One of the many ridiculous stories in the bible that always manages to get a hell of a hearty laugh out of me is that of 'The tower of Babel'. Before I begin taking this story apart at the seams I would like to take a moment to define the word babel; according to the Columbia encyclopedia: Babel (bā'bəl) [Heb.,=confused. The definition is a little more extensive but it's all relative to the tale of the tower of babel as described in the bible. This story can be found in the book of Genesis chapter 11 and right from the outset we have our very first inconsistency with current knowledge.
Chapter 11:1 reads as follows; 'And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.' According to this story it is the origin of how different languages and cultures began. Considering that this story is supposed to have taken place less than six thousand years ago, we all know how stupid and ridiculous this claim is. According to an article on wikipedia basing themselves on the chronology of the scriptures from the beginning of creation to the building of the tower it was believed to have been built between 2247 BC and 952 BC. If you are interested in researching this even further the article can be found at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_was_the_tower_of_Babel_built
You don't have to search far to dispute this first claim but according to http://linguistlist.org/ask-ling/oldest.cfm 'In 3200 BC, there were many, many languages spoken besides Sumerian and Egyptian, but they weren't fortunate enough to have a writing system.' Right away as you can see it refutes the claim that the origins of language and culture began at some fictional tower as described in the bible narrative. Once again the biblical authors get caught in yet one of many lies and forged history to try to put their culture and religion at the forefront of modern society.
This narrative is very short; basically man came together and decided that they wanted to build a tower that would reach unto the heavens, with the intent to make a name for themselves so that if they were scattered throughout the earth, at least there would be a monument to them and they would not be forgotten. That is the story in a nutshell and the thought of building a tower that would reach unto the heavens is beyond insane so we wont dwell on that part of the story.
There is one more problem I found in it that actually brings the idea of God being omnipresent (everywhere at the same time) to question. Lets look at two verses from the narrative: Genesis 11:5,7: '5.And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 7.Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' When the Lord found out about what man was planning to do he decided to go down and have a look for himself, and then after having done that, apparently he went back up and decided to conspire with whoever "us" was to confuse their languages with the ultimate goal being that they would stop building the tower. If God is present everywhere at all times then why o' why dear theologian would he have to get off of his precious throne to come verify what was going on?
As a result of mans arrogance God decided to scatter them all over the Earth 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. Before writing this I read an apologetics article trying to say that this story was not about the origin of languages and that when it said "all the earth" it was not referring to the entire world. They go back to Genesis 10:5 ' From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.' Not knowing that all they are doing is showing an obvious instance when the bible once again contradicts itself. You can read this bullshit article here: http://bibleapologetics.wordpress.com/the-tower-of-babel-13/ there is nothing like a good dose of bible apologetics for getting your mood up and giving you a good hearty laugh from time to time.
“Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
ReplyDeleteBut the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. "
The closest star besides our own is 24 trillion miles away. The ancients had no concept of the heavens. They thought a building could be built to the heavens. And God became afraid that if man did so NOTHING would be impossible for man. Quite laughable these days.
Thanks for the assist ex-minister, I actually got so caught up in the little intricacies of the story that I forgot to give a short narrative of it.
ReplyDeleteCould you imagine what one people with just one language could do? They could all work together and build anything they want. Like a tower to heaven and watch exactly what god is doing when he does not want anyone to know what he's doing.
ReplyDeleteGod is a private person and he don't want people intruding in on his life, especially sinners. But if you'll accept his son as savior, he will invite you into heaven to be with him and his son.
The story of Babel plainly shows that the people believed that god lived in the clouds above, but since air and outer space travel has been invented, the christians have had to move the goal posts (heaven) further out into the far reaches of space into the great unknown. Or that god lives in another dimension undetectable to us poor lowly worthless humans.
lmao Steven, but you are so right. Every time science manages to prove religion wrong, they have to modify their stupid beliefs to conform with what science has proven.
ReplyDeleteExactly. God of the Gaps!
ReplyDeleteThe Bible as a whole is pretty ridiculous. It's so riddled with holes and contradictions that it never fails to confound me that there are still people that accept it as divine truth.
Weird.
I totally agree Raithie, I really don't understand how anyone believes in that nonsense. The tower of Babel myth is one of my favorites because if it were true, then wouldn't the history of EVERY culture on Earth begin with "Then we landed here with our new language because we pissed God off with our tower..."
DeleteThe God of the gaps indeed there Raithie. I think that theology and apologetics are the two most pathetic disciplines on the planet.
ReplyDeleteI wish my race would learn just how that ridiculous book keeps us in such a happy state of ignorance!
ReplyDeleteI wish my race would learn just how that ridiculous book keeps us in such a happy state of ignorance!
ReplyDeleteI wish my race would learn just how that ridiculous book keeps us in such a happy state of ignorance!
ReplyDeleteIn complete agreement with you on that one Tim!
DeleteAccording to Genesis 11:1, everyone on earth spoke .... Hebrew !!??
ReplyDeleteI am Chinese, and I know my Chinese history. The Chinese race can be traced back to at least 3000 B.C. Artifacts unearthed show language of Mandarin origin, not Hebrew. The Chinese race had never written its language in Hebrew; always Chinese. The author of Genesis obviously had no knowledge of great civilizations of China and India, or the Americas.
No offense to the Israelites, but they have nothing on the Chinese.
We developed our own language. And no, we don't believe our Chinese forefathers spoke, or wrote, Hebrew.
We laugh at the notion that our Mandarin language came from the mythical Babel incident. And we have built a mighty tower in Shanghai, ten times taller than the Babel tower. It's still standing. Not that we are tempting God (if it exists still), but it is a testament to what modern engineering can accomplish. In fact, since the Babel tower incident, many many more towers have been erected in all five continents; all of them beautiful, all of them standing. If God was offended by Babel, a lowly tower, what then is his excuse for giving a pass on these later (much taller) towers ?
And talking about confusing the people with languages, it's now no big deal - it's so easy to blog/write/text on the internet. It doesn't matter what language, because Google will translate for you. So,is Google the great unifier, reversing the God of Babel ?
Thanks t.mong, you and your culture are just another testament that disprooves the bullshit that the bible tries to pass off as history. To date the so called facts in the bible have been thoroughly refuted by every field of knowledge we could possibly think of. It's a book of lies and myths and it's a wonder people are still gullible enough to believe in it.
DeleteI agree that the tower of babel, the great flood and most ALL other things in the bible are pure false bull crap. However I cannot prove to myself that a GOD does not exist and the reason being is due to al the knowledge that man has. No other animal has such knowledge! Can you basically define your knowledge of God or should I say Creator of knowledge being a myth without using the 2 words BELEIVE and THINK? Other than God being a myth I agree with your knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the tower of babel, the great flood and most ALL other things in the bible are pure false bull crap. However I cannot prove to myself that a GOD does not exist and the reason being is due to al the knowledge that man has. No other animal has such knowledge! Can you basically define your knowledge of God or should I say Creator of knowledge being a myth without using the 2 words BELEIVE and THINK? Other than God being a myth I agree with your knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the tower of babel being 100% bull crap such is the majority of the bible. However, can you define how you have determined that God or Creator of humans and knowledge is a myth without using the 2 words THINK and BELEIVE.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment and very good question. There are certain fallacies that must be addressed first. In one of your replies you said:" I cannot prove to myself that a GOD does not exist." This is what is called proving a negative in this case something that is considered in science as an unfalsifiable hypotheses.
DeleteThe burden of proof is on those making the claim that a god or in the Christian sense that a personal God exists. I can't prove that God does not exist but based on research and the evidence or in this case the lack of objective and empirical evidence available to us there is a high probability that he/she/it does not exist.
All of our so called holy texts such as the Bagavad Gita, the Bible, the Koran, Greek and Roman myths, and others all point to the gods in general being the creation of man.
Myth : a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myth
The idea of gods are all stories that are meant to explain those things that at one time or another were not known or knowable in a pre-scientific age. All known gods are tribal and attached to the culture from which they are derived. All this is enough to convince me that they are all one and the same and nothing more than a part of a multi-cultural myths and superstitions.
Finally, conciousness is not sufficient evidence that a god exist. How man developed consciousness is still a mystery, but making the jump to a creator or personal god is nothing more than an irrational leap of faith.
Bless you! I am glad people are awakening! :D
ReplyDeleteI don't think that one can build a tower hundreds of miles tall out of bricks. That tells me that the author was either exaggerating or unaware how thick the atmosphere is.
ReplyDelete