New Testament Roots

The phenomenon of "speaking in tongues" is mentioned several times in the Bible, but Baptists and other Christians disagree on whether such speech is spirit-filled in modern times.

The Bible in Acts 2, for example, describes the followers of Jesus Christ gathering on Pentecost after Christ ascended to heaven, when:

"...suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Most Southern Baptists believe that speaking in tongues also called glossolalia was a unique phenomenon bringing revelations to Christians during biblical times when written revelations didn't exist, says Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.

The New Testament now serves to bring Christians that full revelation instead, he said.

Southern Baptist pastors including Ron Phillips, pastor of Baptist-affiliated Abba House in Chattanooga, Tenn., disagree.

At 41, Phillips says he first experienced speaking in tongues in his sleep at a time in his life when he was discouraged and ready to quit the ministry.

"My wife woke me up and said, 'what in the world were you saying?'" he says. "I didn't know it, but I'd fallen asleep and the spirit started praying."

The spirit-filled language comes out in his private prayers to God, says Phillips, 58.

The Bible, Phillips says, "never says anywhere that the gifts of spirit, tongues or prophesy stops."

"I believe that God's alive and there's a spiritual world we can't see," he says. "It's kind of like a TV set that you've got to tune in to the right channel."

Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, says Southern Baptists who don't believe in the practice view those who do with some discomfort.

"Those who do not believe in speaking in tongues view those who practice speaking in tongues as babbling incoherently and expressing too much emotion."

-- Anita Wadhiwani, The Tennesseean