Tongues. a spiritual gift???

I agree - it is a gift, only when it is comprehensible to others. Babble is a babble, not a gift. Check out ACIM...

Slawek

Rhanjo- Can you prove that Hebrew was the original language before Babel? Can you prove that Jesus spoke Hebrew in public? The languages used to write about Him were Greek and Aramaic, and it is commonly thought that He spoke Aramaic.

Please be careful about asking people to prove other things when you throw out such comments with no proof yourself.

As for your question...

Obviously, 'tongues' IS a spiritual gift. It is spoken of as such in several places. YOUR question is 'what is the Biblical gift of 'tongues'?'

Tongues in the Bible means many things: the organ, things shaped like the tongue (the fire in Acts), a gift of the right thing to say (what we would call a 'silver tongue'), other known languages and dialects, and the angelic language.

A few verses refer to an unknown language, a prayer language. A few groups today take this to mean some form of 'idioglossa*' or 'speaking in an unknown tongue', often called a private or prayer language. Sometimes it is used in church, with or without interpretations. The same groups tend to also take other passages where 'tongues' are mentioned as some form of proof regardless of context.

(*- 'idioglossia' is the medically accurate term for the phenomena. Many charismatics dislike the term since it is often used to refer to babble or imaginary languages but I am using it here to mark a solid difference between the 'unknown' languages and other forms of talking in dialects, etc.)

Most denominations, however, are less convinced that there is a gift that involves idioglossia and see the passages used by charismatics as evidence of other things.

The famous Corinthians passage (though I speak in tongues of man and of angles but have not love...) does not seem to refer so much to idioglossia as it is saying that no matter how glib or learned I am, without love I am nothing but noise.

When people speak in so called tongues in the church no one can understand them they don't even know what they are saying.

1Corinthians 14:6 says " But at this time, brothers, if I should come speaking to YOU in tongues, what good would I do YOU unless I spoke to YOU either with a revelation or with knowledge or with a prophecy or with a teaching?

Acts 5-11 As it was, there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, reverent men, from every nation of those under heaven. 6 So, when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Indeed, they were astonished and began to wonder and say: “See here, all these who are speaking are Gal·i·le′ans, are they not? 8 And yet how is it we are hearing, each one of us, his own language in which we were born? 9 Par′thi·ans and Medes and E′lam·ites, and the inhabitants of Mes·o·po·ta′mi·a, and Ju·de′a and Cap·pa·do′ci·a, Pon′tus and the [district of] Asia, 10 and Phryg′i·a and Pam·phyl′i·a, Egypt and the parts of Lib′y·a, which is toward Cy·re′ne, and sojourners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cre′tans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues about the magnificent things of God.”

1Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails. But whether there are [gifts of] prophesying, they will be done away with; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

Whenever someone was speaking in tongues the persons around them understood. Well the people today don't even understand what they are saying so I don't think it is a gift from God because he tells us that it will cease. The bible is written so why would anyone need to do this now. If it's not God doing this then you could probably guess who is having you do this. (Satan)

2Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light.

No no no. Speaking in tongues, in the spiritual sense doesn't at all mean speaking in different languages. Its speaking in the tongues of the angels, so no human on earth can really understand it. Only pure spirits can understand it (God, angels, whatever). Humans are no where near perfect, so that means that our speech to God (when we pray) is no where near perfect. That's not to say that God doesn't hear or understand our prayers, because he does. When humans speak in tongues, they are kinda like speaking purely to God. It's hard to explain. But anyways, its completely a "gift" from the Holy Spirit.

Tongues is the evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and yes it is a gift from God all you have to do is ask and accept this gift after being born again in faith.

Not that you'll believe me when I say this... But "speaking in tongues" is a cheap parlor trick that a 5 year old could fake. If you really believe these Church of God people, then I guess I'd be wasting my time explaining this any further.

There are many women out there who know that tongues ARE a special gift. A heavenly gift, if you will.

No such thing.... No proof other than the bible which is hardly factual

You are so right!