Tower of Babel

[Meow Mix]

This comes from a frivolous response I made in some other thread, but now that I think about it I sort of want to know some opinions on it.

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

 

[xkatz]

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

Well, I think G-d saw the tower as a threat to humans themselves. The humans were trying to become more "powerful" in a sense. As we see throughout history, power in the hands of the wrong people can be a very bad thing.

From a historical perspective however, this story was dissing the Babylonians and there society. The ancient Hebrews/Israelites saw the ziggurauts as nonsense and utterly stupid and that is perhaps one of the primary reasons behind this story.

 

[ellenjanuary]

It's kind of a hidden prophecy IMO. This here net is like the Tower of Babel rebuilt, a sign that humanity is more worthy in the eyes of god. (Ain't got eyes, but...(

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

This comes from a frivolous response I made in some other thread, but now that I think about it I sort of want to know some opinions on it.

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

5The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
7"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

Two possibilities:

- this was written by people who never imagined that humanity would be capable of travelling to other worlds.

- maybe the thing that concerned God wasn't the tower, but the trend it represented. Maybe if we all spoke the same language, we'd have time travel and perpetual motion machines by now or something, and it was the tower that made God realize that this is where we were heading.

 

[Falvlun]

This comes from a frivolous response I made in some other thread, but now that I think about it I sort of want to know some opinions on it.

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

Oh, his methods are becoming more sophisticated. He just cut the funding for those.

(Although, he was pretty ****** when Apollo 13 made it back to Earth.)

 

[wordmagnifiedabovenames]

Perhaps God knew that if they finished building a tower with a top that reached into Heaven, people would think they could make it to Heaven without God's help. The second part of verse 4 of the story (assumming reading from Genesis 11) points out that doing so would make a name for the people, thus turning the tower into a monument that honours man instead of God.
As far as I know the space programs weren't implemented as a method of getting people to Heaven, so maybe God didn't mind as much.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Oh, his methods are becoming more sophisticated. He just cut the funding for those.

(Although, he was pretty ****** when Apollo 13 made it back to Earth.)

I guess Soyuz 11 cheered him back up again.

 

[Willamena]

When you understand the way in which you (generally speaking) are building the tower, then you'll begin to appreciate why God cares.

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/general-religious-debates/52628-story-babel-true.html

 

[Quagmire]

This comes from a frivolous response I made in some other thread, but now that I think about it I sort of want to know some opinions on it.

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages

My favorite interpretation: The God of the OT was opposed to civilization, ie., a sedentary system of existence with a centralized government (which is where organized religion comes from btw). He prefered that humankind continue living a nomadic existence. It can be demonstrated that this is the subtext of practically the entire OT.

In the ToB story, humankind isn't just building the tower, they're building a city (in fact in he original version of the story there's no mention of any Tower, just the city). So, God "confounded their speech" and "Gen 11:8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth". In other words, He turned them back into nomads.

but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

Like I said: He wants us to be nomads again.

 

[Willamena]

Like I said: He wants us to be nomads again.

Hermits, even.

 

[Meow Mix]

Like I said: He wants us to be nomads again.

Would make sense I guess, doesn't get much more nomadic than flying through space

 

[Quagmire]

Hermits, even.

Not sure if roaming through cyberspace counts, but I don't see why it shouldn't.

 

[Quagmire]

Here's what I was talking about if anybodies interested:

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/2180675-post27.html

 

[mohammed_beiruti]

This comes from a frivolous response I made in some other thread, but now that I think about it I sort of want to know some opinions on it.

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

may i suggest to read this book

Babylonian life and history E.A.Wallis Budge

page 18 and 19

​

Babel means the gate of God : "bab"(gate or door) "el" menas (God or Allah) this is according to semitic languages.

the story of babel means to scatter peoples and make them speak in multiple languages is non sense to me.​

 

[Blackdog22]

Two possibilities:

- this was written by people who never imagined that humanity would be capable of travelling to other worlds.

- maybe the thing that concerned God wasn't the tower, but the trend it represented. Maybe if we all spoke the same language, we'd have time travel and perpetual motion machines by now or something, and it was the tower that made God realize that this is where we were heading.

Wouldn't God have recognized our ability before we were created? What power could we possibly attain that could cause God to be fearful of it to the point of slowing us down? I would imagine God would of stepped in to stop cloning by now if he cared so much about power.

Let's say they did build a tower to space. Besides the fact that it would of been impossible with the current technology, they would of only exploded should they ever succeed.

This story for me represents how blatantly false the Bible can be. You could say it is a metaphor or had some meaning, which it could, but it has details in it that make it appear to have been taken seriously. It appears this is the story of how we all got our languages changed by God for making a small tower.

I can't wait to see how ****** God gets when Dubai finishes its tower, I somehow expect nothing though.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Wouldn't God have recognized our ability before we were created?

In the modern omnimax view of God, sure, but I don't think this is the view of God that the Old Testament presents. We're talking about the same God who apparently couldn't find Adam and Eve when they hid behind some bushes. It seems to me that he can be surprised occasionally.

This story for me represents how blatantly false the Bible can be. You could say it is a metaphor or had some meaning, which it could, but it has details in it that make it appear to have been taken seriously. It appears this is the story of how we all got our languages changed by God for making a small tower.

Well, my personal take on the Tower of Babel is that it's a "just-so" story to explain where all the world's languages came from. IOW, it's an imperfect attempt by ancient people to try to understand their world.

But this position doesn't work if we take as given that the story's based on fact, which the OP asks us to do.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

This comes from a frivolous response I made in some other thread, but now that I think about it I sort of want to know some opinions on it.

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

The most reasonable explanation I've heard goes back to the Garden of Eden where God gave Adam and Eve two commandments (they broke both). One of them was to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. The problem was that their descendants failed to spread out across the face of the earth. The building of the tower counteracted this original commandment ("And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Gen 11:4 KJV). God, by confounding the languages, caused the inhabitants of the earth to scatter.

 

[Blackdog22]

In the modern omnimax view of God, sure, but I don't think this is the view of God that the Old Testament presents. We're talking about the same God who apparently couldn't find Adam and Eve when they hid behind some bushes. It seems to me that he can be surprised occasionally.


Well, my personal take on the Tower of Babel is that it's a "just-so" story to explain where all the world's languages came from. IOW, it's an imperfect attempt by ancient people to try to understand their world.

But this position doesn't work if we take as given that the story's based on fact, which the OP asks us to do.

Lol, yeah I overlooked the fact that OT God was rather.. umm... slow?

Between the Tower story and Noahs Ark, I have a hard time understanding how these stories could be taken seriously. I mean they both have details that would cause them to fall under the "literal" definition. Of course it could be that God put details into a story to make it seem literal to confuse us of the idea that its non literal.

 

[Thesavorofpan]

This comes from a frivolous response I made in some other thread, but now that I think about it I sort of want to know some opinions on it.

Why did God seem to care when people were building a very tall tower to the point that He scattered them and screwed up their languages but didn't seem to mind at all about the various space programs?

Thats a good question. Maybe it was the motive behind the two projects.
They wanted to build the tower to reach God and gain his power
While we just wanted to explore space.
But I'm not really sure.

 

[Meow Mix]

Thats a good question. Maybe it was the motive behind the two projects.
They wanted to build the tower to reach God and gain his power
While we just wanted to explore space.
But I'm not really sure.

I wonder what would happen if a bunch of atheists got together to build the "new tower of babel" and started building a tower with the explicit purpose of showing that nothing would happen to them? If God discerns between purposes, surely that would **** God off right?

Or if not that, I wonder if theists who believed in God tried to build another tower again to reach God if they'd invoke his wrath and thus prove to the rest of humanity that God exists? Actually, if I were a theist and I thought I could save souls by invoking God's wrath so obviously, I might do it for the greater good of getting other people to be convinced in God's existence (via God's intervention, like at the last Babel)...