Heber C Kimball Biography - Speaking In Tongues = Language Of Adam

[MDalby]

I had never really understood the whole speaking in tongues gift. This little snippet kinda helps.

We saw brother Joseph Smith and had a glorious time; during which Brother Brigham spoke in tongues before Joseph, this being the first time he (Joseph) had heard anyone speak in tongues. He (Joseph) rose up and testified that the gift was from God, and then the gift fell upon him and he spoke in tongues himself. He afterwards declared it was the pure, or Adamic language that he spoke. Soon after this the gift of tongues commenced in the Church at Kirtland generally.

(Life of Heber C Kimball, 28)

I guess the speaking in tongues is just a more pure language and more pure manner of communication. We hear there are different gifts and the missionaries also learning languages so easily is another element of this gift but this was interesting to me.

MD

[Questing Beast]

Very "unMormon" shortly thereafter. The speaking in tongues was a brief enthusiasm. Iirc, it was BY who encouraged the Saints to stop doing it in their meetings. It had gotten out of hand, I guess, with all manner of wannabe demonstrations that had nothing whatsoever to do with revelation....

[CV75]

This is all I have to say about that:

ZcNceBfNpR

hRzBduwIPD

CadHeDiuib

AeUrciCSUP

acSbFConvR

dqupprhzpI

ZAphEsTFvx

YxomANYolw

VVpmripxVC

MebzIyMjAf

xPwYVmqrKT

izHHeCkAwc

AaUJwIjtDJ

gAbRArfEsn

WZAYUUiaBP

ucnKqfpruO

aCUOWzBaSX

CjPqHCgDLZ

xypLjwqgOZ

spADKljZwt

xqNfkcbDOp

AfKPFXirSD

OMNZkoWIeA

QimanIxWUk

DJChIoGgCM

uzEJhuObUx

gYMgxygvax

pklyjPVIuF

amRzorwQPO

RReNkYWDaH

GGQTepoqkU

LJlXfvgMza

kuYjQLSIpZ

grGLtxKEEN

qTOvakTJEw

RNJAVnEYci

NMqNQanZWe

omnlWRDHjj

fJxHjpcVud

ehcSAwmqOx

[strappinglad]

and I would not hesitate to add...that the Adamic language has some similarity to the English language. Note: Ahman and Son Ahman and Adam-ondi- Ahman. As a side note. If you think you speak English , you are wildly optimistic . Most people have a vocabulary of 15,000 words. There are estimated to be upwards of a million words in the English language. In other words , a person could speak to you in perfect English and you would not be able to understand anything except the odd article or preposition .

[The Nehor]

and I would not hesitate to add...that the Adamic language has some similarity to the English language. Note: Ahman and Son Ahman and Adam-ondi- Ahman. As a side note. If you think you speak English , you are wildly optimistic . Most people have a vocabulary of 15,000 words. There are estimated to be upwards of a million words in the English language. In other words , a person could speak to you in perfect English and you would not be able to understand anything except the odd article or preposition .

Fortunately people who use all the rest of the words in English (presumably to sound intelligent) are pretentious douchebags and not understanding them is in fact a blessing.

Very "unMormon" shortly thereafter. The speaking in tongues was a brief enthusiasm. Iirc, it was BY who encouraged the Saints to stop doing it in their meetings. It had gotten out of hand, I guess, with all manner of wannabe demonstrations that had nothing whatsoever to do with revelation....

I think the main reason it does not happen anymore is no one is asking for it to happen. I encourage everyone here to start praying for a new Pentecost. Not only would it be spiritually enlightening but it would be FUN!!!! Who is with me?!?!?!?!?

[strappinglad]

"Fortunately people who use all the rest of the words in English (presumably to sound intelligent) are pretentious douchebags and not understanding them is in fact a blessing."

I think most of the words are occupation specific ie. medical, technical jargon etc. I have heard some interesting vocabulary on the British program Qi( a bit raunchy however )( more than a bit at times)

Edited August 6, 2013 by strappinglad

[Storm Rider]

It appears that speaking in tongues has periodically been a gift among those that follow Christ, but it has also, and imnsho has been one of those most easily and most often imitated. As a young man in Key Club we visited other churches relatively often; none were more confusing than those where several people were speaking in tongues at the same time without any translation process occurring. It was mass chaos and very unsettling. It would be one of those situations where you really need to seek the Spirit.

[Freedom]

The only example I know of in the scriptures of speaking in tongues is in the book of Acts when all the people heard the gospel in their own language. I have never heard anybody speak the Adamic language, but I have personally experienced the gift of tongues when learning a second language as a missionary.

[Storm Rider]

The only example I know of in the scriptures of speaking in tongues is in the book of Acts when all the people heard the gospel in their own language. I have never heard anybody speak the Adamic language, but I have personally experienced the gift of tongues when learning a second language as a missionary.

This is the most common understanding of tongues within the LDS community. Glossolalia has a different meaning within other parts of Christianity and the Adamic language does not play a role. It is the more common speaking in an unknown tongue. Most have forgotten he need for an interpreter to be present and just focus on the individual who stands up and begins to speak. My experience is that it is not reserved for one person, but a number of different people can begin speaking in different areas of the congregation and away they go. I think history supports the early church had examples of speaking and interpreting in tongues. You may want to do a search of the NT for other books that discuss speaking in tongues; there are more. Just as in the early church so it is in the these latter days where events of speaking/interpreting in tongues is no longer common.

[Tacenda]

It appears that speaking in tongues has periodically been a gift among those that follow Christ, but it has also, and imnsho has been one of those most easily and most often imitated. As a young man in Key Club we visited other churches relatively often; none were more confusing than those where several people were speaking in tongues at the same time without any translation process occurring. It was mass chaos and very unsettling. It would be one of those situations where you really need to seek the Spirit.

I've never witnessed that kind of scene, could you give an example? Is it a variation of words? Willy nilly, so even the person saying it doesn't even know what they're saying, just that they feel the spirit?

[Questing Beast]

I remember in the BY movie, back in the early 80s iirc, there was a scene where BY's brother/friend took him to a meeting as an investigator, and the congregants were barking like dogs at each other. "What a church you've brought me to," was "BY's" response and he was disgusted/disappointed.

Probably that was just "artistic licence" to get across the point that BY was searching everywhere before he found JS.

In our ward, for years now, a young man from Tonga has preferred to finish his testimony, or to pray publicly in his native tongue. I find it pretentious, since he speaks perfectly understandable English. And as he has a rather irreverent sense of humor from time to time, I highly suspect that he has had us all on, spouting nonsense in his native lingo, because he's taken a good look around and sees nobody who could obviously understand a thing he says....

[cinepro]

I had never really understood the whole speaking in tongues gift. This little snippet kinda helps.

I guess the speaking in tongues is just a more pure language and more pure manner of communication. We hear there are different gifts and the missionaries also learning languages so easily is another element of this gift but this was interesting to me.

MD

Speaking in Tongues is an interesting example of a "gift" that has been lost from the Church. Here's what Teryl Givens said in his FAIR podcast, and I think it applies to Speaking in Tongues:

I think there's no question, just as the gifts faded in the primitive Church, so there seems to be a diminishment of the spiritual manifestations and gifts in the restored Church. To some extent, that's a function of any church that becomes institutionalized...normatized over time. And to some extent that was a deliberate strategy on the part of Church leaders who wanted to de-emphasize spiritual gifts.

I think it's a natural process, I think Mormons have accommodated themselves in some ways by changing the lexicon of scriptural resources that they use to identify or define the nature of spiritual experience. For example, instead of focusing on those Book of Mormon episodes where we have angelic visitations or interaction with angelic beings, we emphasize those verses that originally were given to Joseph Smith to describe the translation process, that have to do with feelings and impressions and stupors of thought.

And that has become the template, if you will, for revelation. So that's one way Mormons have accommodated themselves to a less charismatic church.

(15:18)

So that would explain why "Speaking In Tongues" has been reframed from "speaking in unknown languages" to "learning a foreign language really fast".

Here's an interesting comment from a Church member in 1904, as published in the Church's magazine the "Improvement Era":

James X. Allen, an early Utah physician, expressed his concerns in an Improvement Era article entitled "Passing of the Gift of Tongues":

I was somewhat startled a few days ago, while in conversation with a young brother who had just returned from a mission to Scandinavia, by hearing him remark that he had never in his life heard anyone speak in tongues.... He has filled an honorable mission, and is today strong in the faith, and yet, he has never heard and experienced one of the most common gifts of the gospel, as enjoyed years ago.

The remark was somewhat of a shock to me; because in the early days of the Church--where I was reared—there were so many of the Saints who enjoyed the gifts, and there were none among my acquaintances who had not heard the sweet sound of the gift of tongues. Many times there would be both speaking and singing in tongues, in the same sacrament meeting. The interpretation of tongues was equally as common as the tongues themselves. In fact, we were won't to regard the speaking in tongues, the interpretation of tongues, the relating of dreams and prophesying, as an essential part of the latter-day gospel.

If men now think they can get along without the gifts of the gospel, may not the time come when they may believe they can get along without its ordinances? (Allen 1904, 109, 111)

Dialogue, Vol.24, No.1, p.25

Edited August 6, 2013 by cinepro

[David T]

Speaking as someone who grew up Pentecostal, and experienced firsthand the experience of "Speaking in Tongues", let me give my current thoughts on the matter:

A) Many who experience are seeking after, and obtain what may be considered a 'spiritual experience'

B) This experience and enthusiasm is then channeled into a physical expression

C) Generally, many experiencing the euphoria of the 'spiritual experience' while willing vocalizations, are not actively choosing the words, giving the impression that they are 'not in control', so the assumption often is that it is God who is in control.

Understanding what I do from my experience and from what I understand from physiology, I think it is highly possible that many honestly seeking a spiritual experience through 'speaking in tongues' are indeed having a spiritual experience, and the evidence of this experience is indeed channeled through their physical body to utterances.

I do not believe that most occurrences of such things are any real language, human or angelic. I do see invidivuals who have this experience, and needing to explain the sounds they hear, giving it a sacred meaning. "It must be Adamic," or "it must be angelic". It adds a degree of symbolic sacredness to their experience, where they view themselves in union with the angels, or with unfallen man.

It is the best way I can understand and explain my past experiences. I fully understand why the Church distances itself from this practice and discourages its practice now a days. But I do think it makes perfect sense in an Early Church atmosphere where there was much excitement around recovering and understanding ancient languages (Egyptian project, etc).

[strappinglad]

It has been my experience that the spiritual gifts as well as spiritual and satanic manifestations, are most often present during the introduction of the gospel to a nation or people, particularly those people who are accepting of such.

[volgadon]

I recommend the superb discussion of Adamic language and such in Samuel Brown's "On Heaven as It is on Earth."

[danielwoods]

Some verses from 1 Corinthians that I though might be of interest:

^{1 Cor. 14: 2} For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

³ But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

⁴ He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

¹⁴ For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

¹⁸ I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:

³⁹ Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.