In 2008, the University of Pennsylvania released findings from a medical study proving that the practice of speaking in tongues is sourced by the Holy Spirit. In the study, participants’ brain activity was monitored while they spoke in tongues, giving the medical researchers scientific insight into the parts of the brain active while speaking in these “heavenly tongues”—and the results were astounding.
Speaking in tongues is an ancient practice mentioned in the Bible. [Apostle] Paul called it ‘speaking in the tongues of angels.’ Jesus’ apostles were first said to do it at Pentecost.
It is this spiritual phenomenon that Dr. Andrew Newberg, while at the University of Pennsylvania, set out to find an explanation “for what most regard as unexplainable.” While trying to discover the relationship between faith and science, his study quickly ascertained that speaking in tongues is absolutely not regular language.
“When they are actually engaged in this whole very intense spiritual practice for them, their frontal lobes tend to go down in activity, but I think it’s very consistent with the kind of experience that they have because they say that they are not in charge—it’s the voice of God, the Spirit of God that’s moving through them,” explained Dr. Newberg.
The study found many other fascinating findings that affirm that speaking in tongues is truly a spiritual gift and not a mental practice.