Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Harumi · 08-11-2002, 02:20 PM

I think that it's being able to speak in your language but having other people who can't understand yours understand it anyways.

But then I read that many people (especially the Pentecoastals) have this gift.

That's impossible.

So exactly what is it? And how do people know when they have this "gift".

Dephanie

Zimyatin · 08-11-2002, 02:23 PM

The snake handlers!

Marduk · 08-11-2002, 02:46 PM

"I think that it's being able to speak in your language but having other people who can't understand yours understand it anyways."

Yes, that is how it was intened in the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples to go preach to people all over the middle east in their native tounge and people will hear them and understand in their own language.

This is not what the Penecostals do. They have an interpreter sitting up in front of the church, when someone in the congregation is 'moved by the Holy Spirit' to babbel incoherently, she will announce what the person 'really said' 99% percent of the time it's something like this:

"boomalaka laka boomalaka laka ik bzzzz quee"

"Praise the Lord!"

One of the last sane · 08-11-2002, 04:57 PM

Speaking in tongues is called glossolalia, and it comes about from a state of self-hypnosis when people babble meaningless syllables.

<a href="http://www.ifas.org/wa/glossolalia.html" target="_blank"> This link </a> provides a reasonable summary.

I once got dragged along to a large, well attended service where a bunch of people were speaking in tongues. It was seriously scary. I seem to be fairly immune to be carried along in those fits of mass hysteria. I just stood there, with everyone else around me getting excited and babbling crazy things, and me feeling like, well, the Last of the Sane.

Come to think of it, that's when my username first occurred to me.

ax · 08-11-2002, 05:15 PM

Speaking in tounges nowdays is crazy! If they bothered to read the bible they'd see that it says that there needs to be an interpereter!! I grew up with this kind of crazy shit, it really is quite disturbing!!! What I cant explain is when I was 10 my family went to a mission thing and a70 yr old lady that we'd known for years suddenly started speaking in russion, and there were russions there who were convicted of the gospel and became xians....crazy..

08-11-2002, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Harumi:
<strong>So exactly what is it? And how do people know when they have this "gift".

Dephanie</strong>

Allowing the stream of words to flow over the adams-apple where reason (convention) is normally interjected into the steam of words. In other words, it is non-rational speach.

Everybody can do it but not on command.

Ether · 08-11-2002, 10:12 PM

Speaking in tonques is getting drunk or high on drugs. Those guys only drank wine and eatet herbs back then...

braces_for_impact · 08-11-2002, 10:23 PM

I have posted this in a few other places, but since the subject came up...

My uncle was a penetecostal, and I was once dragged to his church while visiting him when I was a teenager. I had been going to church for many years, but my denomination was a christian reformed protestant type thing, so I was entirely unprepared for my uncle's religious ceremonies. While we were there, a variety of people who had the "gift" would start babbling, and other people with the interpretation "gift" would interpret. A combination of culture shock and and a healthy dose of skepticism caused me, towards the end of the service, to shout out babble, which to me sounded like a pretty good impersonation of Arabic. Imagine my surprise when my made-up language was interpreted as a warning from god about watching for upcoming prophecies! My uncle was furious! But at the end of service, as people came to congratulate me on my new found mystical powers, my uncle became convinced I really had said something, and that gawd had 'used me as his tool', if unwittingly.

Point being, that some of it may be self hypnosis, but part of it may very well be downright dishonesty. I personally can think of a variety of reasons why a person in such a context would want to fake being a true believer, with a gift that proves it to be true.

abe smith · 08-12-2002, 05:35 AM

um ... Possibly (a very cautious "possibly"), speaking-in-tongues, (= emitting gibberish = random & meaningless vocables) might be an Attention-Getting-Mechanism used by unsophisticated & perhaps not-too-bright adult persons who'd like very much to Be Somebody Important (a famous Rock Star etc), but who have no particular skills nor talents. = "Hey, Looka ME! I"m Special!" This same (I"m ALLEGING!)sort of motivation might be for-why some similar persons ardently desire that MIRACLES shd happen to them. If you listen around you may find that numerous um 'ordinary people" tend to call certain ordinary coincidences "miracles". Oh, heck: not everyone is as lucky as WE Intelleckshuuls are, who have our own fancy psychic-jerking-off routines for feeling Special. Let's not begrudge our brothers & sisters their innocent pleasures; probably a damn sight more innocent & harmless than our own.

abe smith · 08-12-2002, 06:07 AM

After the foregoing, I was reading on down and sampled a fair sample of Gemma Therese's um prose; and it occurs to me that Gemma Therese may derive from her saintly preachments to us (including her telling us that we are going to burn in Hell) the similar ego-enhancing rewards that speakers-in-tongues experience; and those other innocents, who like to announce that they have been the subject of "miracles". Undoubtedly her exercises here at EyeEye forum are better for her than smoking; and surely her remarks are not doing any of us any harm.... Have you been to shrift recently, Gemma? (A qy totally not-my-business.) Grandpa

08-11-2002, 02:20 PM	#1
Harumi Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: N/A Posts: 3,184	What's Speaking in Tongues? I think that it's being able to speak in your language but having other people who can't understand yours understand it anyways. But then I read that many people (especially the Pentecoastals) have this gift. That's impossible. So exactly what is it? And how do people know when they have this "gift". Dephanie

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08-11-2002, 02:23 PM	#2
Zimyatin Regular Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Michigan Posts: 308	The snake handlers!

08-11-2002, 02:46 PM	#3
Marduk Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: the 10th planet Posts: 5,065	"I think that it's being able to speak in your language but having other people who can't understand yours understand it anyways." Yes, that is how it was intened in the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples to go preach to people all over the middle east in their native tounge and people will hear them and understand in their own language. This is not what the Penecostals do. They have an interpreter sitting up in front of the church, when someone in the congregation is 'moved by the Holy Spirit' to babbel incoherently, she will announce what the person 'really said' 99% percent of the time it's something like this: "boomalaka laka boomalaka laka ik bzzzz quee" "Praise the Lord!"

08-11-2002, 04:57 PM	#4
One of the last sane Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: hereabouts Posts: 734	Speaking in tongues is called glossolalia, and it comes about from a state of self-hypnosis when people babble meaningless syllables. <a href="http://www.ifas.org/wa/glossolalia.html" target="_blank"> This link </a> provides a reasonable summary. I once got dragged along to a large, well attended service where a bunch of people were speaking in tongues. It was seriously scary. I seem to be fairly immune to be carried along in those fits of mass hysteria. I just stood there, with everyone else around me getting excited and babbling crazy things, and me feeling like, well, the Last of the Sane. Come to think of it, that's when my username first occurred to me.

08-11-2002, 05:15 PM	#5
ax Regular Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: In your mind! Posts: 289	Speaking in tounges nowdays is crazy! If they bothered to read the bible they'd see that it says that there needs to be an interpereter!! I grew up with this kind of crazy shit, it really is quite disturbing!!! What I cant explain is when I was 10 my family went to a mission thing and a70 yr old lady that we'd known for years suddenly started speaking in russion, and there were russions there who were convicted of the gospel and became xians....crazy..

08-11-2002, 10:12 PM	#7
Ether Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: United States Posts: 70	Speaking in tonques is getting drunk or high on drugs. Those guys only drank wine and eatet herbs back then...

08-11-2002, 10:23 PM	#8
braces_for_impact Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: In a nondescript, black helicopter. Posts: 6,637	I have posted this in a few other places, but since the subject came up... My uncle was a penetecostal, and I was once dragged to his church while visiting him when I was a teenager. I had been going to church for many years, but my denomination was a christian reformed protestant type thing, so I was entirely unprepared for my uncle's religious ceremonies. While we were there, a variety of people who had the "gift" would start babbling, and other people with the interpretation "gift" would interpret. A combination of culture shock and and a healthy dose of skepticism caused me, towards the end of the service, to shout out babble, which to me sounded like a pretty good impersonation of Arabic. Imagine my surprise when my made-up language was interpreted as a warning from god about watching for upcoming prophecies! My uncle was furious! But at the end of service, as people came to congratulate me on my new found mystical powers, my uncle became convinced I really had said something, and that gawd had 'used me as his tool', if unwittingly. Point being, that some of it may be self hypnosis, but part of it may very well be downright dishonesty. I personally can think of a variety of reasons why a person in such a context would want to fake being a true believer, with a gift that proves it to be true.

08-12-2002, 05:35 AM	#9
abe smith Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: springfield, MA. USA Posts: 2,482	um ... Possibly (a very cautious "possibly"), speaking-in-tongues, (= emitting gibberish = random & meaningless vocables) might be an Attention-Getting-Mechanism used by unsophisticated & perhaps not-too-bright adult persons who'd like very much to Be Somebody Important (a famous Rock Star etc), but who have no particular skills nor talents. = "Hey, Looka ME! I"m Special!" This same (I"m ALLEGING!)sort of motivation might be for-why some similar persons ardently desire that MIRACLES shd happen to them. If you listen around you may find that numerous um 'ordinary people" tend to call certain ordinary coincidences "miracles". Oh, heck: not everyone is as lucky as WE Intelleckshuuls are, who have our own fancy psychic-jerking-off routines for feeling Special. Let's not begrudge our brothers & sisters their innocent pleasures; probably a damn sight more innocent & harmless than our own.

08-12-2002, 06:07 AM	#10
abe smith Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: springfield, MA. USA Posts: 2,482	After the foregoing, I was reading on down and sampled a fair sample of Gemma Therese's um prose; and it occurs to me that Gemma Therese may derive from her saintly preachments to us (including her telling us that we are going to burn in Hell) the similar ego-enhancing rewards that speakers-in-tongues experience; and those other innocents, who like to announce that they have been the subject of "miracles". Undoubtedly her exercises here at EyeEye forum are better for her than smoking; and surely her remarks are not doing any of us any harm.... Have you been to shrift recently, Gemma? (A qy totally not-my-business.) Grandpa

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