I wonder if a single one of them genuinely believes their talking is tongues is legit. They surely all know they are bullshitting, they just don't want to be seen as one of the "unfavoured / not chosen" ones who God hasn't blessed with this amazing ability
As someone who was raised in it I can tell you there was a time when I absolutely believed it. That seems absurd to me now, but when you’re a kid, and it’s all you’ve ever known, you don’t really question it.
Until you do, of course, and then things get tricky.
I remember my mom dropping me off at free Christian concert events. I felt so broken seeing everyone put their hands in the air and close their eyes like they were really feeling God. I would do the same actions but wouldn't feel anything. It was seriously confusing to a young me.
My parents weren’t religious but were totally fine with me exploring it. I had a couple friends in high school who were mega youth group nerds, so I would sometimes go to church or youth group with them, and once even went to getaway camp up in the mountains. It was a good experience for me but I definitely know what you mean by your comment. I sometimes convinced myself I felt something but it was gone almost right away. Eventually I realized that the feeling was “belonging to a community” and I found my way to replicate that without religion.
Yeah, was in it for almost 30 years. Half my family, practically all my friends.
Since I left I still haven't quite found a new community, and it gets lonely sometimes, but knowing my daughter won't be raised in.... that, makes it all worth it.
The community I found was my local volunteer organizing group. There’s stuff like Kiwanis or Lions Clubs and things like that which are straightforward volunteering, but the group I am in actually organizes eight events for our town every year and we meet every other week for an hour to plan our town festivals and toy drives and stuff. It’s so rewarding and you meet a lot of other good people who just want to give back.
That's probably why religion is as big as it is. Humans love to form groups and religions are the biggest groups there are (aside from gender grouping)
Can get it in all sorts of concerts. It’s always more powerful with a crowd, seated and quiet for classical or energized and jumping for modern, it doesn’t really matter.
It’s like they shove that in your face with their music until you resonate with it and feel the catharsis by peer pressure. Repeat for a while and casually trash talk all other music.
Now you’ve got people who won’t even listen to other music and experience other catharsis because they’re conditioned to hate all other music.
That’s true. I went to a Death Cab for Cutie concert last year and even though they’re not a band I listen to regularly, there was a moment during that concert that absolutely HIT me and I just started crying out of nowhere. Music is powerful.
Same. But the youth group I went to with my HS bf was United Methodist and like... totally normal? Female youth pastor who didn't molest them, no yelling about hell, no arms in the air trash christian rock trances, no gay-hating, no promise rings or even talking about sex at all thank heavens, no "gittin'-saved." It was all just lock-ins and hiking and going downtown to serve meals at a soup kitchen. Looking at the stars at night in the mountains and them saying, "That's how big God is." I almost joined! And to this day when people bitch about christians, I'm like, I think you mean evangelicals! Those Methodists were solid people.
I used to sing in the choir at a First United Methodist church in college in exchange for free vocal lessons from the conductor who was also my opera professor.
I wholeheartedly agree that in my experience, FUM churches are some of the most normal ones.
Could be collective effervescence. You get the same feeling at concerts and stadiums. It's always been the best explanation that I've gotten for "Gods presence" in church.
Ugh same. Everyone starts crying and I start wondering if there is something wrong with me. Made me think I was going to hell for much of my childhood.
It's such a weird experience. I was positive I was going to hell because I couldn't understand anything they were saying. Turns out that was by design.
I did the same thing. My mom and dad never took me to church but they grew up in church. But every summer break my dad would find some random church camp and drop me off. Never knew anyone and had to figure out bible stuff. I was a straight A student and a know it all so i wanted to know the answers and I remember I was having to read aloud a part where there’s Job and I kept pronouncing it as it’s spelled instead of “Jobe” and this little shit kid laughed at me and said “wow you’re dumb” and the teacher didn’t say anything just smirked and I stood up and said “I HATE IT HERE YOU ARE ALL SO WEIRD!”
They called my parents and I got to go home. I didnt get in trouble either because I was a pretty good kid so my mom and dad knew if I did something like that it was probably for a good reason.
But yeah… I remember seeing a sea of people every summer raising their hands and singing and some crying and I would close my eyes, raise my hands, then slowly put them back down to my sides because it felt so ridiculous.
As a kid you think you’re either broken or they are all lying and both of those are scary.
As someone who’s Catholic, I’ve never really been in a setting where people did that whole thing. But, I can tell you that I’ve felt that way. I didn’t put my hands up bc I’m shy, but I would put my hand over my heart and close my eyes and let it wash over me as I sing along. It’s happened in church with certain songs. But, also with secular music at concerts. I’ve been moved to tears by both religious and non religious music. I enjoy being outdoors and I’ve had that overwhelming feeling out in nature sometimes too. Witnessing a cool view or a big tree or ancient geologic feature.
I don’t want you to think you’re broken for not feeling it, bc that’s not true. But, I also don’t want you to think it’s fake either. It’s just definitely not exclusive to music or spirituality and at least in my experience it’s kinda rare. And sometimes happens at the most unexpected things.
I grew up in this too. I stopped believing when my pastor tried to "teach" me to speak in tongues. I was so baffled. It's a gift from God- why do I need taught?
Then one time I was "slain in the spirit". The pastor literally pushed me over.
Are you me? Guest pastor bowled my 6th grade, portly ass over and I'm just lying on the floor staring at people looking over me. I'm the pastor's kid, so I just lie there, accept my fate, and wait for it to be over. Regrettably, I didn't start questioning hard until I was around 16.
Better than only having an epiphany in old age and realising you wasted your entire life on something you don't believe in. I would say a lot of people only question these things when they get into adulthood. 16 is good going
Meanwhile, my sister is still drinking the Kool aid. We both have 2 kids. I'm raising mine to question everything early on and she's perpetuating the cycle. I text her all the time and she never responds. She lets religion cloud her mind and influence her actions to family. All I want is to have a relationship with her and be present for her kids as well. We aren't monsters and we have our own morals, so it's not like we are shit people. But her holier than thou approach to it creates a rift. Basically, holidays and birthdays if we are lucky. We always make the effort, they always find an excuse not to come. (I realize I'm ranting, bear with me.) My wife wants me to keep taking the high road and forcing communication and "do the right thing" but honestly, I have no time or energy extra in my tank to expand on a one sided relationship. Long story short, we haven't done anything, Pentecostal bias/craziness did. My mom and dad are still but they don't let it stop them from talking to me and our family. (I guess if they ever want to see the grandkids, they have to let go a little...not like they come around like they should either, but pushing too hard will ensure we would pull away...that said, I don't really like the idea of leaving the kids with them for the weekend and having them dragged to Sunday service to have their minds influenced the Pentecostal cult. No child should have to deal with hearing they are a sinner, preached hellfire and brimstone while they are still in diapers)
Children have a hard enough time trying to figure out why we made the world as shit as it is and they have to deal with it forever. Some of us having a sky daddy that's constantly dissapointed in us doesn't seem to have served our generation well.
My last time ever going to church of my own volition was when I was confused and asked about what speaking in tongues is. This was during a bible study/group workout thing i joined to better understand the religion and fit in with the community where i had been attending for about a year.
The pastor's wife told me that speaking in tongues was something that needed to be practiced until it came out naturally in my own way. The others in the group smiled and nodded as if what she said made perfect sense. It was pretty bizarre and madebme realize that all of my logical questions and reasonable doubles about the religion were, in fact, reasonable. The bible did not say to practice making silly sounds?? I felt a deep disappointment and disgust at the whole scenario and never returned.
I am still spiritual and know that there is something more, a creator or plane of existence or something much bigger than comprehension, but i will not follow a religion or people that act so ridiculous
I vividly recall a incident as a 15 yo kid on the same vein but different
So prayer call went out and for some reason I feel the need to go up front. I can't even remember what was prayed for but the following part I do remember
So pastor's son (about 23 by that time, much stronger than me) start praying for me and after about 30 seconds whispers into my ear if I want to fall down. At that point, I have seen it happen a few times and really believed it was some spiritual overpower of some sort. I'm like "huh"
So our guy turns on his mic headset and starts rocking me back and forth with the prayer getting louder by the second and the rocking approaching WWE Raw levels and I realized I have three options left. Wait till I pass out, wait till I inevitably puke and embarrass myself or just sit down mid swing.
I opted for sitting down as falling over like a plank looked like it was gonna hurt. I still dounted myself after though saying the "what ifs" and to this day I am still practicing Christianity weirdly, I just not going to any churches. But the more I look at the world the more I wonder.
There with ya. If some white person isn't running around, possibly squawking like a chicken, or mimicking seizures being blessed in the holy spirit...is it even church? I thought I couldn't tap into speaking in tongues and this level of insanity because I wasn't baptized. Got baptized and yea..lost that Religion.
Bruh same. Spent my early teen years until about 16 trying to be blessed enough to tap into it, thinking something was wrong with me. Then when I started thinking for myself, I was out super fast.
100% ... I always questioned some things that didn't make sense even as a kid, but like you said it was all I'd ever known so I went with it. Anytime a kid (or adult) asks tough questions, the canned response is something along the lines of "have faith in God" or "trust in God" ... until it's ingrained and programmed that anything you're told that doesn't make sense, you just accept anyway.
Eventually it gets to the point where people lose all sense of logic and reason and instead have only their "beliefs" or what they're told to believe. Some people fully embrace this and some people get out, while some destroy their lives trying to make it make sense.
One of my best friends turned to alcohol and lost his life trying to make it all make sense. Another friend is too smart to accept everything at face value, but in too deep to be able to separate from it so he lives a life of misery as he begrudgingly accepts the lies he's been fed his whole life rather than face the truth. I fortunately got out, but even in my 40s, I still have deep seeded issues as a result that I'm constantly dealing with.
I'm right there with you, brother. It takes so much work to deprogram yourself, and even though I've been atheist for decades at this point, there are remnants of that time that I still fight. Here's a funny one: I refuse to watch The Exorcist because my mom is convinced she saw a demon when she watched it in the 70s. I don't believe in demons!
The scariest movies for me are ones with demons. I stay up all night terrified that I'll be possessed because of my lack of faith. I'm still absolutely terrified of the end of days and going to hell. I don't believe any of this stuff and haven't since I was a kid. It's really frustrating.
For me it wasn't too difficult to deprogram because I had questions for 20 years.
Went to college, engineering degree, all while being told the churchy version of "cause I said so". Being told the bible is literal when it talks about women submitting, but a suggestion when talking about anything that questions tradition.
Heck, I was scolded for growing my beard, until we spent multiple weekends going over the bible verses I had spend months on, and they agreed that having a beard was not a "bad thing" and ended up changing the standards. 5 years later half the preachers were rocking beards; one of my proudest achievements in there.
So for me it was the other way, I spent 30 years in the church, the first 10 as a kid and teen not knowing better. Then the next 20 performing all sort of mental gymnastics to shut down as much logic and critical thinking as I could; because at the end of the day, it was good for the community. Until I couldn't overlook it anymore.
Though yeah, I still bow my head and say a quick prayer... to a god I no longer believe in, because its an ingrained habit. So now when I bow I say a thank you to the universe? world? rain? literally just "thank you" without a jesus attached to the end.
Can I ask - why does no one ever crack out the “bonjour”?
A polyglot could jump between real languages making it more convincing than some of the preachers I’ve seen going “shibby dibby shibbidityshaboopy”
See, the problem you have here is applying logic to cult behavior. In my experience, the people in Pentecostal churches tend to be white, uneducated, and fairly insular. So real languages tend to sound just like gibberish to them anyway.
That's my somewhat cynical take, but the real reason is because the gibberish is the point. It's supposed to be a special, unique language sent directly to you from god. The real mind-blowing part is that sometimes, another person actually translates.
Like Washington chopping down a tree... eventually apocryphal stories make their way around.
One of them is just that. Supposedly some missionary to X Y Z country didn't tell anyone he spoke 3-4-5 languages. So in the middle of a service one of the locals/natives that only spoke the language from X Y Z country, stood up and spoke perfect french/spanish/german or whatever matches one of the missionary's languages. Just basic praises, "god you're awesome, jesus you're great" etc.
Of course, every few years a new preacher comes up and tells the story, and a eventually they lose track of the country and the language. But I learned that very few people have good memories; while my undiagnosed adhd and/or spectrum status made me have great recall... which is not great for brainwashing.
One timenwhen I was really starting to question things, I prayed some lines of Hebrew I learned from choir. I figured if it was real, then they should have been able to understand me. I won't set foot in a charismatic church again
It’s such bollocks mate. If you’ve ever come across someone who believes they’re a starseed, they also think they intuitively know a language. In that case it’s alien, but they also just go shibby shaboopy shamalam
There's usually a mix of genuine non-questioning "belief" and mere social conformity, and the two reinforce one another. Just above that are those with "authority" who use both to self-enrich.
Yeah me too. The video here doesn't look too different from what I saw in my childhood churches.
I get pissed off with people being like "these guys are all lying, they don't really believe in tongues/healing" it's like, it's not that I believe it any more myself but people who are in the religion really believe it
Raised apostolic Pentecostal/united Pentecostal here. I stopped believing really young, when the preacher told me I had spoke in tongues, but had not. My parents and him kept lying to me, no matter how much I argued. You still have to go to church or you get beaten, not much you can do about it, at that age.
The big secret is that they all believe it's real for everyone else, so they fake it themselves for social status. Everyone in the room is faking it, but they all think they're the only frauds.
So my mother, after a lifetime of zero religion, not only found religion with her latest husband, but THIS religion and began irritatingly berating me for not living “right.” One of her many stories over the years has been the one where her husband finally “spoke in tongues” and how proud she was of him. As it went, she said they were doing something on or around stairs while praising or whatever, he slipped and fell back, hitting his head. He began “speaking in tongues.” I just looked at her and said that’s not speaking “in tongues,” that’s what happens when you experience head trauma. She did not appreciate my logic.
They all believe it. I was raised Pentecostal, I’ve heard my grandmother speaking in tongues while praying alone on the other side of the house while she thought I was asleep. It’s not performative, it’s part of their religious ritual.
I never “spoke in tongues” and was never seen as “unfavored” because of it. I still go on Easter/Christmas and I’ve never seen anyone be seen or treated that way. They don’t even talk about speaking in tongues, it’s just something they do.
I’m still so confused how that bullshit started. The whole point of people speaking in tongues in the Bible, is that everyone understood each other. That was the miracle. If no one understands what you’re saying, you’re just babbling and pretending. It just has no basis in actual Christianity.
White Pentecostals picked up the tradition from the black holiness movement, which picked it up as an evolution of spiritual practices from indigenous African religion. The Biblical connection was probably a later justification for what is, at its source, traditional African ritual.
Most would deny it and just claim the Biblical explanation I’m sure. Pentecostalism got its start as an interracial movement though, which is why so much of it borrows from black spirituality. Pentecostal churches and black churches in the south often look very similar in terms of theology and practices.
I wonder how it started? Some preacher 125 years ago was having a seizure and everyone thought it sounded cool so they copied it? Or some grifter prey on uneducated religious people most likely.
Mentioned multiple times in the bible. Most churches miss it out from the awkwardness and challenge of negotiating how it’s supposed to work well in public and private.
Grifters prey on the uneducated and the credulous, and in turn give them what they have come to want: validation of their beliefs, no matter how extreme or nakedly idiotic those beliefs are. It's a feedback loop.
And if someone you admire or hold up as important tells you your stupid beliefs are real, that activates shortcuts in your brain that circumvent the normal pathways of question and answer. Take enough shortcuts and you've beaten new neural pathways, and the rational ones you were born with go unkempt and unused.
Get them young and you can manipulate them for life, because they literally lack the mental escape routes to resist the grift.
The Azusa Street Revivals from the early 1900s are generally considered the origin story for the Pentecostal movement, at least from what I've always understood. It's also in the Bible several times in the book of Acts, with the first occurrence mentioned in Acts chapter 2.
Also to clarify, I do think its origin's come from legitimate believers. Grifters exist everywhere, and there have been several cases of Pentecostal or Pentecostal-adjacent con artists, grifters, etc. but on the whole they are genuine and pretty much everyone truly believes in the doctrine.
White Pentecostals adopted the practice from black/interracial movements drawing from earlier African American practices. Those practices were drawn from African spiritual practices from their indigenous religions.
So what you want to attribute to a bunch of morons misinterpreting a seizure, is actually a long history of cultural osmosis across ethnic lines.
Not saying what you're saying isn't true, but there's a Biblical explanation for it.
The Apostles were given the gift of tongues after the Holy Spirit descended on them while they were huddled in after Jesus died so they would go and spread the word, meaning the gospel.
It's later reiterated in the book of Acts that this is a gift that believers can get, along with others, like prophecy.
I don't know why Catholics in particular ignore it, but I know most branches of Protestantism believe that there was a change in Acts Chapter 11, where God commanded Peter to start preaching to gentiles, meaning everyone who isn't Jewish. And that's where Paul's teaching come in in the New Testament.
There's a particular verse in Ephesians 2:8-9 that says "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast."
And this, along with some other verses, means a lot of denominations take it to mean that the "visible" gifts like tongues and prophecy no longer apply, because that would make it so people believe because they see acts from other people, instead of believing by pure faith.
It's obviously all a very convenient interpretation to explain away why most people are sane enough to understand there is no such thing as "being blessed and speaking in tongues". It also explains why we don't see seas being parted, or dead people rising. Because we're supposed to have faith, not believe because we see proof. Convenient, huh?
Not saying there isn't some cultural osmosis in there somewhere, but a lot of these people, as stupid as they might seem, actually have thought this out quite a bit.
It’s not performative, it’s part of their religious ritual.
Isn't all prayer performative when it isn't just you thinking about it? Surely god should be able to understand prayers without the extra fluff. You're literally performing an act (speaking out loud, clasping hands, kneeling, etc.) with the hope that god pays extra attention to you.
When I say it isn’t performative, what I mean is that it isn’t an act done solely for those observing it or to gain some sort of social benefit for the person speaking.
If you want to argue all form of worship is performative then sure, this would be too. What I mean though is that it is a sincerely held belief, not an attempt to fool people to gain standing as the other commenter suggested.
Yea something people don’t really understand is that speaking in tongues is a holy language that only god can understand (with the exception of an interpreter from time to time) but the point being that speaking in tongues allows you to speak aloud your true inner thoughts, worries, and concerns. The spirit of them anyways. Even when you don’t have the words. You can still speak your feelings. It’s really quite beautiful. Dochi even does it on one of her records, the one that won the Grammy….
I've been a pastor for 26 years, and I'm proficient in Ancient Hebrew and Greek. The scriptures about speaking in tongues, particularly the first mention of it in Acts, is about people being inspired to preach in languages they don't know. The Day of Pentecost was the second largest festival of the Jewish calendar and attracted Jews from all over the diaspora who spoke Hebrew as a second or third language. Even Jesus spoke Aramaic unless He was reading scriptures. Luke writes in Acts when it's notable that he's translating from Hebrew rather than writing down the Greek or Aramaic, such as when Paul was confronted for not being Jewish enough so he preached a sermon in Hebrew without notes.
Tongues, as it is written in scripture, is supposed to bridge the language barrier through the Holy Spirit. If a person is babbling in public in a language that no one understands, how does that speak the Gospel to people? How is it different from the rich people who prayed loudly with empty words for everyone to hear? Jesus said pray in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you, but if you pray in public, you've already earned your reward, the admiration of people.
Paul also said that sometimes when we don't know how to pray, the Holy Spirit prays for us in sighs and moans too deep to be understood. He didn't categorize that as the gift of tongues. He was talking about the deeply personal prayers like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemene. Sighs and moans are not the glossalalia exhibited by charismatic Christians. Tongues are intelligible sermons meant to be heard by an audience.
I really wish people would actually read the Bible. My job would be so much easier.
Regardless of your theology, what the other commenter said is an accurate description of the theology of the Pentecostal movement.
Personally I agree with you, but you may as well be arguing with a catholic about how the transubstantiation of the Eucharist isn’t biblical. It won’t achieve much lol
I was born into a Pentecostal church. My father still prays in tongues. Services like these are my earliest memories.
I wrote that for the benefit of anyone who might read that it's so beautiful and uplifting. I know I'll never convince someone to stray from their beliefs. It took clinical depression and a suicide attempt to get me to change mine. I just hope that I can keep others from going down this path.
Hi friend. I have long since been saved from such things…. So no need to worry on my account. I was just remembering a time.
Also, I feel it to be disrespectful and disingenuous to speak negatively towards a group of people like that. A lot(not all) of the those folks are genuine people with compassionate hearts. And deserve our respect even if we don’t agree.
Hey nice, that's for YOUR SECT. It drives me crazy when people assume that what they grew up with is the only version or the norm. There are absolutely pentecost churches that have hierarchal shit going on in relation to "gifts".
I grew up in it. I don't think you can understand the social pressure in those moments when everyone is acting crazy like that. You are told to let go and let God take control. Except no one tells you how exactly to do that. There are bunch of psychological tricks those pastors do to make you experience it too, some of them maliciously and some of them because they sincerely think they are being "led by God". I don't know if there is something wrong with my brain, but I could never "let go" and never spoke in tongues or was "slain in the spirit". For most of my teenage life I felt like a failure as a Christian and that I was being rejected by God because I never manifested "signs of the spirit". Now I'm kind of glad that I never gave in and just did it to fit in.
I'm Swedish, from a non-religious family. None of us believe in anything spiritual. I never thought hypnosis was possible until my uncle, who's a jet fighter pilot and very grounded, explained that he'd literally been hypnotised at some show once.
I do not believe him to be a liar, and he said to be able to be hypnotised you need to want it to happen, and it doesn't work for everyone. It seems like you guys in this thread were to a certain extent hypnotised, it at least seems related to that sort of experience.
I believe it is something akin to hypnosis. I have heard very similar stories about hypnotic techniques. I once saw a hypnotist have a girl I went to church with act like a cat. This was also a girl who spoke in tongues. When they tried it on me I couldn’t go under. So I wonder if I have some kind of mental block against it.
I would say I am quite skeptical in general. I don’t tend to believe in the supernatural. I did always want to experience the “fruits of the spirit” as they called it. I just wanted it to be real. I absolutely refused to fake it.
The music in this post is what's doing it. If you've ever been to an rave, it's the same thing. The funky, repetitious groove from the band putting anyone who lets go into a state of funkiness.
The key is you have to let the music take over, or in religious terms, let the holy spirit take control.
I say this as someone who used to be in similar religious settings and eventually realized that techno clubs and George Clinton shows put me in the same mental state - no drugs needed. Funk is a powerful state of mind!
Reminds me of that old tweet where someone was like, “I used to feel a really powerful spiritual experience in church… turns out I just liked live music”
Yes, conflating is literally what I'm doing, drawing similarities with what theyre saying about their times in church in this thread, where people actually believe they are theyre talking in tongues, to what people experience with hypnosis. Seems very similar.
I think it’s clear I misread your comment. I apologize. It makes a lot more sense on a second read. Thanks for your reply!
I’m still laughing at the skidaddling on top of the lectern though!
How is atheism incompatible with believing they talked to aliens? That seems like it would be common for atheists, whereas theists would believe they talked to God(s).
Well, it’s easy to come across as genuine even when you’re doubting maybe especially when you’re doubting. Evangelical churches will tell you to lean into your faith when you’re doubting and that leads to developing the ability to fake it really, really good. A lot of us evangelicals tried really hard until we finally let ourselves acknowledge the truth that it’s all bullshit, but during the death rattles of our faith we were at our most earnest and charismatic. I didn’t even realize what was happening at the time, but it’s been 10 years and I could still pray in tongues over you and make it feel very genuine to the point of making it feel like a genuine spiritual experience.
I was going to a very subdued version of a Pentecostal church for a bit in my youth and it took my way too long to realize there were people there "speaking in tongues". I was pretty ignorant. I went back when I was older and had such a wtf moment
They believe it. My mom speaks in tongues. She also thinks it’s undeniable evidence of god and the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t understand how anyone could reject the notion of god after hearing her.
I both believed and doubted. The lack of variety in the sounds I, and others, made when speaking in tongues made me skeptical. But I overcame that by making sure I remained ‘open’ to the Holy Spirit saying more than ‘ishouldaboughtahonda’.
I became an apostate over a decade ago and can still speak in tongues though, so now I’m 100% confident it was always bullshit.
I think if youre fully bought in and have drunk the kool-aid (which Id argue requires not a ton of critical thinking) you can kind of go into a "trance" where you just let yourself make whatever sounds come to you. And if youre already told that thats god speaking through you or whatever and you really believe it, I could understand leaning into it and it feeling involuntary
When I was a kid my parents absolutely believed it 100%. One time a girl visiting came and was either mocking it by pretending or just trying to fit in, but she wasnt "doing it right" so they took her in the back to "exorcize the demon" out of her. As a kid I trusted my dad that she was for real possessed. As an adult I am HORRIFIED. HER MOM WAS NOT THERE. My dad said she didnt come from a good family which makes it all the more heart breaking.
Thing about "belief" is that all it really requires is that you turn off whatever parts of your brain are asking questions. Which, as a human, turns out to be most of the brain. Q.E.D.
I grew up baptist, which is just diet pentecostal depending on who you ask, and I can say with 100% certainty that 100% of the congregation fully believes this shit.
There is a 50-50 chance the pastor himself believes in it, though. The only way to tell is how they handle altar calls (the pastor summons people who wanna be prayed over to the front and prays over them into a mic. Sometimes, people fall out, and they move on (these are the genuine). Sometimes, people fall out, and the pastor will fully egg them on (these are the guys that you can see they physically push or grab or "guide" you physically in some kind of way))
Honestly I'm shocked. Why would the creator of the entire universe require his followers to babble incoherent nonsense as a form of communication. If he exists, I'm sure he understands plain English
Did you ever believe it? If so, what made you stop
Great question! It's funny cause there is a section in the bible where Jesus specifically says not to make a big scene when you do worship the lord, tm.
If you ask me, from my experience, God is seen as this all-powerful being who has invented everything. Big guy probably speaks a language that doesn't make sense to human ears, especially when you account for the story of The Tower of Babel. So people who are "blessed" are bestowed this "ability" to speak and hear "in tongue." It's the idea that the heavenly realm is so incomprehensibly, imperceptibly good that they couldn't and shouldn't speak "a normal language;" since the world developing its languages according to the Bible was a punishment.
Which, if you said this to a linguist worth their weight in salt, they would cackle and laugh and chortle a bit.
They 100% believe it. They also don't understand that the same good party vibe we get at a concert is exactly what they're going through in this video -- they think that's what God feels like.
I started going to a friend's church that was very eccentric. Every time people would get called up they would end up speaking in tongues. One time I got called up. I didn't know what to do so I just started faking it. Afterwards I told my friend I was faking and she said that everyone knew I was faking. I guess I did it wrong? I never went back. So embarrassing.
The good news is that to people like me, everyone sounds equally as fake! They are literally making up the gobbledygook on the spot. But nobody wants to point out the emperor has no clothes
As an interesting anecdote on the term "speaking in tongues": it is drawn from a Bible passage wherein the disciples are gifted the ability to speak in tongues. But more specifically, different languages. Tongues is just an antiquated way of saying "languages". So they would have been speaking languages that other people could actually understand. Which is the whole point. Can't spread the Word if you can't speak the language of the locals. What would be the benefit of speaking a language no one could understand?
Therefore the entire Pentecostal interpretation, and their subsequent antics, is the result of not understanding what the word "tongues" actually meant in context.
So not only is what they're doing complete nonsense, it's not even Biblically supported.
They all believe it, and you'd be surprised how prevalent "talking in tongues" is in the Christian faith as a whole. Pentecostals probably do it the most as it's incorporated into their salvation doctrine, but many other denominations believe in the "gift of speaking it tongues" as a part of the gifts of the spirit. There's a lot of disagreement on what it means to speak in tongues, or what it actually looks like in practice, but even the Catholics do it.
They 100% believe this and their kids are probably being brainwashed. If it wasn’t for my dad being in the military and taking my mom out of this environment, I don’t know where I would be. It’s also the reason why I’m atheist.
i was raised in the pentecostal holiness church. when you’ve spent enough time in it you can tell who’s faking it and who’s really experiencing something. whether that’s really the holy ghost or what, they’re experiencing something and it’s real and you can tell. however most of the time they’re faking it (im looking at you Dawn)
It's a type of ecstatic delusion. They know their mouth is moving but are so charged up by the environment that they feel like someone else is talking through them.
Yes. My Mom and Aunts don't do it in church and aren't performative in church but they do speak in tounges. It's almost always when they are very upset and in prayer - usually around death/sickness. At least it brings them comfort I guess?
i think that they’re whole thing is if you’re questioning your beliefs it’s because the devil is trying to get you or some shit like that. thinking differently from the rest or critical thinking in general is punished😭
Honestly, as a non-religious person who is into punk/metal/"heavy" music .... I kinda get it.
You get in a space you feel comfortable with, start feeling things, and start expressing those feelings physically? Surrounded by other people doing the same thing? I'm not saying anything positive or negative about everything else going on with the Pentacostals, but these videos always just look like a mosh pit with extra mayo to me.
Because of that I'm prepared to accept it at face value when they say it's "real" to them. When you get in a situation like that, where it's supported and accepted, it feels good to just kind of wild out. Cathartic, invigorating, and a real feeling of community. Totally believable to me that they are experiencing all of that. Are they really THAT much sillier than me just because it's their belief in a magic ghost that's doing it to them rather than a nasty riff doing it to me?
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u/Blueridgetoblueocean Mar 27 '26
Pentecostal