|
Post by Elizabeth on Aug 14, 2018 6:54:45 GMT
What is it? I mean the bible is clear on what it is since it explained what happened. But I noticed some churches use an unbiblical answer to it. So I ask here.. What is speaking in tongues?
|
|
|
Post by DKTrav88 on Aug 15, 2018 0:29:17 GMT
Tongues in the Bible are languages.
Acts 2:4-11 [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. [5] And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. [6] Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. [7] And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? [8] And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? [9] Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, [10] Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, [11] Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
In Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages. Jews came from all over Jerusalem after hearing about what was happening and were amazed over what was happening. They knew the apostles were Galileans and yet they were hearing them speak in languages of where they were born. The Bible then lists all countries of the languages that were being spoken. There were mockers there saying they were drunk, but it was something that was prophesied by the prophet Joel; Acts 2:16-21 KJV [16] But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; [17] And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: [18] And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: [19] And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: [20] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: [21] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Charismatic and Pentecostal churches believe speaking in tongues is speaking in a “heavenly” language, which when you hear it it sounds like a bunch of babbling nonsense.
|
|
|
Post by DKTrav88 on Sept 12, 2018 2:11:11 GMT
There is a linguist from Canada, now living in Los Angeles, named William Samarin who, in 1972, published a thorough assessment of Pentecostal glossolalia(Greek for "speaking in tongues") that became a classic work on its linguistic characteristics. His assessment was based on a large sample of glossolalia recorded in public and private Christian meetings in Italy, The Netherlands, Jamaica, Canada, and the United States over the course of five years; his wide range of subjects included the Puerto Ricans of the Bronx, the snake handlers of the Appalachians and the Spiritual Christians from Russia in Los Angeles (Pryguny, Dukh-i-zhizniki).
Samarin found that glossolalic speech does resemble human language in some respects. The speaker uses accent, rhythm, intonation and pauses to break up the speech into distinct units. Each unit is itself made up of syllables, the syllables being formed from consonants and vowels taken from a language known to the speaker. Samarin found that the resemblance to human language was merely on the surface and so concluded that glossolalia is "only a facade of language". He reached this conclusion because the syllable string did not form words, the stream of speech was not internally organized, and – most importantly of all – there was no systematic relationship between units of speech and concepts. Humans use language to communicate but glossolalia does not. Therefore, he concluded that glossolalia is not "a specimen of human language because it is neither internally organized nor systematically related to the world man perceives". On the basis of his linguistic analysis, Samarin defined Pentecostal glossolalia as "meaningless but phonologically structured human utterance, believed by the speaker to be a real language but bearing no systematic resemblance to any natural language, living or dead".
A psychological anthropologist and linguist, Felicitas Goodman, also found that the speech of glossolalists reflected the patterns of speech of the speaker's native language. She studied a number of Pentecostal communities in the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico; these included English-, Spanish- and Mayan-speaking groups. She compared what she found with recordings of non-Christian rituals from Africa, Borneo, Indonesia and Japan. She took into account both the segmental structure (such as sounds, syllables, phrases) and the supra-segmental elements (rhythm, accent, intonation) and concluded that there was no distinction between what was practised by the Pentecostal Protestants and the followers of other religions.
It is said that speaking in tongues in Christianity is supposed to be a form of ecstasy, that is an emotional frenzy or trancelike state of being beyond reason and self-control. Pentecostal churches interpret speaking in tongues in the Bible as being filled with the Holy Spirit(possessed with the Holy Spirit), as in the Holy Spirit takes them over and does the speaking for them in some form of babble and gibberish that cannot be understood by anyone. This, however, is not found anywhere in scripture. What this practice originates from is ancient Egyptian pagan religions. The most ancient evidence that we have of this is from the report of Winamon, a young man who was the worshipper of the Egyptian God Amon. The report which is dated approximately 1100 BC says that as he was worshipping Amon in a temple he was overwhelmed in a state of frenzy which continued throughout the night and he spoke in some ecstatic language. It is also reported by Virgil, writing about 17-19 BC, who mentions a Sibyline priestess who would go into an ecstatic state where she was unified with the spirit of Apollo, and she would begin to speak in tongues, in ecstatic utterance. Today there are other occurrences of the glossolalic speech in religions other than Christianity; there is a Hindu sect that practices this, certain Muslims, as well as a tribe of Eskimos in Greenland that have services led by an individual where they beat the drums and sing and dance, a lot of nudity, who practice glossolalia, and also a group in Tibet among Buddhists who practice glossolalia.
|
|