Can we really build a tower to heaven?
What about modern skyscrapers?
If God does not want us to build anything too high, should we be flying in airplanes?
2006-06-17 01:20:04 · 16 answers · asked by skeptic 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God showed these people that you can't get near Him in our own effort we have to go to God His way not ours
2006-06-17 01:27:44 · answer #1 · answered by Wendy 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It is a very interesting subject and much has been written about it. Nimrod and the Tower of Babel have great significance for today.
Different nations were formed because of the change in languages....The Greek form of the word Babel is Babylon. Babylon is a city quite close to Baghdad. The book of Revelations says much about Babylon. There is a possibility that Babylon is the Babylon the bible speaks of, that it is not symbolic but literal. Many changes will happen in this area in the next 10 or 20 years and Babylon may again become a great center of commerce.
The tower is said to represent "war with God." I would guess that we are now coming close to the time when that war with God will take place, the final battle. But it was not time for that war. There was what I like to call a "spiritual evolution" that needed to come to pass. Nimrod was ahead of his time.
Much more could be studied in this story that refers to our own day and time. Because of computers the world is now coming together in the way that Nimrod was looking to accomplish. I believe there will be a one world religion that will be very powerful and will deceive many and the anti-Christ spirit will be an important part of it. There is already a great multitude of people who believe it is OK to fashion a god of your own understanding and that every god is the same. Enough said for now.
2006-06-17 08:49:19 · answer #2 · answered by cathyhewed1946 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Again with the literal bit.
The Tower of Babel has NO historicity.
The story is a way to explain the some of the negative consequences possible when man's pride takes over his reason.
Nimrod wanted to be as a god. He decided the easiest way to accomplish it was to storm the heavens and hold the gods hostage. Thus he ordered the tower built. By confounding the language of the builders, God said:
A) This is NOT how you may reach Me.
B) Since you do not value the understanding minds I have given you, I will make understanding ANYTHING harder. Perhaps you will learn to appreciate my gift more if you feel the lack of it in your individual lives.
C) What Nimrod did in the tale was to succumb to the sin of pride. Follow the logic of its caveats and forget the historicity of the tale.
D) Pride is a sin. The wages of sin is death. Lack of understanding will inevitably lead to misconceptions, which in turn will lead to negative thoughts about others, which will lead to feeling the need to conquer or destroy those others before they can do likewise to you, which will lead to war, which will lead to death. But, have it your way, my children.
And so we do...have it our way, I mean. And a NOT pretty way it is, too. Maybe you should listen to what He's telling you, and not to whether or not the WAY He's telling it has historical value.
2006-06-17 08:39:21 · answer #3 · answered by Granny Annie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
THis is a case of taking the bible too literally.
I can't really give you a good theological answer...
But to me, in a scientific meaning... heaven isn't someplace we can "reach" with skyscrapers, planes or space craft. Heaven is a place in our souls... a place that is there because we believe in God.
We can't build a skyscraper that goes to heaven to due the atmosphere of our planet, and the limitations of the materials we have to build with, and how to make a stable structure that tall. Even if we could - the building would need to be pressurized so we could function and breathe at higher levels, as we get too high in the atmosphere where our bodies can't function...and then out into space where it is a vaccuum, meaning there is NO atmosphere...no air for us to breath, no pressure to balance our bodies.
2006-06-17 08:27:54 · answer #4 · answered by KB 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Genesis 11:6
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.
Now lets look at the imagination of man today. Men sleeping with men, Women sleeping with women. priest sodomizingyoung boys, nuns with young girls, preachers married to 2 or 3 wives, men want to be women and women want to be men, disobedient children. Shall I keep going! There is no way any likeness of sin will ever reach into the heavens. In todays world this is no room for imagination anymore.
Revelation 21:27
27) And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lambs book of life.
Ask youselves brothers and sisters are you written in the Lamb's book of life?
believe me when I say fling an air plane is no where near heaven. As a matter of fact thats where God will meet us for judgement day. Yes right there where your airplanes are flying.
2006-06-17 08:41:42 · answer #5 · answered by Brother Marland H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure, but I think that they planned to build the tower to mock God. Moder skyscrapers, unlike the tower of Babel, actually have a purpose - they help to house people. The same goes for planes, which are a form of transport.
2006-06-17 08:26:46 · answer #6 · answered by Me. 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The story of Babel has always been one of those biblical oddities.
It seems the biblical god has always been limited to the scientific knowledge of the people of each time period.
In the time of this story's origin, it was common for different cultures to have stories of how and why things were the way they were... and the stories often resorted to the "gods making things that way." This one is probably no different than any of the greek stories that explain how and why certain things were the way they were at that time.
The ancient people had to explain why there were different cultures and languages, and knowing nothing about how languages evolve, they came up with that.
Looking back on that explanation, it makes God seem rather ignorant.
2006-06-17 08:54:49 · answer #7 · answered by Dustin Lochart 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God wasn't concerned about the tower itself. He was concerned about what the composite mind of men would come up with so he confused their language, effectively separating them to protect them from the evil that their minds would conceive. Therefore, the other questions aren't related because flying, or skyscrapers are not the result of men working together with a potentially evil result, but rather the furthering of technology.
2006-06-17 08:53:26 · answer #8 · answered by dorfster 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First thing is that God never worries about anything thats why he is God. The tower seems designed for an affront to God Himself; for they would build a tower whose top might reach to heaven, which bespeaks a defiance of God, or at least a rivalship with him. He suffered them to proceed a good way in their enterprise before He put a stop to it, that they might have space to repent.
2006-06-17 08:43:19 · answer #9 · answered by elisedvazquez2003 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess he didn't want to be seen! All the builders spoke the same language, so he changed it to different ones, so no one would understand each other and the tower of Babel would never be completed. Pretty slick for a deity. And that was the story made up to explain why people speak in different languages. And that's also how we get the word "babble".
2006-06-17 08:23:29 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They wanted to build a city with a tower to make a name for themselves and to not be scattered over the face of the whole earth, verses 3-4.
2006-06-17 08:29:27 · answer #11 · answered by cowgirl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋