Dunno about just plain weird, but I don't go with 'gift from holy spirit' either. I'm an atheist - I've been in church and prattled on in an imitation of tongues and the guy with the "gift of discernment" couldn't tell... I was saying "I shove your momma in a gutter and tread on 'er..." really fast, over and over... Cruel, yeah, but there you go. That said, I was also at a church once where they all sang in tongues - unscripted. It was nice. I think it is basically a way of cutting loose and expressing feelings without worrying about words.

The only people I've ever seen "speaking in tongues" were tweakers and crazy people and it was just plain wierd!

I don't believe the gift of tongues is as complicated as some people and religions make it out to be. There are many people who believe the gift of tongues can simply be the gift of understanding and speaking different languages. I've heard of a lot of experience where people believe they had some help in that capacity. Being a person who has difficulty with languages myself, I'd consider it a divine miracle if I could pass Spanish class.

Read Acts in the New testament. Speaking in tongues has nothing to do with different languages i.e. Spanish to english. It is a heavenly language. I believe it is a gift from the holy spirit, it comes in your thoughts and you choose to speak it, you may not know what it means but you feel close to God. Some people are gifted to translate what they speak or what someone else speaks. I am praying for the gift, yet I know it's not for everyone. It also depends on ones comfort level if they think it's weird. I want anything that will bring me closer to God.

For someone who can do it yes it is such a gift. I have never had that gift. And when others do it I never know what they are saying because no one translates it.

Speaking in tongues is a wonderful gift. I have spoken in tongues for close to 40 years. The wonderful feelings I have at times makes me know I am close to the Lord God. I was an atheist at one time but had a beautiful experience one evening back in the early 1970s. When what happened to me was over I knew I was a changed man and knew beyond any shadow of a doubt there is a God. No, it was no life threatening occurrence. Since then the Lord God has used me and taught me many wonderful things. There is no love greater than the love the Lord God and Jesus Christ has for us.

Modern-day speaking in tongues is very different from the gift of holy spirit given to Jesus

I personally do not see it as important as I am not Pentecostal. But I do not reject its reality. I know lots of good people who are in the Pentecostal movement and they have got that gift. Its a blessing from the Lord. I do not believe its fake at all but I do reject that every occurance is real.

2-13-2017 It is not a gift, it is a manifestation of the holy spirit. The holy spirit is a gift, and every Christian has it, but most don't know the first thing about what they claim to believe. Unfortunately it takes three weeks to clean out the crap that you have learned from strangers and then teach you what the bible actually says. It is not reliable to let people tell you what the bible says. Many people will make up stuff because they don't know what it says, and many will make up stuff because they wish it would not say what it says. You just have to read it for yourself. Read a chapter of Proverbs every day. Proverbs has 31 chapters so you can keep your place by just looking at a calendar. There is no religion or nothing in Proverbs and you don't have to believe anything. Just read to find wisdom. When you are comfortable with that, then read the bible from Romans to 2 Thessalonians over and over until you start to remember what it says. That is the part that applies to Christians. Here is a book to help you to understand the bible. It's a free download and you can get a hard copy at any bible book store. http:// philologos.org/__eb-htetb/ "How To Enjoy The Bible"

that no longer exists except in those trying to put on a show. falling over backwards is another hawking scam,but really its from the Devil if true.

The Bible explains it clearly...It was the god given ability to speak and understand other languages [ by the disciples] so that they could teach people about the kingdom.. Acts 2: 5-17 .

Not from Almighty God, it is demonic.

Tongues when translated means languages. "How is it, then, that each one of us is hearing his own native language?"  Acts 2:8 http://biblehub.com/acts/2-8.htm