Speaking in Tongues?

[onionring]

Sorry to do this…I know there are several other threads already posted on the subject. But having read through several threads on the subject, I found myself with questions un-answered. Please be patient and help me come to an understanding.

First, let me say, I am not from a charismatic background, so I do not currently believe in speaking in tongues in a “common worship” sense.

Let me start by asking one question: What purpose/benefit does speaking in tongues provide (in the worship sense), over not speaking in tongues?

Please be kind and don’t blast me with everything you know on speaking in tongues. If you write a book, it will just confuse me. If at all possible, can we take this one step at a time? Thanks (in advance) for the restraint.

 

[HumbleMan]

Speaking in tongues (other known languages) is a gift that is meant to witness to the unbeliever. Tongues (prayer language) are for the believer to pray in when mere words either do not come to mind or are insufficient in your worship. Both are enabled by the Holy Spirit.

 

[tonya]

Well OR..I may be way off base here, but I personally feel that when you are worshipping and the spirit is moving things just start to happen...the Holy Spirit needs things said so a person speaks in tongues to relay the message...BUT in a worship scene an interpreter needs to be there who can tell the message.
I definitely believe in speaking in tongues in your private time..that is prayer in the spirit just between you and God..and this to me is a gift.

 

[kermit the toad]

I wonder about this also. On a related note, I always thought that speaking in tongues didn't mean speaking in "another language" so to speak, but rather that when someone is speaking in tongues whoever is listening will hear thier own language coming out of the person's mouth. I got this idea from this passage:

ACTS 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. (KJV)

Perhaps my interpretation is wrong, but that is how I understood it.

 

[rhemarob]

For me speaking in tongues helps me to pray things out of my spirit, things that I don't even know about in my physical mind, I'm sure I have many needs and others have many needs that I am unaware about in the physical but my spirit knows what needs to be prayed.

In a worship sense, its easier for my spirit to "hook up" sometimes than it is for my physcial mind/senses to hook up since spirit worships Spirit easier than carnal mind worships Spirit.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[adamdavid]

Here is what I have found...
When praying to God in English (or whatever your native language happens to be...), you are limited by a set number of letters and words... in english, you are stuck with a mere 26 letters... I have found that the sounds and words I can make by combining these 26 letters does not come even close to describing how I feel about how amazingly wonderful God is... have you ever had one of those moments where you just stand before God and cant think of any words to say, because they are all just so... blah? God is so far beyond the english language (he's beyond all the other things of earth... why not our vocabulary?) He is so absolutely amazing, that not even the most superlative adjective can begin to describe him... this is where tongues come into play... where some people just become flustered by a lack of words (and others settle for words that arent accurate enough to satisfy the level of praise their spirit wants to give to God...), I just stop letting my mind control my mouth, and my spirit takes over... it is allowed to speak the language God gave to it... the limitless language... not some dumb language man created that limits my soul to 26 dumb letters and something-thousand lousy, pathetic words basically, speaking in tongues (in the sense of private worship, not edification...) just allows your spirit to speak directly to God's spirit, without having to have your mind and logic (which are both, no matter how "spiritual" you think you are, completely incapable of coming anywhere close to understanding God...) mess it up...

hope that helped at least a little bit... perhaps someone else can explain it a lil' bit better??? anywho...

blessings,
AdamDavid

 

[onionring]

Speaking in tongues (other known languages) is a gift that is meant to witness to the unbeliever. Tongues (prayer language) are for the believer to pray in when mere words either do not come to mind or are insufficient in your worship. Both are enabled by the Holy Spirit.

I believe in the first…as a miracle/gift. Not in the second. I don’t understand in what situation would mere words not be enough.

 

[adamdavid]

Aww, shucks... I thought I was going to be able to be the first to reply... (when I started typing, no one else had posted anything...) how sad... i guess i'm just a lil' bit slow...

 

[muffler dragon]

There are two purposes to tongues:

1) corporate
2) personal

If you want to take small steps on this, that is fine. Just let me know how and when you would like to continue.

 

[rainbowprism]

Ever start to pray and you just don't realize what to say? That's when I speak in tongues because I feel as if whatever is on my heart (even if I dont' realize if something is) will be spoken for. Sometimes in praying you unconsciously self-edit yourself and keep yourself from 'spilling it'. I can understand the praying in tongues thing might seem very odd to you, to be honest I was really freaked out when it happened to me because I myself didn't know whether or not to acknowledge it. Well I have found after praying in tongues that I feel very peaceful afterwards and closer in my relationship with God. I hope this helped.

Bless you!

 

[onionring]

Well OR..I may be way off base here, but I personally feel that when you are worshipping and the spirit is moving things just start to happen...the Holy Spirit needs things said so a person speaks in tongues to relay the message...BUT in a worship scene an interpreter needs to be there who can tell the message.
I definitely believe in speaking in tongues in your private time..that is prayer in the spirit just between you and God..and this to me is a gift.

Why can’t God talk to people without speaking in tongues? Why the use of this? And why in private prayer time? The benefit is what? You feel good? I can see that would be nice, yet if it were a gift from God, I would imagine it service a purpose that some other established thing (normal prayer/communication) does not.

 

[kermit the toad]

Here is what I have found...
When praying to God in English (or whatever your native language happens to be...), you are limited by a set number of letters and words... in english, you are stuck with a mere 26 letters... I have found that the sounds and words I can make by combining these 26 letters does not come even close to describing how I feel about how amazingly wonderful God is... have you ever had one of those moments where you just stand before God and cant think of any words to say, because they are all just so... blah?

When I have those moments, I tend to say something along the lines of, "I don't know what to say or what the right words are, so listen to the prayers in my heart. You know those things I am unable to put into words, those are the truest prayers of all, so please listen to them."

Of course, this is--essentially--doing the same thing that you are doing when you speak in tongues. We just go about it in two different ways.

By the way, thanks for explaining the concept of speaking in tongues. It makes a lot of sense the way you said it. Letting your Spirit speak instead of your mind, very well said.

 

[onionring]

… On a related note, I always thought that speaking in tongues didn't mean speaking in "another language" so to speak, but rather that when someone is speaking in tongues whoever is listening will hear thier own language coming out of the person's mouth. ...

This is my belief also.

 

[rhemarob]

Well OR..I may be way off base here, but I personally feel that when you are worshipping and the spirit is moving things just start to happen...the Holy Spirit needs things said so a person speaks in tongues to relay the message...BUT in a worship scene an interpreter needs to be there who can tell the message.
I definitely believe in speaking in tongues in your private time..that is prayer in the spirit just between you and God..and this to me is a gift.

Tongues prayed in private are between you and God, tongues in worship are allowable as long as you are speaking in a "corporate sense" such as the entire assembly is praying/worshipping together some in tongues some not.

If you were to say stand up in church and speak in tongues in front of the congregation then it must be interpreted or would be considered to be out of order.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Ever start to pray and you just don't realize what to say? That's when I speak in tongues because I feel as if whatever is on my heart (even if I dont' realize if something is) will be spoken for. Sometimes in praying you unconsciously self-edit yourself and keep yourself from 'spilling it'. I can understand the praying in tongues thing might seem very odd to you, to be honest I was really freaked out when it happened to me because I myself didn't know whether or not to acknowledge it. Well I have found after praying in tongues that I feel very peaceful afterwards and closer in my relationship with God. I hope this helped.

Bless you!

Okay, what if (like me) you seem to be too freaked out to even "accept" the gift if, indeed, it is a gift you are supposed to have? I guess I'm trying to discern if it is a gift I am meant to have, or if I am getting in the way of having it, but I am supposed to have it.

Did that make sense?

 

[kermit the toad]

How can someone interpret Tongues? If it is beyond "mortal" language, how can it be translated into normal language? Also, is there a "correct" way to speak Tongues--a certain grammar and syntax--or is it merely "gibberish" (for lack of a better word) that has no meaning except to God and the person speaking it?

 

[onionring]

Tongues prayed in private are between you and God, tongues in worship are allowable as long as you are speaking in a "corporate sense" such as the entire assembly is praying/worshipping together some in tongues some not.

If you were to say stand up in church and speak in tongues in front of the congregation then it must be interpreted or would be considered to be out of order.

Ok...I was going to try and answer everyone...alas...I type to slow.

But I think you have got it narrowed down.

I understand "how one could speak in tongues" ... simple ... gift from God. That is an easy “Sunday-school answer”.

Yet, I believe, God has purpose in His gifts. Speaking in tongues in personal prayer? I guess I never really understood prayer to be a spoken thing. Always thought of if as a heart-to-heart. So, hence, my lack of understanding for the proposed spoken “angelic” language. Why does God bless us with a spoken language for prayer if spoken language is not really apart of pray?

And in the sense of speaking in tongues in a congregation, with interpreters…why does God need to do all of that? I can understand in rare instances were God needs people attend…yet to say “God is going to bless this church and the people in it if they give freely.” Seems overkill, to an already understood biblical concept.

 

[onionring]

How can someone interpret Tongues? If it is beyond "mortal" language, how can it be translated into normal language? Also, is there a "correct" way to speak Tongues--a certain grammar and syntax--or is it merely "gibberish" (for lack of a better word) that has no meaning except to God and the person speaking it?

Interesting point. I guess that is really were I come into problem believing in speaking in tongues. God sent Jesus to die for our sins to "cut out the middle man". Allowing us once again to be holy and communicate/worship Him the way He created us to.

Seems rather odd, that He would re-establish indirect communication (needs to be interpreted) as a blessing over our newly establish direct communication,....which He established by having Christ die for us.

Seems to cheapen Christ's established direct communication of prayer.

 

[wonder111]

actually speaking in tongues is what brought me closer to the understanding of Christ. I was always praying to God, and God as I understood Him was the most important part of my life. I was struggling with some serious issues at one point in my life and I was praying so hard, at that moment I felt God's presence and extreme love come over me and fill the room, at that moment I couldn't help myself, these words just came out, it was so incredible I was crying and laughing at the same time. I didn't know what speaking in tongues was, but I thought whatever I was doing sounds ridiculous. My conscious mind was embarrassed, but I couldn't help it. A month later, a friend of mine began talking to me about speaking in tongues and I found out that it sounded the same and I knew without a doubt that's what I was doing that evening.

sorry if I posted this before, it's just that the experience pretty much changed my life and my whole way of thinking

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I have come to believe that there were actually 3 kinds of tongues that are mentioned in the Bible:

1. The manifestatoin in Acts Chapter 2, which was a one time miracle where men began to speak in languages they did not know but were known to the hearers. There was no interpretation needed or given! The hearers understood the languages as they were spoke. This is not the same tongues that we see in churches today. It can happen, but it is a miracle and not the manifestation of "diversities of tongues".

2. The Holy Spirit enabled "diversities of tongues" which is the ability to speak in unknown languages and then have those languages interpreted for all to hear. These languages may be human or angelic... but they are not known to those in the congregation and need to be interpeted for all to understand. The source of this is the Holy Spirit and only those with this gift can manifest and then only when the Holy Spirit gives utterance.

3. Private prayer tongues, used by the individual to edify himself, speak to God, and (if there is an interpeter) the congregation. The source of this is the Spirit of Christ in us all. We can all do this whem moved by our compassion and zeal.