The god of the Judeo-Christian Bible is a god who jealously imprisons knowledge. Curiously absent from the Bible in its entirety is any lordly command the likes of, "Thou shalt be curious" or "Thou shalt wonder about the world and learn as much as possible from it." In fact, at every turn, this malevolent God takes measures to prevent humans from learning and amassing knowledge. One of the more obvious myths concerning this is certainly The Fall, wherein Yahweh punishes his newly made man and woman with eternal damnation merely for curiously eating the fruit of knowledge. Another well known example is the story of Doubting Thomas, who, for simply investigating the veracity of the impossible specter appearing in front of him, is branded nearly heretical.
Similarly well known is the story of the Tower of Babel, although, this story is not commonly linked with the others. Why? Well, it's not really that important, in a sense. Even Christians regard the fable as a cute little story which describes why they are so many languages and why people are so spread out in the world. It could be argued that this story is widely regarded on par with the story of why the giraffe's neck is so long or why we have the Summer and Winter seasons. Certainly these stories, Babel included, are regarded as absolute truth by their devotees; but they are not necessarily stories that would find themselves at the center or core of very many dogmatic belief systems. They just are what they are: stories which describe why the world around us is the way it is.
The story of the Tower of Babel is found in Genesis 11:1-9 and appears in the King James Version as follows:
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 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. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children built. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Cute, right? I mean, the people obviously would have had one language after the Flood, so how come there are so many now? Easy, just invent a little myth that in a sort of adorable little way describes why that's the case. Simple, not too much fuss, nothing truly noteworthy.
Well, not really.
Even in this most simplistic of stories, we find so clearly set out that which Christians are so fond of terming "the character of God".
Here we have, plainly, a group of people who are all working together for a common goal: to create a tower that will go up to heaven, and that way their culture would never be divided. They would have the great piece of architecture that physically connected them, in their Earthliness, to their creator. The mysteries of the universe would be known to them, and they wouldn't have to be separated from God any longer.
Is this childlike bit of ingenuity welcomed and rewarded by their god, the way parents will smile and encourage children who are attempting to dig a hole to China or build a ladder to the moon? In a word, no. Not even bloody close.
No, the heavenly parent chooses to, instead, as is his nature, to instead punish curiosity. Not only does he "confound" their languages, so they can no longer speak to each other, but he scatters them "abroad upon the face of all the Earth". You know, just in case the fact that they could no longer understand one another wasn't impediment enough to them to stop their work, he physically separates them so far that they could never finish the job they set to complete. The task which, at it's heart, is so innocent: merely the desire to learn more and to never be separated.
One must ask oneself: Why does this god so hate the concept of his earthly creations working together to discover more about their surrounds?
Maybe they would have built their tower to heaven and found it totally vacant.
Well said Mrs Fenton-Ham.
ReplyDeleteThe desire for information and curiosity for learning is something that is as destructive to faith as it water is to fire. The burning we feel can be extinguished by religion and this is why we avoid it like an ex alcoholic avoids a bar.
This concept of human's building and learning together is something that this all knowing god must have simply overlooked, i think!
You know, the bible seems to be written in a way where it forms a story and then addresses some weaknesses in it, like the one you presented here. "Oh crap, we just had humanity wiped out, and now we need to explain how new languages were made and how people spread out again...uhhhh *slams head on metaphorical pre-historic keyboard* Tower of Babel!" But yeah... this story seems to be one of the many safety measures taken to ensure nobody finds out it's all false.
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