Not_Scarevangelist Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 OK... time for another thread... When you were a Christian (I suppose you were neopentecostal or charismatic) you probably spoke in tongues. How did the situation change when you left religion? Can you still speak in tongues? I haven't been in church for half a year, and I can still do this... What does it mean? There are two options in my opinion: 1. You are not ex-christian, because you still have the gift of the Holy Ghost 2. These tongues are not from the Holy Ghost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I can still speak in tongues. My daughter, who is 13 y.o. spoke in tongues too the other day, for fun. We were making up words (we do that a lot). Robbin Williams, the comedian, can also make up words. In one program I saw, he was making up words that sounded French, German, Italian, and more. I'm not sure if the Holy Spirit made him do it for fun, or that the explanation might be that we have this ability in us. Consider this, a musician learns to play piano. Over time he gets so good at it, and can improvise. He can play small extra parts to the melody, and he can even make new melodies on the fly, while he's playing the original song. Is that supernatural, or the natural ability of creating? I used to play in church, and I even played and sang in the Holy Spirit, i.e. improvised music, melody, and words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I never could,though I was even taught to pray for it. And when I saw someone "speaking in tongues",I was always kinda ashamed,that I am with theese people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abiyoyo Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 OK... time for another thread...When you were a Christian (I suppose you were neopentecostal or charismatic) you probably spoke in tongues. How did the situation change when you left religion? Can you still speak in tongues? I have never spoke in tongues. It was one of the options of receiving the Holy Spirit in Church of God, and prerequisite to become a pastor. You had to do it publicly, and I wasn't about to fake it. That kinda would've defeated the purpose of me wanting to be a pastor. Needless to say, I didn't become a pastor there. Ah...pastor...What about the fruits...... I guess I wasn't fruitful enough either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Each "tongue-speaker" in my CoG had their own pet phrases. They tended to repeat the same nonsensial phrases over and over. Apparently the big guy had to repeat himself weekly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathlene Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Well I was from a charismatic/pentecostal church and I had the gift of tongues, and I still have it. I have no idea what it is or where it came from. I feel strange if I do it now. Im not sure what it means to me now if i am not an exchristian or the holy spirit is still in me? Whatever really. I have turned my brain off concerning anything weird, mystical supposedly supernatural or god in general. I just want to be left alone, live my life peacefully and move on with it. The further away I get from xtianity the better in my opinion. I don't want to ever get stuck analysing my life, gods will, signs and wonders, etc...it is all personal experience and no-one else can qualify it and you just end up feeling constantly trapped and confused. I want no part of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I was raised Church of Christ, so speaking in tongues was shunned. Can I speak in tongues? Gibberish, yes, speaking in a language I have never known but someone else can fully understand me, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looking4Answers Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I was raised Church of Christ, so speaking in tongues was shunned. Can I speak in tongues? Gibberish, yes, speaking in a language I have never known but someone else can fully understand me, no. And that's part of the problem: no one really knows what this "gift" really is. Some Christians state that it is a "heavenly language" and, thus, no one on earth would understand you (unless god divinely provided an interpreter). Some say that it is an earthly language ... that god enables the individual to speak in a known language that was unknown to the one speaking in tongues. This is what seems to be going on in Acts chapter 2. Some see speaking in tongues as a "prayer language" (based on Romans 8:26) that enables the spirit of god to pray through us, especially when we don't know how to pray as we ought. This presents a problem. If Bible believers cannot agree, from the Scriptures, as to what exactly speaking in tongues is, then how do they know if what they are experiencing is authentic or not? How does on group know they are right and the others are wrong? The Bible is unclear enough on this topic to allow for a variety of interpretations (including the interpretation that the gift of speaking in tongues is not a gift for today's believers ... when I was a pastor I actually produced an 8 hour DVD set on this very topic ... that tongues aren't for today). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abiyoyo Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 And that's part of the problem: no one really knows what this "gift" really is. Some Christians state that it is a "heavenly language" and, thus, no one on earth would understand you (unless god divinely provided an interpreter). Some say that it is an earthly language ... that god enables the individual to speak in a known language that was unknown to the one speaking in tongues. This is what seems to be going on in Acts chapter 2. Some see speaking in tongues as a "prayer language" (based on Romans 8:26) that enables the spirit of god to pray through us, especially when we don't know how to pray as we ought. This presents a problem. If Bible believers cannot agree, from the Scriptures, as to what exactly speaking in tongues is, then how do they know if what they are experiencing is authentic or not? How does on group know they are right and the others are wrong? The Bible is unclear enough on this topic to allow for a variety of interpretations (including the interpretation that the gift of speaking in tongues is not a gift for today's believers ... when I was a pastor I actually produced an 8 hour DVD set on this very topic ... that tongues aren't for today). I always understood it to Biblically be someone speaking in another language, as in Acts. I think the church/other studies is responsible for the further elaboration, which is referred to as glossolalia. Paul says in I Co 14 if its an unknown language, one is suppose to judge it, or if another standing near can interpret; they should; also saying that it's basically better if it becomes unknown, as it's not fruitful. Also, tongues were for the unbelievers, not believers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 OK... time for another thread... When you were a Christian (I suppose you were neopentecostal or charismatic) you probably spoke in tongues. How did the situation change when you left religion? Can you still speak in tongues? I haven't been in church for half a year, and I can still do this... What does it mean? There are two options in my opinion: 1. You are not ex-christian, because you still have the gift of the Holy Ghost 2. These tongues are not from the Holy Ghost What gift of the Holy Ghost? A comic book claims it is of the Holy Ghost and that makes it so? Kqitzl al kope egakchi chi chi kaboom kicka boom. Speaking in tongues is a feigned experience any religious nut case can puke out. What is bad is that people are taught to speak in tongues or to believe that when they want to babble nonsense, it is a blessing of the Holy Spirit. If I yammer on and on in a phony language and then yell 'praise be to God', is that holy? How do you know? I've this act up close many times and all it is is a bunch of yay-hoos yammering nonsense. But because it is nonsense, Christians eat it up. Not all believe in it and rightly so. How about a real gift that heals amputated limbs. Now that would be a show stopper and a crowd pleaser, not to mention Christians would be doing something for their communities other than panhandling for change for their churches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelinabee Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I never understand how gawd only gave this "gift" to the people who walked into the churches with the right kind of affiliation on their signs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I don't think I've ever "received a gift" to speak in tongues, but I'm fluent in gibberish. I can pour forth a stream of stuff that sounds like what you hear in charismatic churches, though my dialect sounds a little different. I also remember once visiting a small charismatic church where the lady preacher insisted that I be prayed for to receive tongues (come to think of it that sounds kinda kinky!), and I knew they wouldn't let me sit down without saying something odd, so I spoke a phrase in Nahuatl (Aztec), which I was sure none of them would recognize, and that sounded good to them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaraOlive Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Although I've never been charismatic myself, I once visited a charismatic church with someone speaking in tongues AND an interpreter. It was the first and only time that I've ever heard anyone speak in tongues. I don't remember what the tongues sounded like, but I do remember that I wasn't impressed by the interpretation (remember to drink your Ovaltine...) It was something that seemed rather trite. I've always wondered exactly what was happening there psychologically. Was it just a big scam? Maybe, but there are those of you here who were true believers, who thought you were feeling the Holy Spirit. I have no reason to doubt that these people were less sincere than you once were. If not a scam, then what did the interpreter hear? Did he just pull something out of his mind that he "felt" was from God? Or was he so deeply taken in by what he wanted to believe that he actually heard something? An ex-friend who was charismatic admitted that when people at his old church weren't being "slain by the Spirit" quickly enough, the preacher would almost push them over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looking4Answers Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 One thing a lot of Christians (from denominations that speak tongues) may not consider (or don't like to consider) is that "speaking in tongues" is NOT unique to Christianity. There are non-Christian faiths that have the same or similar practices. Some of them are witchcraft like or voodoo like religions or beliefs. For some people, speaking in tongues is faked. I have talked to some who have done that in order to not feel left out by those that seemed to be really doing it. And I have even heard the stories of pastors "teaching" people how to speak in tongues by teaching them a phrase to repeat over and over again. However, for some people it is not faked. It seems that there is something psychological going on. Even so, the mind can easily create an artificial language on the fly. We can do it while thinking about it, why can't the mind do it without us consciously trying to? After all, if my mind can dream the strange and wonderful things that it does, then I am sure it could come up with an unknown language on the fly as well . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tealeaf Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I've never been a Christian or anything. I've stepped into a Pentecostal church a few times though.... While the insanity was quite apparent to me, I never did see anyone speaking in tounges any time I was there. Although I had been informed it did indeed take place there. Forgive me for sounding harsh, but from what I've seen of it from televangelists and the documentary Jesus Camp, is it not obviously the biggest load of bullshit ever? Like when I was 4 I used to make up words and pretend I was speaking my own language all by myself sometimes.... Sometimes with myself, or other kids. That's really all these people are doing. Rambling on and on pretending to be in some sort of cosmic trance....But everything they "say" is just....well it sounds like the mind and voice box are shorting out back and forth to produce diarhea of the mouth. Honestly, when I watched it happen in the documentary, I felt ashamed to be classified as the same species as the people doing it. I don't understand what's so speacial about it. Am I missing something here? Or did I have to be brainwashed in the first place to think anything of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shantonu Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I've never been a Christian or anything. I've stepped into a Pentecostal church a few times though.... While the insanity was quite apparent to me, I never did see anyone speaking in tounges any time I was there. Although I had been informed it did indeed take place there. Forgive me for sounding harsh, but from what I've seen of it from televangelists and the documentary Jesus Camp, is it not obviously the biggest load of bullshit ever? Like when I was 4 I used to make up words and pretend I was speaking my own language all by myself sometimes.... Sometimes with myself, or other kids. That's really all these people are doing. Rambling on and on pretending to be in some sort of cosmic trance....But everything they "say" is just....well it sounds like the mind and voice box are shorting out back and forth to produce diarhea of the mouth. Honestly, when I watched it happen in the documentary, I felt ashamed to be classified as the same species as the people doing it. I don't understand what's so speacial about it. Am I missing something here? Or did I have to be brainwashed in the first place to think anything of it? Agreed. I'm an Ex-Catholic and the whole thing seems like nonsense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DD2014 Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 I still can! But I have to be drunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeptic Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 I never had a desire to even try. It freaks me out, to be honest, and it always has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonXNonExX Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 As a non-believer, i second Skeptic's assertion that speaking in tongues is not exclusive to Xtianity. When i took a headlong plunge off of my bicycle several years ago, i landed on my head and woke up in the hospital. I never saw anyone talking in tongues actually occurring live in a church (our family went to a Methodist church when i was young), but my mother and some friends said i was speaking in tongues in the hospital. Unfortunately, i had no recollection of it later. However, it does show that it can happen in a variety of circumstances, including when someone wants to fake it to fit in with the rest of the group. BTW, if it was the HS itself making me do it, it hasn't communicated with me since then and i'm not looking forward to any further communications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariella Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 The charismatic church I attended as a teen had people (lots!) who spoke in "tongues". As one other poster put it, I felt really bad that I couldn't rattle off gibberish. I also felt really bad that I wasn't a druggie, drunk, fornicator, crook like several other folks I knew, all of whom would give their "Testimony". Then G-d delivered me from that foolishness when I discovered that the "good" seats where I'd started going (Assembly of (l'havdil) G-d) were mostly for sale to rich people. G-d has since delivered me from Roman pagan cults and landed me in a religion where eating with friends and family is considered a religious obligation. Much more rewarding that babbling and praying some dead Jewish carpenter magically fixes the air conditioning in my car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 My church was heavy into it, and I can speak in it, at any time, I received it at 17 or that's when I learned how I guess you could say, and it makes no sense, since am no longer a Christian, am a atheist who can speak in tongues lol, if you walked into a church and saw me speaking in tongues, and a proclaimed Christian speaking it, you would tell no difference, I was a rather charismatic Christian at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo-skeptic Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Give me a few shots of Skyy and I'll speak in tongues for you... Tongues were never big in my church (Calvary Chapel), and one person supposedly did it once, but it sounded like fast Spanish with a hint of gibberish. Our pastor taught that tongues would never come without a "translation" of sorts, so this seemingly stifled the expression of tongues. My dad took us to an Assemblies of God church once, and that was a whole 'nother ball game. Freaky as hell, and I was fresh on the deconversion path, at that. It's a little gut-wrenching hearing kids (like 10-12 years old, maybe younger) berate themselves for not learning their "prayer language" during a retreat. It's all screwy, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michie_s Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Like Arctic I can do it anytime I want. It's just a learned behaviour. I could go back to any Pentecostal/Charismatic tongue talking Church and fit right in. They would never believe that I'm an atheist unless I told them. In my old church you learned how to act, talk/pray and think like a fundie...just proves how much bullshit it all is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramen666 Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Isn't tongues just speaking random shit? Which is make believe?I think I know someone that may of did it and I called him an idiot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Shoo-bop-shoo-bop-rama-lama-ding-dong-goo-goo-gachub-shouda-boughta-honda! I can FEEL the power! YEA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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