According to the narrative in Genesis Chapter 11 of the Bible, the Tower of Babel was a tower built by a united humanity to reach the heavens. Because man had it in his heart to be like God, God stopped this project by confusing their languages so that each spoke a different language. As a result, they could no longer communicate with one another and the work was halted. The builders were then scattered to different parts of Earth. This story is used to explain the existence of many different languages and races.
If you are a Bible beliver then this would most likely be your reason for the difference in language, however, if you are not a "beliver" then what reason do you give for the multiple languages. And what about race? (See my next question to give your opinion.)
2006-08-14 03:39:43 · 12 answers · asked by buford_bargain_hunter 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Separation of communities and necessity to communicate. It's pretty hard to get by without communicating with the people around you, but most groups had limited interaction with communities outside their own, so they would have developed their own way of communicating.
Race developed in a similar fashion. Evolution enhanced the traits that would help humans most in a particular region of the world. For example, Africans have dark skin to protect against the sun and less dense hair to help cool them in the hot climate. Europeans have light skin to be able to absorb more sun (people need vitamin D from the sun to develop properly) and thicker hair to help keep them warm in the less direct sunlight of their region. Different traits worked better in different places and these people had little contact with people in different regions to mix their traits.
2006-08-14 03:49:45 · answer #1 · answered by Phoenix, Wise Guru 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Really, the story of Babel in Chapter 11 is contradicted by prior passages and the story of Noah in Chapter 10. Chapter 10 and Noah's three sons has been used to explain different races and to justify slavery of blacks (Shem (first black man) laughing and gossiping at drunken Noah, his father).
Genesis 11:1
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
Genesis 11:6-9
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one
language.... Go to, let us go down, and there confound their
language, that they may not understand one another's speech.... Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth:
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Genesis 10:5
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, every one after his tongue.
Genesis 10:20
These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues.
Genesis 10:31
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues.
I don't know why you think that the bible is needed to explain different languages.
Latin over 2000 years turned into Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, plus some other variants. Language is a way for people with commonality to speak with each other. Geography is probably the biggest factor.
2006-08-14 04:01:24 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What? you answerd your own question. If you want a non-beleivers answer that would be a science question.
There were different waves of emigration from Africa and whenever people move away from home there language can change more radically that if the stay near more speakers of their language. There are many linguistic theories about language change, but some simple things are that there are many similarities between latin and sanskrit and other ancient languages. So it's pretty clear that there was some original language or at least some very similar ones at the onset of language development.
2006-08-14 03:43:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The non-biblical answer is that people originated in Africa. From there they spread out across the globe in separate tribes. These tribes developed cultures of their own and at first were nomadic peoples. They moved following their food sources and weather patterns. Eventually many of these people began to settle in areas and became agricultural tribes. Over time races developed as people adapted to their new environments, and languages were developed independently of other far off tribes. A sociologist would be able to answer this far better than i have, but this should be a start.
2006-08-14 03:48:10 · answer #4 · answered by ChooseRealityPLEASE 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The answers in the question...sorta like how everyone manages to avoid the whole Genesis Chapter 10 table of nations..boring I know but it explains where everyone went from the landing of the Ark on Mt. Aarrat (sp?) so...the tower of Babel, Babylon, The City of Confusion to the modern church today...makes alot of sense..but I should have saved this for your next question...Sokay..I'll copy and paste it. Love in Christ, ~J~ <><
2006-08-14 03:47:56 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
well that happened to just get the people to move all around the world and not in that one place. They wanted to build a tower for their glory to make it reach to Heaven, but see God made the whole earth, and he wants us to live and take care of all of it. so from there different languages came about. Thanks
Matt
2006-08-14 03:45:55 · answer #6 · answered by Hafeman 5000 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a million. they did no longer coach Jesus's life. They quoted some people who weren't even born on the time the Jesus discern could have lived who correct what others informed them. This somewhat does not coach something different then the tale existed of their lifetimes. Tellingly besides none of them grew to develop into Christian themselves so the different factors of the tale could no longer have been that compelling to them. 2. for my section I lean there would have been a discern that replaced into crucified, as many have been back then, and grew to develop into the focal element for legends and the develop of a clean non secular flow. this suggests no longer something in words of their supernatural claims. Joseph Smith is a real historic discern who grew a non secular flow around his claims. does not lead them to greater valid basically because of the fact he befell to be genuine.
2016-09-29 06:18:03 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
please.... even the very language you are typing in is an altered language and it wasnt around after the tower of babel supposed to of happened.
English as you speak and type it is so different to 1000 years ago, and 1000 years from now.
languages ALWAYS change
2006-08-14 03:48:06 · answer #8 · answered by CJunk 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As a non-believer, I speculate that so many different languages developed as a war strategy, maybe to protect against spies.
2006-08-14 03:47:03 · answer #9 · answered by mom is a freak 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You don't want a biblical reason.
Pick a reason, any reason, it is as good as the next.
Doesn't mean it's true, but you will be satisfied with it.
2006-08-14 03:50:28 · answer #10 · answered by chris p 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋