Tongues is an articulate and expressive language, although unlearned and not understood by the speaker. Actually many foreign languages sound like gibberish to us, yet those speakers understand each other. No conversational language is strictly formal and one can speak just a couple of words and his meaning can be clearly understood.
Does a foreign language sound like gibberish to us?? No, it sound like a foreign language to us! I might think some foreign language sound pretty funny, but they are still virtually always recognize as some foreign language. You don't start supposing someone is drunk because they are speaking to each other in a foreign language, and especially if you expected it. With people from many different nations at that time of the year, people would have come to expect people talking to each other in a foreign language! Yet Peter had to get up an explain so some that the people speaking in tongues and hearing each other in their own language (and it does clarified them as "devote") were not drunk as they supposed?
Acts 12,13 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine
It is a real language, not gibberish.
It is used for prayer to God and not to anyone else.
It is what Paul and Jude describes as praying "in the Spirit".
It does not "burst" out of a person.
The person uses his own mouth and voice to speak the unlearned language.
So it tongues only used for prayer to God and not to anyone else?
I believe it mostly is, but why then did God have them all hearing in their own language and why did Paul insist on an interpretation. And indeed why did Paul writing that the one praying in tongue pray that he might interpret. An interpretation, by it's definition is making others aware of what is being said, and in this case making not only God but others, so not only to God and not anyone else!
Is it true to say that "It does not "burst" out of a person? There are times when I find that is what tends to happen. I certainly have ability to exercise some control, but often the Spirit comes upon me when I don't expect Him to and I get a manifestation of tongues. It does not usually happen when other people are around, but it does sometime happen. In Acts (and tongues should up there, though also discuss in 1 Corithians, so don't try to exclude part of the Bible, it's all important)...
You seem to be stuck on the Acts event, where I am talking about Paul's teaching in
1 Corinthians 14.
...In Acts the Spirit fell like tongues of fire. That effect is interesting, because that is how it fell upon me when I got the gift. And when it just seems to "burst" out I tend to get that fire in my chest. There is something written about being Baptize with the Spirit and with fire!
Jer 19:9 But if I say, "I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.
So we can even go back to Jeremiah and see that God using the Spirit to bring a fire upon us to speak when we are trying to hold something in. And this is interesting to me, because as God does the work He does in me I get a greater understanding about God and the Bible ties together better.
Now I am not saying everyone got baptized with fire at this point, but there is still the promise of the baptism of the Spirit and with Fire. So perhaps someone got the baptism of the Spirit, and thus the gift of tongues, but did not get that baptism of fire which causes us to speak out even when we are saying to ourselves we will not speak out.
Anyway, from my experience, I did get 'fire' when I got the gift of tongues. And that fire tends to cause me to speak or perhaps I could say "Burst out", in tongues. That does mean I can not exercise any control, even control as Paul writes about in 1 Cor, but remember Paul said 'do not forbid speaking in tongues' but that it should be done orderly and with an interpreter and that the person praying in tongue should ask for the interpretation.
Now in my about 20 years since I got the gift, I have at times been at quiet a few churches. It's not that I have jumped around a lot, but the Lord has taken me to visit or for a purpose. Mostly they have been Charismatic, but not exclusively. In each church there seems to be a different way of handling the gifts of the Spirit! Paul wrote to many earlier Christian churches, and seemed to find some problem with all of them. John too.
Personally, I was generally ok with all of them that I went to, though I don't think any of them were using the gifts like I think should be done. Even the church that God has asked me to attend for the last ten years, does not use and apply the gifts anywhere close like I believe they should be. There is no "bursting out" in tongues on display at the church I go to. It's a kind of conservative Charismatic church. The gifts are used in back rooms and perhaps small groups. It is certainly not like the church at Corinth! And honest, it does seem like tongues is forbidden (at least by general consent and peer pressure) in the main service. I have never hear tongue or interpretation in the main service. That is not what Paul was saying either, was it.
And you know what? The Spirit does not cause that fire to come on me in the main service either..???
In the elevator at the church is another matter. I don't know how many times I have been riding the elevator at my church when the Spirit hit me with fire and tongues and it just burst out!!!
The problem I have in general is the blanket statements that appear to limit God!!!
Statements like "It is used for prayer to God and not to anyone else." That may be mostly true, but don't limit God and especially when the Bible clearly explains that it was used that way. It might be to God and is certainly from being lead by the Spirit, but others might also need to know what is being said in the Spirit, and that other maybe you.
Also I don't like "It does not "burst" out of a person." Maybe it doesn't burst out in you, but that does not mean the Spirit can not cause it to burst out in others!!
We try to limit God with our understanding, and that is especially true when we lean on our understanding of the Scriptures instead of taking the Scriptures to the Lord and asking Him about them.
The Lord once told me, "Karl, don't put Me in a box, not even a Bible box." Is it not written that if all that Jesus did was written down that perhaps the whole earth couldn't contain it. But we always want to make rules according to our understand, when we need to be pointing people to Him. That bothers me.