Speaking in Tongues-Sacred Language of Ascension, Holy edification, or Foolish Babble?

[lorenzo neal]

Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ. I wish to address an issue that I have encountered since before I ever entered ministry as a child and that is the issue of speaking in tongues (glossolalia). I don't wish to argue whether it is a contemporary gift or a cessational gift. My argument is one that I have frequently heard by so many practicioners (including myself), that being that speaking in tongues is a language not understood by man but God for self edification alone. The more I studied that line of argument, the more similarities I saw with other Hebrew Mysticism and other Eastern Philosophical practices of attaining spiritual enlightment. Taking into consideration Paul's admonition in I Corinthians 14 concerning the practice of tongues among believers (including women as alluded to in vs 34) what is the real relevance of tongues for the contemporary church.

My question to those of you who are willing to enlighten or be enlightened is whether this practice is intended to allow one to ascend into the Heavenly of Heavenlies, make one into a super Christian or is it simply an ancient practice of psychosomatic babble that releases unnecessary spiritual forces upon a person therefore causing some of the erractic behavior displayed by some people. Please share your insights.

[James Pierce]

The gift of tongues is the ability to speak other worldy languages. Jibberish bable that we hear today, mainly from pentecostals and apostolics, are just their own psychological excitments. The tongues of the New Testament were actual, earthly languages that could be understood.

[James Pierce]

LOL LOL heee nnaaaaa bumba la shando... ma hacienda hola como estas.. He's coming on a honda..

Ach Moreh, you said interpret,"Yaaabbabbaabba…ma honda? it means," im going up Yonder!

[lorenzo neal]

This is a very spirited debate as I anticipated, but my friend, your attempts to justify a metaphysical, psuedopsychological, and in some case down right outrageous babble coming across as tongues in the church is highly unsubstantiated. I'm saying this as one who has practiced it ( I supposedly learned my tongues by reciting letters that turned into a language not even I could interpret), taught it in ignorance (while still much younger and trying to be famous) and just learned better.

I agree that there are times that God uses persons to speak in languages that other people understand (as a missionary to Haiti and Africa, I witnessed this) and there is the gift of tongues according to the Holy Spirits dispensation and will. The reality is that most of what occurs in churches is unbiblical babble and scripturally unjustifiable. But then again, I guess it has become a language because even the unsaved seem to be able to imitate and in some cases fluently speak and interpret what they say...lol

[lorenzo neal]

actually no. That was a response to a guy debating you earlier concerning tongues. My apologies

[Anointed Cogic Boy]

Amen MarQMarvelous the word is always is right...the bible isn't for peoples own interpretations. Too many people try to interpret things of the spirit naturally and not spriritually.

[James Pierce]

I think its a mixture of Swahili & Arabic. Shando Ma Handa means," Shampoo my Honda."

[James Pierce]

Babbling the way Pentecostals, Apostolics, and even Baptists do, is in no way scripture. The tongues of Acts 2, the original tongues, were actual earthly languages.

They was not walking around asking for the shampooing of their hondas(shando ma handa), and they did not chant He-man's name(Hee naaa maaan)

Thats NOT biblical tongues. Biblical tongues are the ability to speak EARLTHY languages without the instruction of a human.

Also, the main purpose of speaking in tongues was to spread the Gospel in areas, preferrably, where they did not speak Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew.

So, biblical tongues are earthly tongues.