If you have attended as many Pentecostal church meetings as I have you will agree that what is seen in all of them is the habit of "SPEAKING" in Tongues.
It is a method of speaking in such a way that no one understands what is said.
No one interprets what is muttered.
Women it seems are the ones who do most of the "Tongues" noises.
Now, allow me to say that I have been there and done that. However as I grew older and actually READ what the Bible says it becmae very clear that what is seen today is NOT BIBLICAL tongues as recorded in the Bible.
Pentecostalism is a movement, and there are a number of Pentecostal denominations. There is some variety in how Pentecostal churches handle speaking in tongues. There are churches where everyone speaks in tongues at the same time. In some of the churches, everyone prays in English at the same time. This seems to be more common-praying at the same time-- in denominations that have roots in the Holiness movement in the Southeast or the Appalachian mountains.
There are other Pentecostal churches in which one person speaks in tongues, directed to the congregation, and someone else interprets. Some churches teach against preaching in tongues 'en masse' like that without interpretation.
Some Pentecostals argue that the instructions Paul gives in I Corinthians 14:27-28 are about a message in tongues directed at the congregation, not prayer. That does not make much sense to me as I Corinthians 14 treats tongues for prayer and interpreted tongues as the same phenomenon.
So then, instead of just accepting what we have been told or doing what we WANT to do, shall we actually see what the Bible does it fact say??????
Acts 2:7-11............
"And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."
Speaking in tongues is speaking in tongues whether those present understand it or not. The scenario Paul addressed was speaking in tongues in the congregation where those present do NOT understand the language.
I Corinthians 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.
Arguing that speaking in tongues is not real unless people present understand contradicts I Corinthians 14. Both scenarios can happen.
Most US Pentecostal churches have some sort of historical connection to Azusa Street. There were at least three Pentecostal revivals going on at the same time at the start of the movement. One was in India and is written up in the Azusa Street newsletter. There are many accounts in this newsletter __The Apostolic Faith___ of people hearing speaking in tongues and recognizing it as their own language or people speaking in tongues and others identifying the language, for example Armenian or a Canadian first nation's language. Prior to that in 1901, Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues and others identified the language as Bohemian. There are also cases of people recognizing both the tongue and confirming the interpretation. Val Dez wrote about this happening at Azusa Street in 'Fire on Azusa Street.' The Comforter Has Come tells of someone recognizing a message in 'tongues' at Azusa Street. One of the recently deceased professor Vincent Synan's interviews in the 1960's or '70's with individuals who were children at the revival shows a woman saying that what drew so many people to the revival were other people hearing their own languages there, Japanese, etc.
I have interacted with a number of people, online and in person, who either heard speaking in tongues in their own language or had a tongue they spoke identified as a foreign language someone else' knew.
Historically, the idea of speaking in an actual language is a Pentecostal belief, and it still is.
Notice the phrase in Acts 2:11, "our tongues." The crowds heard the Apostles preach in their own native tongues, not some unknown heavenly jibber jabber. There was NEVER any heavenly languages spoken that no one understood and required an interpreter.
Paul suggests the possibility of speaking in tongues of men and of angels in I Corinthians 13:1.
The "speaking in tongues" which the Pentecostals foolishly practice are UNKNOWN tongues, not anything found on earth.
That's not what 'unknown' means in that verse, and I do not know of any Pentecostals who tried to argue that the italicised KJV addition 'unknown' means that. This is a straw man. If you are going to disagree with a group, address their real arguments instead of making some up.
Supposedly, those unknown tongues can only be interpreted by ONE spirit-filled member of the congregation.
Who says that? Sometimes two people get the same interpretation. I have never interpreted tongues in the congregation, but I can think of three people who have talked about getting the interpretation someone else got, but the other person gave it first. The same thing happens with prophecies. I've gotten words of knowledge about people that someone else prophesied soon thereafter.
I know of no Pentecostals who teach that only one person will ever be able to interpret in a congregation. Again, please desist with the straw man arguments. Engage with what people really teach and believe. If someone went to a Pentecostal church and told you these things, they aren't representative of the movement.
The Apostle Paul speaks common sense to us Corinthians 14:19...
"Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."
Is there a reason you quoted this devoid of context? Let us look at verses before it.
16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
Paul was writing about praying in tongues, specifically giving thanks in tongues. He said he spoke in tongues more than them all, but
in the church he would rather speak five words wiht the understanding than 10,000 in an unknown tongues.
Let's look at the overarching message in the passage. Paul is trying to convince the Corinthians that only the speaker is edified if he speaks in tongues unless the messages is interpreted, because other people in the church need to understand to be edified. In church, all things are to be done unto edifying (v. 26.) Then he gives instructions requiring interpretation of tongues (v. 27-28.)
He's leading up to instructions on how tongues are to be used in church. This passage encourages participants in a church meeting to sing, teach, speak in tongues, interpret tongues, and give prophesyings in a way that edifies other members of the body of Christ. Btw, does that description of a Biblical church meeting look like a church meeting you would want to attend? When Paul writes, 'Let all things be done decently and in order.', he is writing about this verse 'charismatic' order in which someone in the assembly can speak in tongues and another may interpret, which allows for prophesying and has a prophet be quiet if another receives a revelation, a meeting in which 'ye may all prophesy one by one.'
Now before replying to this post from an "Emotional" response, and actually that is what speaking in tongues is, an EMOTIONAL event, take the time to do the work first.
Speaking in tongues does not necessarily have to be more emotional than speaking in one's native language. Some people pray or preach in English rather emotionally. The Bible does not forbid that. There are times when it is appropriate to mourn or rejoice.