# What is the point of speaking in tongues? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 29, 2019, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533 "2019-12-29T02:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/21 "2019-12-30T00:18:22Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Clearly, he thought it would be out of my experience and possibly frightening. > > In a low voice, I said it reminded me of the voodoo ceremonies I’d been to, except a lot more low-key and less chicken blood. You should’ve replied to him in Hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/22 "2019-12-30T00:58:34Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > For the record, when people are hypnotized and asked to speak nonsense, if they ever studied a foreign language, they will usually incorporate some of it. > > If they have no foreign language history, their glossolalia will use the most common syllables from their native language. In that particular example, though, the Chinese man was hearing someone (a white person?) speaking in tongues, Cantonese, directed at that Chinese man himself - and the speaker did not even know about that Chinese man in attendance, if I recall correctly. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/23 "2019-12-30T01:00:32Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > I’ve never heard this. When did this interpretation originate? > > ETA: not asking to be antagonistic but am sincerely curious [Here’s the original source, Acts 2:1-13.](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2&version=NIV) The “they” in the first book are the apostles, who were all from Israel (except Peter, the Roman) and so spoke the same language. Those who heard them were from all over the place and heard their own languages. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/24 "2019-12-30T01:12:37Z")
> [@HelenGawn](#): > > [Here’s the original source, Acts 2:1-13.](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2&version=NIV) The “they” in the first book are the apostles, who were all from Israel (except Peter, the Roman) and so spoke the same language. Those who heard them were from all over the place and heard their own languages. The original source? More original than [1 Corinthians 14](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+14&version=NIV)? > [@](#): > > Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue[a] does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. I have a strong feeling Triskadecamus might be a little less than neutral on the “right” interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/25 "2019-12-30T02:08:18Z")
Presumably you want the Pentecostal perspective. (Pentecostals are the subset/offshoot of Evangelicals who believe in speaking in tongues.) While my beliefs differ now, I did grow up in that, so I’ll give my understanding of their perspective–including the Scriptures used to back it up. Essentially, there are two types of speaking in tongues. One is your private prayer language, for use in private, or in the general murmur of everyone praying. This is not for anyone else but you. It is letting your spirit pray without your mind. The scripture usually used for this is Romans 8:26: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” However, the underlying idea is also mentioned in the big chapter on speaking in tongues, [1 Corinthians 14](https://biblehub.com/niv/1_corinthians/14.htm). However, that chapter is primarily concerned with the second form of speaking in tongues: the public prophesy. And, with that form, Paul shares you concerns. Verse 6 says “Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?” Verse 13 follows with “For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.” In fact, in Paul’s instructions about speaking tongues in public are exactly what you thought they should be. Verse 28: “If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.” So, given all of this, you have a private prayer language that is just the Spirit interceding for you when you don’t know what to pray for. This is valuable because it gets our earthly minds out of the way when praying. However, when using it in public, it is 100% true that speaking in tongues is useless without interpretation. And this is exactly how my church practiced it. During worship, people might be relatively quietly praying in tongues in their seat, while music was playing. However, sometimes, the music would quiet down, and someone would shout in tongues, with a message purportedly from God. Everything in the service would stop as everyone prayed to receive the interpretation–often the Pastor would wind up doing it. You didn’t see what you do now, with people up front praying in tongues as some sort of sign of holiness. if pastor started speaking in tongues while praying, he would pull the mic away unless he thought it was for us. Those who use it as a badge of holiness are, in my understanding, misusing it. I don’t know this particular megachurch pastor. But I would suspect they are part of that situation, where they use their speaking in tongues to indicate they are holy and good. I remember a preacher talking about how we should not be misled by those who do this but preach a doctrine contrary to the Bible. We were exhorted from 1 John 1:1: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” All Scripture excepts from the New International Version. That is the one I am most familiar with, though I grew up with the pre-2011 edition. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/26 "2019-12-30T02:33:50Z")
> [@HelenGawn](#): > > [Here’s the original source, Acts 2:1-13.](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2&version=NIV) The “they” in the first book are the apostles, who were all from Israel (except Peter, the Roman) and so spoke the same language. Those who heard them were from all over the place and heard their own languages. That is indeed the original experience. However, it is not the version discussed in 1 Corinthians 14 nor in Romans 8:26. I actually forgot about this form of speaking in tongues, as I’ve only ever heard about it in modern times in easily doubted stories like the one **Velocity** gave. (You know, the ones that could easily be urban legends due to the lack of details.) But, yes, supposedly someone will be able to spontaneously speak in another language, or the Holy Spirit stepped in and translated for them Babelfish/Universal translator style. I’ve heard non-Pentecostal denominations interpreting this as a one time miracle (or at least a rare one only used when God deems it absolutely necessary), and that the “gift of tongues” is just a natural talent for learning other languages. Or even just “the gift of speaking.” However, I would argue that 1 Corinthians 14 suggests that the gift was explicitly about glossalia, which needed an interpretation in an Earthly language. And I believe that was the actual split between Pentecostals and the Evangelicals of the day back in first decade of the 20th century. However, given that these tongue-talking churches call themselves “Evangelical,” it seems that this divide has been healed. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/27 "2019-12-30T02:33:53Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > In that particular example, though, the Chinese man was hearing someone (a white person?) speaking in tongues, Cantonese, directed at that Chinese man himself - and the speaker did not even know about that Chinese man in attendance, if I recall correctly. I’m sorry, are you claiming some sort of actual miracle happened? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/28 "2019-12-30T02:35:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > We were exhorted from 1 John 1:1: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” In point of fact, that’s actually 1 John 4:1. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/29 "2019-12-30T02:39:24Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > In point of fact, that’s actually 1 John 4:1. Yes. Sorry. I got the 1s stuck in my brain. I presume either 1:1 or 4:1 is a verse you know well? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/30 "2019-12-30T02:41:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Yes. Sorry. I got the 1s stuck in my brain. > > I presume either 1:1 or 4:1 is a verse you know well? Yeah, I’m a big fan of 4:1; often pair it with Deuteronomy 13. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/31 "2019-12-30T02:45:54Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Just a data point… When I was in Catholic high school, my freshman religion teacher claimed that he had spoken in tongues in some group setting that included an “interpreter”. The gimmick was that a bunch of seminarians were in a group and were asked to pray in tongues. The seminarians themselves would not understand their own prayers, but the interpreter would translate for them. “You just asked God for… whatever”… An identical technique has been used by some pet psychics. “Fido just told you he wants a big bone and a softer bed.” Unless you understand dogese, how can you argue with that? Gullibility know no bounds. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/32 "2019-12-30T03:03:17Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Glossolalia was very big when I was at Oral Roberts University. They don’t call it Oral for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/33 "2019-12-30T03:52:13Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I’m sorry, are you claiming some sort of actual miracle happened? If he’s talking about the story I think he is, I think it has (like an urban legend) grown in the telling. What I remember is that the person saying they heard words that sounded like spiritual words in their own language. Such could easily be explained by audio pareidolia–your brain wants to make sense of things. I’ve personally thought I heard Hebrew words, particularly Shalom and Shaddai. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/34 "2019-12-30T03:55:57Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Yeah, I’m a big fan of 4:1; often pair it with Deuteronomy 13. Ah, yes. I knew there were Old Testament Scriptures that were relevant, but I couldn’t remember them and my Google search was not working. I also seem to remember a scripture saying you could test a prophecy in a very pragmatic way–did what they say actually come to pass? And did the prophet actually have a record of accurate predictions. I couldn’t find that one, either. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/35 "2019-12-30T04:03:09Z")
As a teenager, I went to church. The church I usually went to once had someone speaking in tongues. I went to a youth church and got weirded out by the speaking in tongues there. Funny how the two “languages” sounded _completely different_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/36 "2019-12-30T04:09:40Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > He later went on to become a cop. I guess the Holy Spirit wanted him to write tickets instead of bringing the Word of God to the world. Surely, in its own humble way, the traffic ticket is akin to the Word of God. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/37 "2019-12-30T04:10:40Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > In high school I fell in with some Pentecostal Catholics who almost had me speaking in tongues. It started as some vocalizations coming from the back of my throat. I stopped it because I could tell I was bullied into it. > > Some years later I drove past an Episcopal church advertising a weekly Pentecostal service. I concluded that a Pentecostal Episcopalian would speak with a Mid-Atlantic accent, like Katherine Hepburn. The Episcopal church probably held their own services on Sunday morning, and rented the facility to the Pentecostal church in the late afternoon or evening. That’s not unusual nowadays, especially with small or beginning congregations. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church in my town even hosted a Presbyterian congregation on Sundays for a while. Anyway, I personally think it’s something people do to show off. I’ve never attended a Pentecostal service, but I’ve heard that some of them can get pretty off-the-wall (at least by my own personal mainstream Protestant experience). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/38 "2019-12-30T05:06:46Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > In that particular example, though, the Chinese man was hearing someone (a white person?) speaking in tongues, Cantonese, directed at that Chinese man himself - and the speaker did not even know about that Chinese man in attendance, if I recall correctly. While I’ll grant that there is something to be said for being “race blind”, I wouldn’t call it a miracle that someone would look at a Chinese man and subconsciously decide to put their Cantonese to use. Or, in the case that it was happenstance, I’ll note that if the white guy had been speaking Japanese, the Chinese guy would never have thought anything about it and there wouldn’t be an internet anecdote about that one time that crazy thing happened. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3nRZhGP5apQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Ping Pong Trick Shots | Dude Perfect") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nRZhGP5apQ) It was all single takes, I swears. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/39 "2019-12-30T06:36:24Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > The point is to con the poor rubes into tithing what little they have. You use your tongue (or in this case, keyboard) purtier than a $20 Whore! ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/40 "2019-12-30T13:05:59Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > So why does the Holy Ghost move people in this way? And why is this gift so common relative to the other ones? LOL. It doesn’t appear anyone tried to seriously address your actual q’s, Monstro. I assume the first is rhetorical? (Unless the SDMB has solved some thorny theological issues while I was away…) As to why tongues (private or public) is such a common gift: Of the seven traditional gifts of the HS, tongues is not even represented. And speaking in tongues is only referenced in a couple of places in the New Testament. So it’s not “common” from a scriptural perspective, in my opinion. WRT to practice in religious sects, it’s common in charismatic-oriented ones because they select out for it. Much of charismatic tradition is built around tongues as a sign of contact with the HS, and people experiencing tongues are attracted to charismatic-oriented groups. Public tongues is not common in non-charismatic circles, and private tongues is, well…private, so therefore not “common” as a public-facing expression. Whatever the neurologic/psychologic basis is, those wired that way are going to feel comfortable in an environment where their experience is not only accepted, but encouraged and reinforced as a positive and appropriate behavior. It’s my personal opinion that xenoglossia never happens and uninterpretable gibberish is an ordinary neurologic event. Because it’s gibberish, it’s also easy to fake for those who happen also to be charlatans. But the grey zone between earnest leaders who are expressing what they believe to be proof of supernatural connections and scammers willing to fake heavenly signs in service of fleecing is a different discussion for GD, I suppose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533.md?page=3)