I grew up with an extended family who were intimately involved in a Pentecostal Church here in Melbourne in the 1960’s and 70’s.
I attended services (twice on a weeknight, and twice on a Sunday) throughout my childhood, and got the freaky heeby-jeebies every time I heard someone ‘speaking in tongues’…which happened at least three times at every service!! It spooked me more though when they were having the full-immersion baptismal…not only did they DROWN, but they came up blabbering as well!!
HOWEVER, when I was in my teens, I re-admitted myself to the church voluntarily. After some pre-service counselling, I went for the full hog, and ended up ‘speaking in tongues’ myself. Once. It freaked me out. I never went back.
I went to a Pentecostal church as a child, but I and my family is souhern baptist. I think that speaking in tounges is real, but mostly it is a crock. People that do it again and again at every service either want attention or just truly think that is is happning because they want it to so bad.
I used to visit many churches, I was looking for one I felt at home in. In two different churches (neither of which I call home now) a visiting evengalist and his wife preached. The wife did the exact same speaking in tounges display both times. I mean it was like she was reading a script. On top of that she creeped me out. She came over and touched me on the shoulder and started her lines and I wanted t run out of the building. I felt my skin crawl. I don’t think that tounges are always of God either.
For further information on tounges read 1 Corinthians 14:2-28.
IMHO God would much rather have one man preaching so that the congregation can understand and follow than twenty speaking in tounges. There should always be an interpreter if tounges is being spoke anyway.
Snakescatlady Yep, in my southern baptist church, gotta be old to yell amen. But mine is a cool church, if you are young and yell amen you can get away with it, just as long as it isn’t in tounges. They never even said anyhting about my eyebrow ring. (unusual in my little town). I did raise eyebrows when I wore a mini skirt, fishnets and knee boots once. But they still love me!
That’s not information, that’s faith. astro’s link above is information. His link, however, is much more respectful of the phenomenon than [url=“glossolalia - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com”]what I’d reference.
I don’t get it: the Gospel story of pentecost says that the apostles started speaking, and everyone understood what was said, in their own language. This ‘glossolalia’ stuff is just gibberish-it means nothing to anyone except the person uttering it.
Shouldn’t it e classed as demonic, instead?
I’ve got to admit, I’m an Episcopalian and a former translator. As such, I’ve got very little use for speaking in tongues. Someone’s already cited Paul’s letter to the Corinthians; ralph124c makes a good point about the original Pentecost and one I’ve made a few times myself.
A friend of mine who used to be a Pentecostal Christian can still speak in tongues at will, even though he’s now a Wiccan. He’s tried to explain what it’s like to me and at the time, he did feel filled with the Holy Spirit. I’m afraid, though, to me it’s rather pretentious, aka “Look at how holy I am!” and not of much use. What does it matter what praises I sing or what Truths I reveal if no one can understand them?
Well that is your opinion. I and probably most other Christians would not go to a source like Wikipedia or the like for information on church life or how to run it. That would not make any sense.
Oh and about “Fakin it”. You can. I would speak Greek if I wanted to fake it. Aramaic, oh yeah. But I haven’t gotten though Hebrew yet. But basically any language that is not widely know will do it. The only people who would know what you are up to would be someone like me but I would probably laugh.
Actually, a friend of mine who’s a devout Catholic suggested we go to a Pentecostal type church and I should start reciting the Lord’s Prayer or some other part of the Gospels in Japanese. When someone started to interpret what I said, he’d stand up and say, “No. This is what she was really saying.” I told him only if we had a car parked outside with the engine running.
More realistically, while I may have a problem with speaking in tongues, I wouldn’t be that disrespectful of others’ beliefs.
Of course it is. I’m trying to be nice about it but I’m really contemptuous of the whole fundamentalist movement in general and Pentecostalism in particular. I grew up in it and really believed the whole load of it until I escaped the mindset. Read Karen Armstrong’s The Battle for God for real information. Speaking in tongues is an ecstatic religious experience and nothing more. Period. It’s virtually unknown after Paul’s time for most of Christian history until the fundamentalist movement of the 20th century. It seem absurd to me that this unlearned, informal movement started in the backwaters of rural America and England would tap into some mystical spritual source that has eluded theologians for centuries.
True, but in the context it was brought up, it would be mockery, not debunking, and my religious beliefs outlaw mockery.
Over Christmas, I had a discussion with an acquaintance who does speak in tongues and who was determined to convince me it was a good thing. I, in turn, tried to convince her why I find it anathema, although I stopped short of phrasing it that strongly (diplomacy was required under the circumstances). She didn’t convince me, and, while I hope I made an impact on her, I’m afraid I doubt I did.
Why anethema? Isn’t her speaking tongues, regardless of it’s origin or content, an expression of a love of G-d, a sincere attempt to move closer to Him, and live according to His will?
This entire board is dedicated to debunking people’s beliefs. Personally, I don’t feel that religious beliefs deserve any special respect or delicacy. We’re perfectly comfortable with mocking people who swear by urban legends, but we have to be gentle and considerate when it comes to matters of faith?
Secondly, anyone can call their acts “expression of love for God.” Suicide bombers do it all the time, and believe that they are doing God’s will when they blow up a bunch of unsuspecting people.
Which is why I said earlier that the important thing is how a religious belief or practice effects people. If a particular belief cause adherents to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and watch Monty Python, then that belief is a good thing. If a particular belief causes adherents to start an Inquisition, become suicide bombers, or forward e-mails promising that Bill Gates will give us money, then that belief is a bad thing.
I was in a dinner theater production once where the dressing room backed up to a separate section of the complex where the theater was. There was a Pentacostal meeting going on on the other side of the wall, and I could hear people talking, more like shouting, in tongues. To me it sounded like bedlam. I didn’t hear any “thees” or “thous,” nor any other intelligible word. When I later saw the participants filing out of the room they were using, their eyes were as bright as if they were on some kind of powerful drug. In a way, I guess they were. At any rate, they were one scary bunch. Different strokes, of course, but it sure wasn’t for me.
They never even said anyhting about my eyebrow ring. (unusual in my little town). I did raise eyebrows when I wore a mini skirt, fishnets and knee boots once. But they still love me!
As Sophia once said on the Golden Girls, “Mass should always be done in latin, the language Jesus spoke!”