Speaking in Tongues - what do YOU think it is:

attend a pentecostal tent revival.

shit will scare your eyebrows off.

(its pretty fun too)

 

Greetings,

I like to follow the facts and science we have... which pretty much reveal it to be a total fabrication.

http://www.meta-religion.com/Linguistics/Glossolalia/contemporary_linguistic_study.htm

Glossolalia in Contemporary Linguistic Study

The highly respected 1972 study of John P. Kildahl (The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues) concludes that "from a linguistic point of view, religiously inspired glossolalic utterances have the same general characteristics as those that are not religiously inspired." In fact, glossolalia is a "human phenomenon, not limited to Christianity nor even to religious behavior." (Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements by Spittler, P. 340).

Experts in the field of linguistics have diligently studied the phenomenon of glossolalia over a period of many years. One of the early investigations was made in the early 1960's by Eugene A. Nida. He provided a detailed list of reasons why glossolalia cannot be human language. Another early study, that of W.A. Wolfram in the year 1966, also concluded that glossolalia lacks the basic elements of human language as a system of coherent communication.

In a massive study of glossolalia from a linguistic perspective by Professor William J. Samarin of the University of Toronto's Department of Linguistics published after more than a decade of careful research, he rejected the view that glossolalia is xenoglossia, i.e. some foreign language that could be understood by another person who knew that language. Samarin concluded that glossolalia is a "pseudo-language." He defined glossolalia as "unintelligible babbling speech that exhibits superficial phonological similarity to language, without having consistent syntagmatic structure and that is not systematically derived from or related to known language." (William J. Samarin, "Variation and Variables in Religious Glossolalia," Language in Society, ed. Dell Haymes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972 pgs. 121-130)

Felicitas D. Goodman, a psychological anthropologist and linguist, engaged in a study of various English - Spanish - and Mayan-speaking Pentecostal communities in the United States and Mexico. She compared tape recordings of non-Christian rituals from Africa, Borneo, Indonesia and Japan as well. She published her results in 1972 in an extensive monograph (Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study in Glossolalia by Felecitas D. Goodman, University of Chicago Press, 1972).

Goodman concludes that "when all features of glossolalia were taken into consideration--that is, the segmental structure (such as sounds, syllables, phrases) and its suprasegmental elements (namely, rhythm, accent, and especially overall intonation)-- she concluded that there is no distinction in glossolalia between Christians and the followers of non-Christian (pagan) religions . The "association between trance and glossolalia is now accepted by many researchers as a correct assumption," writes Goodman in the prestigious Encyclopedia of Religion (1987).

Goodman also concludes that glossolalia "is, actually, a learned behavior, learned either unawarely or, sometimes consciously." Others have previously pointed out that direct instruction is given on how to "speak in tongues," ie. how to engage in glossolalia.

In fact, it has been found that the "speaking in tongues" practiced in Christian churches and by individual Christians is identical to the chanting language of those who practice voodoo on the darkest continents of this world .

Those who speak in tongues are also becoming involved in "holy laughter" - laughing uncontrollably, falling down on the ground, rolling around, having seizure-like activity, being struck dumb, or being "slain in the spirit."

 

Speaking in tongues is one of the Talking Heads better albums.

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Other than that, I'd say its a good excuse for gobbledygook.

 

Well..im not sure..i have been creeped out when ive seen it at church..its been told to me that once during a seance, i was mumbling a foreign laungage, but not like jumping up and down going RAHSHSA AKS dSLAs DSA or anything

 

I think that speaking in tongues happens either when people have entered a trance, and they are just using the sounds of their voice to deepen the trance, or move other people into a shared trance like state. The second way that it happens is that people feel pressured to do it because everybody else does, so they mimic what it sounds like; but generally even if they do this they manage to get some euphoria or some other effects of a meditative trance.

The sad thing is that it has nothing to do with being in a christian establishment, or wherever. It's just a form of meditation; and because it ends up happening in a certain setting people figure that an outside force is acting on them.

 

I think it's three shades of bullshit (sorry is that a little blunt?)

..it's done by people wanting to prove to other people just how "Godly" they are and to convince new members to the group that by joining up with that group they can really find God (and therefore save their immortal soul)

 

I can do that weird snake sort of like sound like when your dead in WoW.

no i dont play. lol

 

It's complete and utter bullshit.

 

None of the above.