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Speaking in Tongues​—A Growing Phenomenon

“A POWER had taken ahold of my tongue and the words just flowed like water. What a joy it was! There was a feeling of supercleanliness. I have never been the same since,” exclaimed one who had the extraordinary experience of speaking in an “unknown tongue.”

There you have a person’s description of his first experience of speaking in an “unknown tongue.” ‘But what is that?’ some may rightly ask. It refers to a practice or belief in some churches whereby men and women claim to be moved by God’s spirit to speak in foreign or strange languages that they do not know.

It is a growing religious phenomenon. Once viewed as an occurrence exclusive to Pentecostal believers, speaking in tongues now transcends traditional denominational boundaries to include Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics. The condition of a person when in this state has been described as ecstasy, frenzy, trance, and hypnotic. Some even call it a hysterical experience. There is a mystique and charisma associated with speaking in tongues, or glossolalia.

Why the Desire Today for the Gift of Tongues?

In his book Tongues of the Spirit, Cyril G. Williams suggests that there may be a “correlation between a sense of failure, and the desire for ‘tongues.’” He describes it as a release mechanism that has “therapeutic value as a reducer of tension” and a “resolver of inner conflict.” Frustration in church work, emotional stress, failure in a career, bereavement, domestic tensions, or illness in the family are cited as factors that contribute to such ecstatic speech.

Similarly, in The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues, John P. Kildahl says that “anxiety is a prerequisite for developing the ability to speak in tongues.” Through personal research and careful interviewing, it was found that “more than 85% of the tongue-speakers had experienced a clearly defined anxiety crisis preceding their speaking in tongues.” For example, a mother wanted to speak in tongues so that she could pray for her son who was sick with cancer. A man began to speak in tongues during his period of indecision over an offered job promotion. A woman began speaking in tongues within a week after her husband joined Alcoholics Anonymous.

What Does One Experience?

Another who had spoken in tongues for the first time reported: “I felt a burning all through me, and chills and great beads of perspiration, a trembling and sort of a weakness in my limbs.” Associated with the tongue-speaking experience, there is often unusual behavior that some find disturbing. For instance, “one girl nearly choked on her own saliva as she stretched out on a chair, her neck resting on the back of it, her heels on the floor, her legs stiff.” During one congregation meeting “a man somersaulted from one end of the church to the other.”

“For some people,” writes Professor William J. Samarin, “speaking in tongues is a condition for being baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Without it, they are “made to feel a little incomplete.” It is viewed also “as an answer to prayer, an assurance of divine love and acceptance.” Others have said that it leaves them with a feeling of inner harmony, joy, and peace, and with a “greater sense of power” and “a stronger sense of identity.”

Is ecstatic speech really an evidence of the operation of the holy spirit? Does the experience distinguish a person as a true Christian? Is speaking in tongues a part of acceptable worship today? These questions deserve more than a cursory answer. Why? Because we want our worship to have God’s approval and blessing.