all day long in the church of state, too. I have proof…

a reply to: network dude

The correct question should be what is speaking in tongues?

Is it glossolalia or something else? I don't believe in glossolalia but I do believe in speaking in tongues. Here is an example of what speaking in tongues means to me.

Example - Speaking in Tongues

"The Christ within will light your path as you wander through Pan's labyrinth on your way to the shore of enlightenment"

What does that mean?

Interpretation

Eveyone in this world struggles to find a balance between right and wrong, good and evil, pleasure and purpose. Our actions come with consequences. The path to enlightenment is the path of the virtuous. Follow your good conscience and you will overcome all of your obstacles on the path to God. For a virtuous man has nothing to fear in Godly matters.

This is speaking in tongues and interpretation. Because I would rather speak one intelligent word that you understand then 10,000 spoken in spiritual metaphors that you don't understand.

Glossolalia - Fake

The tounges of angels and men - Real
Spiritual Metaphors understood only by those who have studied the spiritual. And often misunderstood by those who claim to be spiritual.

a reply to: network dude
Long story short, there are both a yes and a no answer.

Biblically, speaking in tongues definitely occurs - I believe is directly recounted in six or less passages, and always with a non-native speaker of the language directly witnessing to other people present who did not speak or understand his native tongue (so for sharing the word with others they couldn't otherwise directly communicate with).

Aside from the subject-to-interpretation passages by Paul always provided, there are no biblical accounts of people falling into ecstacy and spouting what can otherwise only be interpreted as gibberish by others present.

I cannot lend any credence to what is called "speaking in tongues" today as it seems to serve no purpose other than self-glorification for supposed infilling by the spirit. It had a practical purpose when it happened in the bible.

originally posted by: FlyInTheOintment
a reply to: network dude

Hi ND,

Interesting to see this come up as a topic on ATS, I must admit I was surprised to see it, and further surprised to see that it was you that was asking!

As for the topic at hand - speaking in tongues. Yes, it can be faked, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes consciously. For me personally, I do pray in tongues, but I consider it a private affair. In fact, in the apostolic writings of St Paul, he admonishes people to pray in tongues only when in a small gathering, or independently - he basically says it's not something you should be doing when the church gathers as a congregagtion - unless someone is willing to attempt an interpretation of what was spoken, which is a far less common spiritual gift.

When I begin to pray, I do so quietly, and I tend to find that the language sort of wells up, like the rolling in of a wave, it gathers intensity & the content varies more interestingly as the devotional time passes. I can find it quite stirring at times, and indeed it can feel like a fire in the heart/belly, a strengthening of the inner man, an awareness of the movement of power in the spirit.

As for these pentecostals, I have issues with some of them, which extend to the type of sermons that are preached too. I tend to see that the tongues appear faked in sermons where the pastor keeps asking if people have "..faith to give me a thousand dollars, and see God pour out an abundance of prosperity upon you/ your home/ your business", and so on. Many pentecostals are fine, but it comes down to individual discernment really. Discernment of spirits is another of the apostolic spiritual gifts, and it is wise to assess the spirit of a ministry before committing to join in.

My two cents.

You gave a good explanation. Speaking in tongues is one of the gifts given by God. Same as the gift of healing, teaching, etc. It's no better, no worse than any other gift. And you are correct when saying that an interpreter should be present when speaking in tongues in a public church service. If there isn't, it shouldn't be done.

It's complete BS. It's pretty much psychological. Kids grow up seeing other people doing things like this during a ceremony and they copy it and just act silly because they are in a crowd of others doing the same and want to fit in. Normally this would be the time to visit a shrink, but to these folks it is perfectly acceptable to act like a complete jackass and speak in incomprehensible gibberish out of sheer emotion. Honestly, these are the types of Christians that don't belong with the rest. The amount of brainwashing they do to their children is absurd.

I highly recommend the movie "Jesus camp" if you haven't seen it. It is a documentary that shows what exactly goes on in these communities and it's downright pathetic what they force on their kids.

Seriously, what "tongues" are they speaking in? Can any of it be traced to any actual words in any language? Nope. It's just emotion taking over. Calling incomprehensible babble a gift from god, is like claiming dementia/mental retardation is god's way of fulling integrating a person to Jesus.

a reply to: ketsuko

we still must live IN this world until He comes for us.

*sigh*

He's not coming, ket. He's not.

Death is coming - and afterwards the next level of soul-classes - one day you'll graduate, but there will be "NO return of Jesus." You have to make your way to him. He is not coming to save you. And "He" is not a "he", a person.
It's all on you. Your journey - no rescue squad - no Holy Posse - just you and your choices, regardless of the consequences.... No "Jesus God" is coming back here to save you.

It's up to you.
Get a grip.

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

So when you pray in tongues, are you also thinking in tongues?

Genuine question.

When I pray in tongues, I can think in my own language, but I get a tremendous spiritual feeling as well.
I have on occasions where it would be inappropriate to speak out loud, found that I can mentally pray in tongues too. I also have control over speaking in tongues as well, I can stop or start at will, although sometimes I do feel that I want to continue and so I do.

I have an ear for languages, and I can assert that in 1988 I heard a preacher speaking in tongues, and although I didn't understand his utterances, I remembered and made note of certain "words" with regard to their pronunciation, syllables, etc., for future reference.

In 2013 I heard another totally unrelated preacher utter at least one of these words at a church service. The word (approx) was "robobosan". I have no idea what it means but it seems unlikely two different preachers decades apart would utter the same fairly complicated word unless it was a real word in some language somewhere.

I say the gift of tongues is authentic, but much more study needs to be made.

a reply to: DrogoTheNorman

It's gibberish. When you analyse language, looking for sense, you start with identifying things like verbs and nouns, they typically show up in syntactic doctrinal system. Listening for language in Pentecostal babel is like trying to make sense of a 3 months old baby, it's gibberish, nonsentical and well, it's mass-psychosis and not something you would be doing if you are looking for sense. It may have some undisclosed health benefits, but then again lobotomy has health benefits....