Many Americans say their values and principles are anchored in the Bible…a book that seems to encourage a practice known as “speaking in tongues”. But how can you base your values on a ‘language’ — some say gibberish — that you can’t even understand?
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14 replies on “Speaking in Tongues: Can You Base Your Principles on a ‘Language’ You Can’t Understand”
You hit close to home with this one! My parents were Southern Baptist missionaries, and I grew up with strong faith as well as a strong intellectual framework. (My father got his PhD at 23, both my grandfathers had doctorates, and my mother and both my grandmothers were college graduates.) However, I had very little input as to the Holy Spirit until I was exposed to the Charismatic Movement in 1973. I immediately recognized it as Biblical, but didn’t “receive” until over a year later, in 1974. (Incidentally, I am currently 73.) At the point when I believe I was baptized in the Holy Spirit the only other person in the room was my wife, and I didn’t feel a thing or experience any “manifestations.” However, two days later I abruptly realized that for the first time in my life I was talking to a total stranger about Jesus, and Acts 1:8 came to mind. A couple of months later I did receive the gift of tongues, and have si8nce experienced every one of the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 at least once. As far as tongues specifically is concerned, I have heard an American, in Virginia, who did NOT speak Japanese, saying “Get out! Get out! Get out!” over and over again in Japanese, faster than I could have said it, when dealing with a woman oppressed by a demon. Also, my wife does NOT speak Tagalog, but was once in a prayer meeting with a group of Filipina girls and they became very excited, because she was praying in that language. In our church now (I’m a pastor in Japan) we don’t have tongues in the worship service, but I interpret my own sermons, speaking in Japanese first and then in English. I do exercise the gift of tongues daily, but not in public settings. Occasionally I have asked the Lord to tell me what I was saying, and some of that has blown me out of the water! And I also agree completely with Wayne Morgan!
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a Catholic Charismatic service and I – sadly – don’t remember the admonitions about the use of tongues, but I have personal reasons to believe that it IS for all individuals who seek it, as a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in each individual, and I DO have reason to believe that sometimes a person’s “prayer language” is an actual Earthly language. A friend of ours in Kansas prayed in French, which my wife understood but the friend denied knowing. My late wife’s “prayer language” was noticeably tonal, as if an oriental tongue. I tend to pray in tongues when I don’t know what to say about a situation – but that’s private prayer.
I do have one issue to dispute with Bill. There is ONLY one way to “virtue” and all it signifies, and that’s through Jesus Christ. You don’t get there through Buddha, or Mohammad, or Vishnu or Scientology; you get there through a personal relationship with God thru his Son.
And may I say, AMEN!
I have seen the gift of tongues. This was my take then: I could see the people in the church were absolutely sincere and it was not staged. I had gotten to know some of them and they were good, genuine people. However. What I also observed was that it was the same half a dozen people who, every week, at the end of the service, after 3 or 4 songs that were simple chants, basically, repeated over and over each one maybe half a dozen times, after a whipped up sermon so they were already in a heightened state…these same people would, week after week, either be “slain in the spirit” or “speak in tongues” around 11.50 am. You could watch them get more and more agitated during the course of the service until they had this big cathartic moment. Sometimes someone would “translate”, but who knows? I figured they were hooked on the hysteric release. Sometimes it almost looked orgasmic. I believe something miraculous happened back at the start of the church. But not like clockwork every week. I am very grateful for my friend who brought me back to Christianity. But I’m an orthodox Presbyterian now.
My 2 cents:
There are two circumstances where the Holy Spirit may bestow the gift of tongues. In public and in private. Where in public, it must be accompanied by someone else who translates and the message must be useful, (so things like “She come on a Honda” would fall out of that requirement if that; is the only message). When in private, it is a gift of that brings you intimately close to God while in prayer. It is also important to note that not everyone is given this specific gift, as the Holy Spirit may determine a different gift is more suitable, and it’s all according to His timing. So if an entire congregation proclaims they can all speak in tongues, I’d be very leery.
Regarding the fake televangelists, 2 Peter warns us against false teachers and doctrines:
“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” ~ 2 Peter 2:1 (NKJV)
Do these charlatans do some damage? Sure they do, and in a variety of areas beyond the gifts of the Spirit. But I would argue that most who use their theatrics as an excuse to outright deny Christianity on those grounds are looking for reasons to not follow to begin with. Those that are truly seeking will investigate further or God will put someone or something in their lives to bring them to Him. For God does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance, and He will provide the truth to those individuals one way or another.
That said, not everyone will follow Him. Jesus warned us:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. ~ Matthew 7:13-15 (NKJV) (Bolded emphasis mine.)
So in the end, the fake evangelists don’t bother me much. It can make our job to share the gospel a bit more difficult, but this is just one of the prickly things we signed up for when we decided to follow Him.
Does Bill or Zo have an opinion on what will happen after the resurrection? Will we all speak the same language or will we have eternity to learn a common language, as well as all of the diverse languages of the earth? God loves diversity and I suspect we will not lose those languages, especially the various ways to worship and praise God.
When I saw the title, I was thought, “is this the ‘jump the shark’ video?” I’m constantly amazed how you guys can take anything and make it relevant and fun.
My dad was a Lutheran pastor: not exactly the model of a Pentecostal. However, he was a true man of God who rose early to pray and write. One time he came back from a trip, and confessed to the family that the weirdest thing happened in his hotel room. He had been simply praying his evening prayers when he began to speak in a strange tongue. He said it was like the language of the angels. He had neither asked for or expected it. It never happened again. He never told anyone about it except those gathered at the family table. His hesitancy to talk about it absolutely cemented it’s credibility with me.
Does anyone remember The Wittenberg Door? “I’ma gonna gouge yo eye” and “She come on a Honda.” (examples of what people say when “speaking in tongues”.) Oh man—still makes me laugh.
Oh boy. Here I go. This is an area that I researched heavily years ago, so excuse me if I get a bit (or lot) pedantic. Person “speaking in tongues” was possibly thinking of Romans 8:6 where the Spirit intercedes with groaning beyond words when the prayer has none. I Corinthians 14:27 says only 2 or 3 at most, one at a time and always interpreted. Otherwise chaos could reign, and no benefit occurs except to the speaker. (Which is ok, but not necessarily in the assembly.) Now, there are people who believe you can’t be a true Christian unless you are “filled with the spirit” and speaking in tongues is the only proof. (I’ve run across several.) I Corinthians 12:20 asks if all speak tongues, heal and more. The Greek is in a form that expects an answer along the lines of “Of course not. How silly.” Other Scripture explicitly says people have different spiritual gifts. So that’s out. Just my two cents worth.
Magnificently articulated! Thanks. (1 Cor 2:14– “But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.“)
Recently my cousin lost her husband to an aggressive cancer. It was a horrible death, and in this loss she was grief stricken and found herself longing for her Christian roots that she had put aside when she married decades before.
The church she was invited to by a neighbor was a Happy -Clappy Tongues Talkin’ Pentecostal church that just bowled my cousin over with it’s energy and friendship. Maybe it was what she needed for a while, but then she wanted to join the church.
In order to join the church you had to be saved by Christ, and anointed by the Holy Spirit – evidenced by the speaking of tongues. Obviously the main minister had written a book just for that purpose!! Read the book, get the sign of speaking in tongues, and you’re in.
It was a tough several weeks of discussions with her. She had read the book, done the exercises and meditations, and low and behold!! Had received the Gift of Tongues. How could I NOT SEE THIS WAS THE TRUE PATH TO GOD!!!!!1!1!!!!!
18 months later – She has changed churches after Myself and others helped her get more context on Spiritual Gifts and other Christian Doctrine. She still seems very proud of her gift of Tongues, and is a little sad that me, a long time believer isn’t as excited about it.
Well, she also LOVES CCM – and I’m not a fan, so….
Many years ago, I attended a Pentecostal Church with my (not yet) wife and her grandmother. This particular Church had been founded by her grandparents who were retired ministers. She wanted to give me a fair look at the differences in our upbringings.
During the service, which to me seemed very televangelist-like, one member of the congregation started shouting in what could only be described as gibberish. After the service when my wife’s grandmother was introducing me to the current minister, they were discussing how wonderful it was that sister ______ had been overcome with the spirit. I actually tried to inject Zo’s point that speaking in tongues meant “foreign languages” and sister ______ had not be speaking any discernable language and there was no one present to understand her.
The “minister” glared at me and basically said that my understanding of the bible was not as good as his. I have never spoken about religious issues with the man again; just labeled him as the equivalent of carnival barker in my mind and prayed he does no real damage to his congregation.
But also took the view that Bill noted, it is not for me to tell others how to find a path. Sister _______ was clearly overcome with emotion. If it was good for her, well, fine by me.
That sums it up to me. I was raised in a Christian church, and I still believe what many dismiss as religious hooey. It matters not. All of this “barking” as you call it is akin to the the words in Matthew 6:1-34
“Can you base your principles on a language?” And I was under the impression, Zo, that you were basing your principles on a person–Jesus.
Great segment! TRUTH! 💯✝️