Confused about speaking in tongues

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PerfectTiming

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When I’ve read Scripture, I’ve always understood the reference to speaking in tongues meant that the Apostles were able to speak many languages so they could spread the gospel to many peoples [Acts 2].
I know in some churches there’s a big focus on “speaking in tongues” but as far as I understand they simply speak gibberish, which doesn’t seem to relate to the gift given to the Apostles at all.
What I’m trying to understand is what exactly is speaking in tongues. Because at the moment it seems like this modern occurrence is nothing more than farce, it doesn’t seem to relate to the gift to the Apostles at all.
 
My flatmates who are Pentecostal seem to live for this “speaking in tongues” “gibberish” that they do. Having been to a Protestant church its really sad to see they believe that if you can do that you have been baptized in The Holy Spirit…My flatmate who has done 3 years of Bible College at a Protestant College tells me that scripture supports , speaking in “Gibberish”. Also I went to a Catholic Charismatic group and they did it there, whats with that??
 
This is one of those topics that has been endlessly and furiously debated here on CAF and can easily lead into arguments, etc. People can become very unkind when debating this subject. Please do a search on the subject, and you will more than have your questions answered and see what I mean.

Just trying to avoid an argument and another thread closing:)
 
Tongues are real and are accepted by the Catholic Church, although many who really have no knowledge of it will brush it off. The early church was very spirit filled and used many of the gifts Paul talks about in 1 Corinthinans 12. Actually Acts 2 refers to a person speaking in one language and people of many languages understood it, which in a way is also the gift of interpretation.

Here is also a recent uTube you can see about the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and how it has been approved by the last 3 popes.youtube.com/watch?v=J-QDOcDGDWA

Also a uTube of Fr. Rainero Cantalamess the priest who is the preacher to the papal household for 20 years. youtube.com/watch?v=9-5tkirrXRQ&feature=related
 
CB_Catholic said:
This is one of those topics that has been endlessly and furiously debated here on CAF and can easily lead into arguments, etc. People can become very unkind when debating this subject. Please do a search on the subject, and you will more than have your questions answered and see what I mean.

Just trying to avoid an argument and another thread closing:)
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Amen, sister!🙂
 
Something that may have led to and supported this misunderstanding about tongues is a rather odd translation in the KJV that is not seen in other translations.

In 1 Co 14:2
Paul says this (from Greens Literal translation)
For the one speaking in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God, for no one hears, but in spirit he speaks mysteries.

The KJV renders this verse as :
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

There is no Greek word for “unknown” used in the text.

The NAB does not say “unknown” nor does the RSV, or the Douay-Rheims nor for that matter does the NKJV.
IN older translations it appears in the 1611 version of the KJV, and the Geneva Bible of 1587 includes the term “strange” instead of “unknown”

So I wonder why the JKV chooses to include the term “unknown”.

Perhaps one of the good folks here can enlighten me on this matter…

Peace
James
 
Given enough translators, what’s so difficult to understand? People spoke multiple languages back then, and not only Greek, Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew. Seems like this whole thing has been taken way out of context. Was this the only “gift” we received at Pentecost?
 
CB_Catholic said:
This is one of those topics that has been endlessly and furiously debated here on CAF and can easily lead into arguments, etc. People can become very unkind when debating this subject. Please do a search on the subject, and you will more than have your questions answered and see what I mean.

Just trying to avoid an argument and another thread closing:)
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I have done a search and nothing I found was helpful to my understanding, which is why I then made this thread.
 
Speaking ‘in tongues’ is what someone else said, above. It’s when the Apostles and Disciples were preaching to a crowd of various people and, even though the speaker was using his own language, everyone understood exactly what he was saying. The gift of ‘interpretation’ is when they would go into a strange land, without knowing the language, but one or more of them would be able to understand it and tell the others what was being said.

IMHO, ‘speaking in the spirit’ to God, is a form of contemplative prayer between us and God. It’s not public, nor is it verbal at all. It’s more of a direct communication, without any words. It’s a joining and an exchange of the heart, more than the intellect.

When I was in ‘searching mode’ (way back in the early 70’s) and left the Church for a while, I attended a Pentecostal church service. I also attended a ‘charismatic’ Catholic prayer service. (My sister was involved in the Charismatic movement at the time.) Both of them, literally, scared me silly! No offense intended, but neither of them really ‘inspired’ me, nor did they seem to make me feel closer to God. They actually made me feel very uneasy. I just wanted to run away, ASAP. Needless to say, I never went back to either one of them. It did not fit with my idea of what spiritual prayer should be like, from what I had already learned from reading the lives of the Saints. :o

Matthew 6: said:
[5]
And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. [6] But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee. [7] And when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For they think that in their much speaking they may be heard.
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My idea of inspiring, spiritual prayer, is more of the ‘quiet’ kind that goes from our hearts to the Heart of God. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I kinda like being that way. 😃
 
JRKH said:
Perhaps one of the good folks here can enlighten me on this matter…
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The link below discusses the misunderstanding of “glossa” as well as its 20th century origins and practice by Protestants. In short, the Apostles spoke in other existing languages than their own native ones; Prostestants babble in non-existent tongues. Like the Rapture brouhaha, the Protestant interpretation of “speaking in tongues” is best avoided by Roman Catholics.
cemiller said:
You are correct, it is a gift that allows the speaker to speak different real languages. Here is a link that explains it all 🙂 catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9804chap.asp
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👍
 
Maybe (Perfect timing) you could check it out with some of your brothers and sisters in the Catholic church who are charasmatic christians and who have this gift, being as it is an accepted gift in the Church. It’s a little insulting to say it’s just a “farce”. It’s easy to be critical of a gift that we don’t have or perhaps understand. Doesn’t mean that it isn’t real.
 
I_Thirst said:
The link below discusses the misunderstanding of “glossa” as well as its 20th century origins and practice by Protestants. In short, the Apostles spoke in other existing languages than their own native ones; Prostestants babble in non-existent tongues. Like the Rapture brouhaha, the Protestant interpretation of “speaking in tongues” is best avoided by Roman Catholics.

👍
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👍 I was about to restate that myself, it’s not the person speaking and everyone else understanding, it’s the person speaking a different language that they may not even know. They themselves may not know what they even saying, but someone who speaks that language will understand it.
 
PerfectTiming said:
When I’ve read Scripture, I’ve always understood the reference to speaking in tongues meant that the Apostles were able to speak many languages so they could spread the gospel to many peoples [Acts 2].
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I have understood also, that as the Apostles spoke, folks who heard them would hear them would understand them even if an unknown language was being spoken by the Apostle.

In other words, hearing in tongues.
 
rebecca123 said:
Maybe (Perfect timing) you could check it out with some of your brothers and sisters in the Catholic church who are charasmatic christians and who have this gift, being as it is an accepted gift in the Church. It’s a little insulting to say it’s just a “farce”. It’s easy to be critical of a gift that we don’t have or perhaps understand. Doesn’t mean that it isn’t real.
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I think you’ve misunderstood me. I didn’t state it was a farce, I said I was confused and that is the way it seems from what I have seen of Pentecostal etc. ‘speaking in tongues’. I was asking for clarification because I know it as an accepted gift but was unsure if the gift Catholics know as speaking in tongues and that which Pentecostal etc. practice are of the same vein or are different altogether.
 
beth40n2 said:
Tongues are real and are accepted by the Catholic Church, although many who really have no knowledge of it will brush it off. The early church was very spirit filled and used many of the gifts Paul talks about in 1 Corinthinans 12. Actually Acts 2 refers to a person speaking in one language and people of many languages understood it, which in a way is also the gift of interpretation.

Here is also a recent uTube you can see about the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and how it has been approved by the last 3 popes.youtube.com/watch?v=J-QDOcDGDWA

Also a uTube of Fr. Rainero Cantalamess the priest who is the preacher to the papal household for 20 years. youtube.com/watch?v=9-5tkirrXRQ&feature=related
Click to expand...
I watched this, but it did not say anything about those tongues where it is no human language,
 
Tongues is a genuine charism of the Holy spirit, approved by the church. But there are kind of two sorts of the gift. There’s the type you mention, and specifically the sort of tongues which is for instruction. Then there’s the other type, even more evident in the New Testament, which is basically just prayer in languages you don’t know. It obviously sounds like gibberish to you, because you don’t know the language. The person speaking in tongues doesn’t control what words he is saying, only really when he starts or stops. In fact, it’s pretty clear from Scripture, and from church documents, that tongues should be a normal part of the Christian life. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding and ignorance of the charisms (see 1 Corinthians 12) for a very long time, and it’s only been very recently rediscovered with Vatican II and new charismatic movements (namely the worldwide Catholic Charismatic Renewal). So there’s still a whole lot of confusion and ignorance about them.
 
DianaCC said:
OMG wake up
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Why? The poster adequately described the charismatic movement in the Catholic Church. Tongues is not the only gift though, just the one that seems to upset people the most.
 
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