Speaking in tongues in church?

[kiltedsheep]

Hello all 👋

Am just wondering whether any of you have had any experience of speaking in tongues, or whether you've witnessed anyone else having that experience. What happened and how did you feel about it?

Personally, I'm not even sure what 'speaking in tongues' means. In Acts 2, the apostles are said to have been filled with the Holy Spirit 'and began to speak in other languages'. But surely nobody's suggesting that people who speak in tongues today are suddenly fluent in a language which they previously didn't know, but in which they can suddenly communicate to other native speakers of that language?

Or is that a total misunderstanding? Grateful for your thoughts!

(Am also interested in similar experiences in non-Christian contexts, too.)

Nope, ignore that. I was misinformed.

I'm not a Quaker but I've been to some Society of Friends meetings - a wedding, a memorial and a couple of Sunday meetings. The silence is unbelievably powerful. The speech less so as a rule. The wedding and memorial meetings were much chattier than the 'ordinary' meetings.

I still don't see why anyone would believe that language and music come from God and that God then moves people to make sounds which are neither understandable nor musical. Or why this would suddenly arise in the late 60s in Toronto. Imo it's a lot closer to Beatlemania than Aquinas.

Can anyone give me any example of a time god went 'outside of the box'?
Anyone?

Sorry. Slightly naughty sense of humour.

During New Wine, the ministry was also broadcast on the local radio, however, when tongues were used during the ministry there was a tumble-weed moment over the airwaves. There was always an announcement that the broadcast had been suspended because tongues were being used and they cannot be broadcast. I wondered why this was?

@OutwiththeOutCrowd 🤣

So impressed was he by his ability that he approached a random Chinese-looking woman at a station and treated her to a sample. She ran away quickly!

Can't stop laughing at this...They're are many Chinese languages of which Mandarin is well known but maybe she didn't speak Mandarin, maybe she was from a different Asian country. Maybe what he was saying was "The end of the world is nigh" in which case I would have run too.

Speaking in tongues is a bit like faith those that do are completely convinced by it those that don't think it's nonsense.

It's definitely not in most cases a mental illness!

Sorry. Slightly naughty sense of humour.

You best come sit next to me then!

I like the silence quote by Rumi, reminds me of another one, not sure who said it but it was "We are the silence"

Can anyone give me any example of a time god went 'outside of the box'? Anyone? God is inside and outside the box, it's everywhere.

The silence is unbelievably powerful. I can imagine. Even when being in the 2 minute silence, it's a similar experience, I feel anyway.

I still don't see why anyone would believe that language and music come from God Because if you believe God is within then it makes perfect sense. I believe we can be a channel for this.

I pray in tounges a lot. Often, my face feels odd, like pins and needles around my cheeks. I tend to only do it when praying alone, but will pray in tongues when praying for another is I’m praying prophetically for them.

Can anyone give me any example of a time god went 'outside of the box'? Anyone? God is inside and outside the box, it's everywhere

A resounding no then. As I thought.

No - if you believe that language and music DO come from God, why would God then choose a non-understandable language-type sound as a medium?

There was always an announcement that the broadcast had been suspended because tongues were being used and they cannot be broadcast. I wondered why this was?

In case listeners thought their sets had spontaneously tuned into Radio Gaga?

@headinhands - I'm honestly not too sure what your box challenge was, but it looks like you've definitely won it. So: 🏅!

@Annandale As I understand it, quite a few posters have said that the 'tongue' in which they find themselves speaking isn't a medium by which God is using them to communicate to others, but rather just a way in which prayer 'erupts', almost, from within themselves. So not a form of communication as such, I think?

But this is all speculation on my part, because I've neither witnessed this sort of thing nor felt compelled to make any such noises myself. I have been to Quaker meetings, though, and I think it's an interesting parallel to draw. I always cringed whenever others said anything during the silences... but I think I cringe a bit too easily.

@Madhairday
I hope I've communicated it's possible to be active in these gifts without the frippery and the hype, and find them a place of great depths which challenge me in my walk with God and my behaviour to others.

Yes, you have - and thanks for that.

if you believe that language and music DO come from God, I'm not sure what to make of the tongues matter but music is understandable isn't it.

Re: The box challenge.

Madhairday said" “God's not in a tiny box of our making, and does stuff which can sometimes seem a bit crazy.”

For those of you that have expressed this ‘don’t put god in a box’ sentiment I have asked for an example of a time god did something you initially thought was crazy? Just one time that you realised you had god in a box and he blew your mind with his ‘out of box-ness’. Just one, that’s all.

Headinhands. I was talking about the magnitude of God in terms of this discussion about spiritual gifts, because people were saying these things sound crazy and deranged. I was saying that God is big enough to do things which might seem a bit crazy, but sometimes we box God in to fit with our own perception of what God should be like. It's about opening up horizons and broadening our view of God. I imagine people on here would be reticent to share stories which are close to them because they'd prefer them not to be picked apart, but in this case it was about attempting to share the idea of spiritual gifts such as tongues as being ways in which God does work.

Sometimes as well stories which are telling of how God has surprised us wouldn't seem like anything to someone else, but what they did was open out our view of who God is. Like when he called me and my family to a very traditional high church which really wasn't my scene and knocked me sideways with his love and power in that place. It wasn't surprising in and of itself but its effect on me was; I changed my view of who God is and how God works, and stopped being so obtusely narrow in views.

Thanks @kiltedsheep. That's very kind of you.

stopped being so obtusely narrow in views

Right. So what you call 'realising I'd put god in a box' is what I would refer to as learning about the world and discovering misconceptions I held.

I was brought up in a church environment where getting ‘filled with the spirit’, evidenced by ‘speaking in tongues’ was an important next step in becoming a full pentecostal Christian. I tried so hard as a teenager to get filled with the spirit and even fasted on a few occasions for 24 hours per time. I would pray in place of eating. I also went up to the front of church on multiple occasions so the pastor would pray for me to get filled. I would pray at home too. This is probably between the ages of 15 - 20.

I felt for many years that something was wrong with me because I couldn’t speak in tongues like everyone else. It was a sort of failure that I felt. The church would tell me it would happen whe God thought I was ready.

It never happened. I believed in it so much that I wouldn’t fake it.

I’m now an atheist.

Haven’t told many people about this IRL

Takes a strong person to stand by your principles like that JazzAndCat

HiH, I know what MHD means, and think she has expressed it well.

There is no box that would confine/define God, therefore there is no outside the box.
You can't ask us to demonstrate something we are not claiming.

I don't think there is anything anyone could say which you would accept so I don't intend to try.

Jazz, that's a terrible pressure for a young person- or indeed an adult- to be put under.

I'm wary of churches that think they know how things should be. There is so much more to individuals experiences than any rigid tradition can encompass.

That sounds very painful, JazzandCat. Thank you for sharing it here. Damaging teaching having that kind of effect, I'm so sorry.

Thank you, pickleme

Thank you Vitalogy and Pickle! It all feels like a long time ago now