• Welcome to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

Tongues

 
 
 
Keith&Co.

Keith&Co.

Contributor
Joined
Mar 31, 2006
Messages
22,444
Location
Far Western Mass
Gender
Here.
Basic Beliefs
I'm here...
A relative recently experienced an event where she stood up and 'spoke in tongues' during a service at her church. Ten minutes in a language no one recognized, much less understood, then falling to the ground and laughing for ten more minutes, feeling the joy of having expressed 'ideas that humans have no words for.'

Well, the family is fighting over whether or not it was actually 'speaking in tongues.'

According to a verse in Mark, SiT means to speak with the power to be understood by everyone. So SiT should not be a string of gibberish, some say.

Paul says that SiT is understood by no one. The event is 'edifying,' but the dialogue doesn't need to be, so for those members, this qualifies.

So part of the family figures she was 'blessed,' another part figures she was 'possessed.' And the Mormon side feels that you go to church to hear the official sermon, not the public access broadcast. Unless it's a testimonial, and that has formatting issues.

No one wants to hear my suggestion that a CAT scan might not be an extravagant expenditure.
 
It would seem weird that speaking in tongues means that nobody understands you. If the Holy Spirit enters someone's body and starts saying things, it would make sense that it did so for a reason and that reason would be to pass on a message. If people don't understand the message, it's somewhat of a wasted effort.

Then again, speaking in tongues may just be a side effect of a spiritual orgasm and what really happened is that the Holy Spirit was molesting your aunt. Understand, though, that this is just an unproven assertion and we shouldn't be labeling him a rapist without confirmatory evidence. #NotAllDeities
 
Yeah they always look to me like they are having a public orgasm. No filters.
 
I heard my mother speak in tongues once. Now y'all have an idea about why I'm so screwed up.

Did you tell them how group ecstatic states work?
 
Keith&Co. said:
Angry Floof said:
Did you tell them how group ecstatic states work?
Click to expand...

No one on ANY side is interested in "one of your stupid atheist scientific explanation of a miracle!" Because the only reason I bring up such things is to punch Baby Jesus in the nose.
Click to expand...

In that case, you should just drop it and advocate on the "she was possessed by a demon" side. It seems it would lead to the most interesting potential storylines.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
In that case, you should just drop it and advocate on the "she was possessed by a demon" side. It seems it would lead to the most interesting potential storylines.
Click to expand...
I can't. If I take a side, that side believes I'm mocking them. And the other side thinks I'm disagreeing with them in order to mock THEIR side.
I assume that since there's a third side this time, THEY'LL think I'm mocking them by participating at all...
 
Keith&Co. said:
Tom Sawyer said:
In that case, you should just drop it and advocate on the "she was possessed by a demon" side. It seems it would lead to the most interesting potential storylines.
Click to expand...
I can't. If I take a side, that side believes I'm mocking them. And the other side thinks I'm disagreeing with them in order to mock THEIR side.
I assume that since there's a third side this time, THEY'LL think I'm mocking them by participating at all...
Click to expand...

To be fair, you would only be taking that side in order to mock both them and the people on the other side, so their beliefs about that would be accurate. There really isn't a way to enter into a conversation about someone speaking in tongues without mocking everyone who's taking such a conversation seriously, so you kind of have to embrace the mockery if you want to participate.
 
I've seen a dozen different explanations of what "Speaking in Tongues" means.

All of them by Christians informing me, "Someone said that SiT means A, but they are wrong; it actually means B."
 
It's a pretty common phenomenon. Linguistic analysis concludes these are not actual languages and usually consist of meaningless strings of phonemes from the "speaker's" own language.
 
Back in '73, Rolling Stone ran a piece by a guy who hung out with extreme Jesus freaks who were into tongues. I'll never forget his transcription of one of the tongue 'revelations': "Ah-sha-la-da! Ah sha-la-da-DA!!!" That's not far from what I witnessed in an evangelical congregation one night. Christamighty. Between that and the ladies that stand and sway with their hands held open in the air -- it tells me I will never be part of that parade. Their religious experience at that moment looks so selfish and inward -- you could make an analogy to masturbation. Tongue Christians, we will respect your faith when you can show some outward manifestation of this reborn self you claim to possess. Glossolalia doesn't cut it.
I would love to be in an evangelical church when one of the flock goes full Captain Howdy:
Why you do this to me, Dimmy? Stick your cock up her ass, you motherfucking worthless cocksucker!! Your mother's in here, Karras. Would you like to leave her a message? I'll see that she gets it. Your mother sucks cocks in hell, Karras -- you faithless slime!!...Do you know what she did, your cunting daughter??? Keep away, the sow is mine!!! Ego te absolvo. Let Jesus fuck you. Let him fuck you.
(Available for Christmas on Warner Home Video.)
BTW, if I did my math correctly, this is my Double Millennium post, a highly significant # for those who know JC is comin' back in about 15 years. I would like to wish everyone a spirit-filled holiday season and remind you that God is imaginary, Jesus is dead, and Mary wasn't so immaculate. Also, every time you drop and break a Christmas ornament, a cherub gets ebola. If you break the top styrofoam star, a paraclete gets AIDS.
 
I've seen speaking in tongues many times and heard all the standard explanations. The most common is the speaker is "possessed by the Spirit" and is speaking a "Spiritual language," and there should be someone present who can interpret the meaning. This requires two people to feel the spirit acting upon them at the same time. An actual interpretation is rare, but I've never seen a speaker dispute the interpretation.

It's one of those suppositions that are not falsifiable, while speaking in tongues is easily falsified. The "spiritual language" meme is a bit of romance that preserves the feelings of the speaker, without granting them any authority, which a true Pentecost type ability to speak other languages on the spur of the moment, might merit.

Most people are able to identify those who are especially susceptible to suggestion, or more commonly, like being the object of attention. These are the members of the congregation who are "overcome by the spirit" or simply fall on the floor, which is the origin of the term "Holy Roller."

Life on this planet is stressful for our species and we will find socially acceptable ways to relieve our stress. A stress reliever that also confirms one's nearness to God, is hard to resist.
 
religious' ecstasy and bug blissed out. very powerful emotions.
 
It is a well studied subject. The fact is that it is embarrassingly easy to have your mental state altered by external stimulai.
 
Sarpedon said:
It is a well studied subject. The fact is that it is embarrassingly easy to have your mental state altered by external stimulai.
Click to expand...

As I said, I'm interested. Do expand.

I mean, I am aware that the brain responds to external stimuli. This is in fact its primary function; conscious thought is the byproduct. But we were talking about something more specific?
 
Last edited:
Sarpedon said:
It is a well studied subject. The fact is that it is embarrassingly easy to have your mental state altered by external stimulai.
Click to expand...

Indeed it is. Other than in evangelical churches, it can be seen in crowds at political rallies or even lynch mobs where normally reasonable people can be stimulated to an emotional pitch well beyond anything they would feel when alone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom