# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/41 "2019-12-30T14:11:16Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > That is called [glossolalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia). It is not, nor is it supposed to be, a real language. The point is to sound impressive… I was brought up in a pentecostal church (in the U.K.), and I remember being mesmerized by this as a young child. I was given the impression that it was a real language in some sense, it was only when I was older that I realized it was gibberish. It made such an impression that I think can still reproduce the principal sequence of syllables that were repeated over and over again by one particularly “gifted” man, sometimes with slight variation and sometimes interspersed with other “words”: > [@](#): > > Ha-la-ba-ka-la-ba-shun-da He tended to dominate proceedings, and it was notable that other people used variations on his sound patterns, as though they were all speaking the same language. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/42 "2019-12-30T14:54:06Z")
I think Michael Jackson was speaking in tongues at the tail end of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/43 "2019-12-30T15:30:26Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I think Michael Jackson was speaking in tongues at the tail end of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” And this sounds like classic Holy Ghost: > [@](#): > > A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom ---
**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, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/44 "2019-12-30T15:41:03Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I’m sorry, are you claiming some sort of actual miracle happened? I’m simply stating what happened. A Chinese man, who knew Cantonese, went to a church and heard someone (who did not know Cantonese) speaking in tongues - in Cantonese. And those words, in tongues, were directed at this Chinese man. ---
**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, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/45 "2019-12-30T15:53:12Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’m simply stating what happened. A Chinese man, who knew Cantonese, went to a church and heard someone (who did not know Cantonese) speaking in tongues - in Cantonese. And those words, in tongues, were directed at this Chinese man. This is practically the definition of an urban legend. You hear from someone (who?) that someone (who?) somewhere (where?) did something miraculous (when?). I think that if there were really examples of people actually speaking in tongues (I guess God’s language is Cantonese?), then, to answer the OP, the reason is to actually speak with God. Is that the point of your story? Color me skeptical. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/46 "2019-12-30T16:01:41Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’m simply stating what happened… Um… > [@Velocity](#): > > I heard an account that… I need a little more information. If the account came from your sister’s coworker’s hairdresser I don’t think I’d be inclined to revise my skepticism about supernatural claims. If the account came from your uncle’s accountant, who’s also a war hero, then I might have to think again. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/47 "2019-12-30T16:09:54Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Um… > > I need a little more information. If the account came from your sister’s coworker’s hairdresser I don’t think I’d be inclined to revise my skepticism about supernatural claims. If the account came from your uncle’s accountant, who’s also a war hero, then I might have to think again. Can I ask why you put more stock in the war hero account’s tale than the hairdresser’s? Why is one more credible than the other? Cuz I wouldn’t believe such a crazy story no matter who it came from. ---
**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, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/48 "2019-12-30T16:22:56Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > This is practically the definition of an urban legend. You hear from someone (who?) that someone (who?) somewhere (where?) did something miraculous (when?). I think that if there were really examples of people actually speaking in tongues (I guess God’s language is Cantonese?), then, to answer the OP, the reason is to actually speak with God. Is that the point of your story? > > Color me skeptical. To be certain, the story could be false. But even if it was true, figure that 5% of the country goes to church every Sunday, where that church speaks in tongues. They do this year in and year out, but let’s say that we’re only concerned with the last 20 years. In a 20 year period, is It possible for one Chinese man to end up going to church with one person among 5% of the American population? Yeah, it probably happens occasionally. Is it possible for 5% of the population who have lived in the last 20 years to have ever traveled to China, taken Chinese lessons, or memorized some lines from a Jackie Chan flick? Yeah, probably a fair number of them. Is it possible in a 20 year period for those two paths to cross? Sure. But welcome to statistics. Magic not needed. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/49 "2019-12-30T16:23:28Z")
I took **Riemann** ’s post as an illustration of how we are more inclined to believe some unreliable sources more than others, when in fact, neither is necessarily more credible than the other. \ ---
**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, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/50 "2019-12-30T18:40:01Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’m simply stating what happened. A Chinese man, who knew Cantonese, went to a church and heard someone (who did not know Cantonese) speaking in tongues - in Cantonese. And those words, in tongues, were directed at this Chinese man. “Pulu si bagumba!” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/51 "2019-12-30T19:31:42Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I took **Riemann** ’s post as an illustration of how we are more inclined to believe some unreliable sources more than others, when in fact, neither is necessarily more credible than the other. \ Pretty much. Although in this context my intention in the sarcastic enquiry about the details of Velocity’s unsourced “account” was to emphasize that the details could not possibly matter. It’s not as though _any_ conceivable details about the source could validate such hearsay as meaningful evidence of a supernatural event. ---
**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, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/52 "2019-12-30T19:41:25Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > To be certain, the story could be false. But even if it was true, figure that 5% of the country goes to church every Sunday, where that church speaks in tongues. They do this year in and year out, but let’s say that we’re only concerned with the last 20 years. > > In a 20 year period, is It possible for one Chinese man to end up going to church with one person among 5% of the American population? Yeah, it probably happens occasionally. > > Is it possible for 5% of the population who have lived in the last 20 years to have ever traveled to China, taken Chinese lessons, or memorized some lines from a Jackie Chan flick? Yeah, probably a fair number of them. > > Is it possible in a 20 year period for those two paths to cross? Sure. But welcome to statistics. Magic not needed. I think it’s completely feasible that a dual tongue Chinese and English speaker would use Chinese when pretending to speak in tongues to an English speaking audience. It’s also completely feasible that a Chinese speaker could be in attendance. However, **Velocity** ’s claim is that the person speaking in tongues didn’t know Chinese. This leaves a few possibilities: 1. God was speaking through the non-Chinese speaker to the Chinese speaker 2. God’s natural language is Cantonese and was speaking that through the non-Chinese speaker when a native Cantonese speaker happened by 3. It’s an urban legend – either it didn’t happen, or the speaker actually spoke Chinese Hmm, I wonder which is most likely. ---
**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, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/53 "2019-12-30T19:54:00Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > 1. It’s an urban legend – either it didn’t happen, or the speaker actually spoke Chinese > > Hmm, I wonder which is most likely. One notes that, if we assume confirmation bias, if the person said some random nonsense like “Hello, how are you?” Or “I will catch you!” (E.g., a line from a Hong Kong movie.) That we would expect the part which didn’t match the miracle to be dropped from the story. We would also expect that a Chinese person might interpret a few syllables of nonsense as Chinese words, because his brain fills in the blanks. One suspects that, just as ghosts seem to avoid cellphone cameras, and so do people who levitate while practicing yoga, that if the practice of filming your church sessions took off, events like these would somehow fade away. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/54 "2019-12-30T22:02:30Z")
The Bible describes some speaking in tongue events as being understood by everyone (in their own native language) and others as not being understood and requiring interpretation. The Bible makes it clear the purpose of speaking in tongues is for humans to communicate to God (praise & petition) and not the other way around. The idea is to communicate your heart & feelings to God even when you don’t know what to say. Unfortunately in some churches there are people who attempt to pass off speaking in tongues as delivering a message from God. These people may be sincere and may even have a message from God, but it doesn’t work that way in the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/55 "2019-12-31T12:03:59Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > To be certain, the story could be false. But … In a 20 year period, is It possible for one Chinese man to end up going to church with one person among 5% of the American population? Yeah, it probably happens occasionally. > … Is it possible … > Is it possible in a 20 year period for those two paths to cross? Sure. But welcome to statistics. Magic not needed. In all this discussion, the likeliest explanation has been overlooked. The Cantonese man had a piece of tail on the side whom nobody was to know about, and he was under great stress from guilt feelings. His own brain rearranged nonsense syllables into an accusation in his native tongue. I’ll guess the hairdresser may have been aware of all this, but omitted it to maintain the propriety of conversation in her salon. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/56 "2020-01-01T00:48:40Z")
One is filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. One’s lungs explode, spewing syllables. These are holy syllables, beyond human hearing or understanding. Interpretation is optional. Speak, hear, and be transported. Be filled. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/57 "2020-01-01T19:00:43Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’m simply stating what happened. A Chinese man, who knew Cantonese, went to a church and heard someone (who did not know Cantonese) speaking in tongues - in Cantonese. And those words, in tongues, were directed at this Chinese man. We have an avid desire to make sense of everything. Could it be that the Chinese man thought he heard Chinese in the stream of, well, gibberish? Could that be possible? Well? ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/58 "2020-01-01T23:52:30Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > This is practically the definition of an urban legend. You hear from someone (who?) that someone (who?) somewhere (where?) did something miraculous (when?). I think that if there were really examples of people actually speaking in tongues (I guess God’s language is Cantonese?), then, to answer the OP, the reason is to actually speak with God. Is that the point of your story? > > Color me skeptical. But yet it happened. There was an account after all. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/59 "2020-01-01T23:58:50Z")
I don’t know the official justification, though I suspect it varies with context. But I imagine it has psychological benefits. It is basically a method for achieving a trance state, which is similar to deep meditation. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2020, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533/60 "2020-01-02T11:08:35Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I think Michael Jackson was speaking in tongues at the tail end of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” I’m pretty sure you’re joking, but I do see this misconception a lot. Glossalia isn’t skatting. Assuming the person isn’t faking, they aren’t consciously choosing to try and make sounds. The whole reason why religious significance is ascribed to the process is that the person doesn’t feel like they are in conscious control of what they are saying. Relating it to a trance or meditation is not a bad analogy. The brain activity for both aren’t the same. But both tend to involve altered states of consciousness. Glossalia comes when people work themselves into a huge religious fervor. At least, at first. It does seem to be something that comes easier when you’ve done it before. The same is true of trance and meditation–the more you practice, the easier it is to achieve. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-speaking-in-tongues/845533.md?page=4)