Glossolalia/Speaking in Tongues

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

still today

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I've seen these people on tv, and they're ridiculous beyond words. Screaming and running all over the place. I realize most religion leads people toward absurd manifestations, and that this one is relatively harmless, but if one wants respect for his faith, he needs to act like it's merited.

not all speaking in tongues is done in the midst of chaos

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

The church I attended as a child was invaded by pentacostals in the early 1990s - they would "pray in tongues" and it terrified me. My grandfather got into it, and he had a church group around they started praying in tongues and the lights went out - my mother shouted at them to stop, and the lights came back on.

I consider it on par to the ouija board - it's attempting to know and harness spiritual energy, and sometimes it's not good.

not all speaking in tongues is done in the midst of chaos

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

not all speaking in tongues is done in the midst of chaos

To be fair, Jmcfst is correct.  There are a small number of churches that believe the gift is extant today but practice rigid and strict controls on how it is exercised.  I attended one here in Fort Wayne for a couple years that would not permit anyone to speak in tongues or speak a word of knowledge in English before the congregation.  They were required to bring that word to the pastor and the board of elders.  They church leadership would then, through prayer and study of the Bible, determine if the tongue or word was Biblical.  If so, the pastor or an elder would deliver the translation of that word to the congregation.  I greatly admired this and thought it had much more integrity that what I had experienced in Assembly of God, Pentecostal and other such churches.

well, let's not cut off our nose to spite our face, basically it sounds like that church was forbidding the speaking of tongues during assembly, but that is not the instruction of the scripture:

1Cor 14:23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?...26 When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God....32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

That's a pretty simple instruction that maintains order, yet still allows for the speaking of tongues during church.  There ain't anything in that instruction that involves going before a board.