General Chat

Hi Heather, Several of us at work used to get together for a weekly lunch time prayer meeting/informal service with the Chaplain, and in this context when all sorts of spiritual questions were discussed, it was clear what he meant about the use of 'tongues' being important to his work. It was an enabling tool in his daily work for Christ, enabling him to pray in the most effective way possible (ie, with words given to him by the Holy Spirit - even though he didn't understand the language himself.) I understood that he also saw the phenomenen as a protection spiritually in that environment, in the same way that a good pair of boots took care of his feet (as he tramped miles of landings and concrete stairways!) You're right too, in that he did have a good ability to communicate with people, but that was a natural gift. Joyxx

Nope sorry guys, dont get it. How can you pray if you dont know yourself what you are saying? How do you know you havent been possessed by a spirit and are saying blasphemous things?. How can it help you or anyone else if you are saying words that mean nothing to anyone??? Why would God want you to speak what was nonsense to everyone? The Babel Tower was being built by persons who believed they could reach heaven and be god like. God destroyed the tower, gave people different languages (as now) and then dispersed them round the globe. In this way they were separated and unable to collude in the activities which were offensive to him.

Years ago when I was a student nurse,we were in the operating theatre,cleaning it after an operation.There were a few of us chatting away as we were working and suddenly one of the women started to speak in gobbledegook for want of a better word ,for several minutes.When she'd finished someone asked her what that was and she said she was speaking in tongues and most people gave her a very wide berth after that.I asked her later why she did it and she said that sometimes you wanted to say something to God and there aren't enough words in your own language so you speak in tongues. Someone told me later that when someone speaks in tongues there should be someone there who can interpret it.

Hi Wendy that must have been a bit of an odd experience! As you can tell I am not in the slightest bit embarrassed or ashamed by the things God does or asks me to do, but even so I wouldn't just suddenly start praying in tongues in the midst of a group of people , unless I was at a prayer meeting! There is always a case for sensitivity and wisdom. The only reason I might do what this lady you saw did, was in dire circumstances, if there was a terrible accident or someone had a heart attack, and I needed to pray quickly and urgently! Denise

Hey Heather I am not at all surprised you don't get it! It is so outside of earthly human understanding, that it's one of those things you can't really get your head round till you experience it. And even then, no-one really understands, more accepts. Its a bit like I don't have any real understanding of how a rocket flies to the moon, but I accept it is possible because people have done it! Will answer your other questions in a bit- got to pop next door with birthday card! D

Hi again Heather, You've asked a good question and probably Denise is better able to answer than I am, but what I believe is that a Christian cannot be possessed by evil as they belong to Christ. They would have received the gift of speaking in tongues in a Christian context. In any case, my understanding is that spirit possession is rare and only happens if someone, unwittingly or otherwise opens a door to it by meddling with the occult. Wendy, I can well imagine how alarming it must have been to hear that lady babbling away to herself like that!

Hello everyone - what a good thread Denise has here. We don't practice speaking in tongues in our church, so unlike Denise I am not able to explain this wonderful gift God has given. We have many friends who do practice and they themselves admit that an interpreter will understand more of what they have said than they do themselves but the joy from feeling so close to our Lord is a wondrous pleasure beyond explanation. Going back to the Babel line, before the tower was even created, God had told the people to spread out into the earth and 'increase in every corner'. So you see when they started to build the tower to reach heaven in the hope of seeing God, they were being disobedient and so God 'confounded' their speech in order that they would not understand each other - the result was why stay around if you can't understand - and so they were scattered abroad upon the face of ALL the earth. I oftened wondered before coming a christian why or how there were so many nations, creeds, colours, languages amongst the people of the earth, I now wonder, is it a result of the scattering of the people from Babel. Very often we wonder why God does or allows things to happen. We must remember His ways and thoughts are far beyond our imaginings and we must accept that he knows what is best for us at all times, even tho' sometimes it may not seem like it at the time. Dorothy

Nope, sorry, from all my understanding this is just not acceptable to me. You may not be able to understand how a rocket flies to the moon but it has logic. It has been engineered, it follows principles of aero dynamics, it is guided and it can be predicted. In effect, it has cause and purpose. Words that mean nothing to anyone has no logic, cannot be of benefit and if I saw someone doing itI would feel they were either mentally disturbed (you often see bag men/women at it) or attention seekers or had worked themselves into a frenzy (as in voodoo dancing). Jesus never did this - why would lower mortals have the need or, as believed, the ability? I am reminded - yes Paul said it should only happen when another was there to interpret to the rest of the congregation. This would again indicated it was a recognisable language - even if foreign to the majority of those present. If no one, even the one saying this stuff can understand - then it doesnt agree with the principles set out in the Bible.

When you are part of a congregation & you speak out in tongues an interpreter is needed . In your own personal prayer time it's just you & Him.

And what do the interpreters say when this is happening. I dont understand - on the one hand we are told no one knows what the words mean, even those saying them, on the other that in a congregation you can intepret those words???????? Has anyone seen this happen? I still believe that Paul was a bit annoyed with peeps showing off their foreign language abilities and that is why he made that directive. That is my humble opinion.

the interpreter says what God tells them to after they have prayer to Him.

Then why not say it in understandable language the first time? Sorry, you have your beliefs but this just not sit well with what I see as Bible principles.

1 Corinthian 12 :10 talks about some of the gifts God has given us which include ''to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.'' Hope this helps you understand where it comes from in the Bible.

sorry to interrupt, but I just thought I'd throw this thought in for Heather :) Speaking in a language that you have not learnt, when you talk to God can be understood in this way - the language is not of Earth, but of God - therefore, you are speaking His language :) From what limited experience I have (not personally, but my family), when you speak in tongues, you know what you want to say, but it comes out in a different language - kinda like when you think in German like I do, even though I'm English lol I don't have all the answers (in fact, I don't really have any lol) but I hope that makes it a little more easy to comprehend.

Several connected churches around me practice it, most of them very involved in the Alpha Course and in rehabilitation of former addicts. Speaking in tongues and receiving 'pictures' from God are encouraged and applauded. It appears to me that both are part of a competitiveness to see who is the most religious, as if receiving secret coded messages from God is a sign of being more worthy to receive them. I find the whole thing a bit silly. The God that I believe in wouldn't want to confuse people with incoherent languages that have to be understood by an interpreter and, to be honest, I have never seen anything that I believe to be genuine and it reminds me very much of the girls who claimed to be bewitched during the Salem witch trials.

Hi all! just popped home from next door's birthday party to start video! Promise I will reply to all threads later when children in bed! D

I agree with David - why would God have a special language anyway? And if he did why would people need to use it to speak to him when he is all knowing. I cant help thinking this is self deception - a type of hysteria. Penny - I see that scripture as telling us that some were given the gift of languages - the ability to immediately speak foreign tongues because it would benefit the spreading of the word. It doesnt say 'and some have the gift of talking nonsense for their own benefit that no one understands and for which there is no use'. I guess this is similar to the 'some can handle serpents' stuff that deep south communities believe in. Can you not see that it isnt appropriate to have this apparently non-earthly tongue? Jesus never had it or used it. The gift of tongues is that - the ability to speak foreign languages that can be understood by those of the same tongue.

Hi Heather and others, sorry I was away so long! Heather, there are many things we do not understand about God, it is meant to be that way. We are not meant to see it all clearly now, on earth, in the same way God tells us that fortune telling etc are forbidden because it is only his right to see our future, we don't need to know it. Maybe I could have thought of a better analogy than a space rocket, but either way, belief in God and spiritual issues is partly provable, through research and experience, and partly faith. That faith comes from knowing God, in the same way we can predict a person's actions from knowing their personality. I know that God would not give me anything but good gifts, even if I don't fully understand how they work. D

I think we have to agree to differ on this. I just cannot believe God would require anyone to use a special language to speak to him. You mention knowing God - like a personality - we can predict behaviour. Why would he choose to confuse? If Jesus had done this then I may think differently but he didnt - he made it clear that there was no confusion in the truth. If it isnt self deception/hysteria then I would be concerned who was controlling it. (Remember who is called the Great Deceiver'? - not God) In the pagan religions/peoples - they often have a trance like state in which they speak an unknown language - can you not see the similarity?

Re the debate over the uses of the gift of tongues, as has already been said, it depends on the situation. Sometimes in Bible times and now, God has given people the ability to speak out words they intend to speak, but with the words being heard (or perhaps coming out) in another earthly language. But also prominent in the new testament from the book of Acts onwards is evidence of believers having command of an unknown language to use for prayer and praise, You are right, Heather, Jesus did not need a spiritual language because as he said himself, He and the father were one, and communicated freely. When Jesus left earth to go to be with his father, he promised his followers a helper, the Holy Spirit, to take his place. he promised that when the Holy Spirit came uopn them they would be filled with power and have the confidence and ability to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Amongst many other things, this ability to communicate directly with God, in a way that bypasses our limited thinking and language, is one of the ways that Christians are strengthened and equipped, like the Chaplain who Joy told us about. Only God understands the languages of tongues, because it is of God and for God. When the gift of interpretation is given, it is equally mysterious and given solely for that particular word from God that has been spoken out, To those who asked, yes I have seen this happen and YES, it is weird and strange! And sometimes like all good things it is misused or exploited. But it is very easy to tell when this is the case, because it doesn't sit right on those who are used to hearing from God through scripture and the Holy Spirit. Like if someone left you an answerphone message, and said they were a friend, but you knew by the nasty things they said that they were lying. Why? Because you know your friend and you know that they wouldn't say stuff like that to you! D