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LivingMetal on 13 September 2014
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Soriku said:
LivingMetal said:
spurgeonryan said:

Supposedly, God was so mad that humans became so smart and full of themselves when they were building this Tower called Babel, that he dispersed the population all over the world. Different languages, races, etc. From what I remember in Bible Studies...


"Full of themselves" is a key phrase you just coined for this thread.  From what I understand, it was more of an issue of pride than "race."  And as we all know whether you believe in God or not, God cannot be reached by building a tall tower.  So the people of the time thought they could be as great as God, and one reason why was by trying to physically reach him which they were all wrong to begin with.  So when God confounded the languages, it halted production.  And nowhere in the Bible has God denied "interracial" relations just because of physical differences.


It's never explicitly stated in the story that they intended to be as great as God; merely that they wanted to build a tower that reached to the heavens (which at the time, also meant space) and make a name for themselves.

Then they said, "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." - Genesis 11:3

God then gives a terrible reason for his disapproval, that had nothing to do with them intending to be as great as him.

But 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. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. - Genesis 11:5

He confuses them because he doesn't them to work together and accomplish lots of things...which is a bad reason, why? For all of human history, people have cooperated, and people continue to cooperate, even amongst those with different languages. If we didn't, we'd be much worse off. Is this what God intended? Either way this punishment seems largely ineffective in the long run. That and I think God is being too generous by saying "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them". Although, keeping everyone in one place seems like a bad idea due to a lack of resources...but this may also have been God's plan with the Garden of Eden, so eh.

It's safe to assume that the people of the past (including those who wrote the story, and God by extension) didn't know this, but what would have been a damning lesson for the Babylonians would be the knowledge that there's no possible way they would have reached the heavens (space), since they had no technology to allow them to breath in high altitudes. They would've given up on their own; no god required. So again, I'm not so sure about "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them", God...


Actual your interpretation can be... interpreted to condone God as a means of protection as you have impied and not punishment.  Good show, man.