As mentioned above, the tongues spoken on the Day of Pentecost were human. There are also angelic tongues. We need to always err on the side of giving the benefit of the doubt. The alternative is unthinkable.
Here is my personal story. I was raised in a hardline cessationist denomination. I bought that line lock, stock and barrel.
When I was a junior in high school my best friend received the gift of a tongue. She demonstrated it for me, and it didn’t sound much more sophisticated than your ticka ticka version.
I told her I wanted to meet the pastor who had persuaded her she had a tongue. I was a young firebrand, and loaded for bear.
We went to the assembly. There were between 30 and 40 people in attendance. The pastor gave a short message, then they ALL started babbling in tongues at the same time.
My friend had given the pastor a heads up. [I.e.: she’d told him I was a cessationist, and was going to set him straight.] He strolled up to me and said, “Do you have any questions for me?”
How can I describe what happened next? I ***literally*** felt the Holy Spirit close off my faculty for speech. It was a physical sensation, and I didn’t need anyone to tell me what had happened; I KNEW. The Holy Spirit Himself had simply removed my capacity to speak.
I had rehearsed my entire argument, but that was useless. I couldn’t talk. But the pastor was looking at me, waiting patiently.
Finally I uttered a single word: “No.” The Spirit enabled me to say it, but that was all.
I left the room quickly. It was dark outside and the building was located in a dangerous part of town. Nevertheless, I walked for many blocks. The experience had been terrifying yet also awe-inspiring. It took quite a while to process it.
The knowledge part I had picked up on instantly. Namely, that those tongues were real gifts of the Spirit, and I was not to speak a word against them.
What took longer was grasping the fact that the Holy Spirit had touched me directly. I could write 5,000 words, and still come nowhere close to imparting what that was like. The short, literal version is that it was like nothing on earth. Direct contact with the supernatural/Divine is simply stunning. It changes you forever in an instant. To this day I remember both the fear and something else—something uplifting. The Holy Spirit didn’t shut off my speech to harm or punish me, but to save me. He, in that instant, prevented me from speaking a word against Him.
I know it doesn’t translate. There’s simply no way to convey in words an experience like that. Really all I can say is this: nothing on earth could induce me to say a word against tongues. Nothing. God taught me a dramatic, transcendent lesson, and it’s the kind you only have to learn once. Please believe me when I assure you, nothing, NOTHING is worth the risk of deriding a spiritual gift. If you’re 99% convinced it’s fake and 1% in doubt, side with the doubt. You’ll be eternally glad you did.
BTW, I have also been filled with the Holy Spirit and did NOT speak in tongues either, so I can certainly understand the difficulty in explaining the experience.
And yet, I’ve run into this as well, that the charismatics do not and will not accept that I have been really filled with the Holy Spirit simply because tongues did not accompany it.
RE: There are also angelic tongues. We need to always err on the side of giving the benefit of the doubt. The alternative is unthinkable.
Well, have at it then. My approach is always one of caution, while open to the gift of tongues today, I always err on the side of CAUTION.
We need a criteria to differentiate between what is real and what is psychological.
That is why I ask the questions I asked above.