Agnosticism, Atheism, Bible Geography, Bible Study, Faith, God, Religion

Skeptical Bible Study: Tower of Babel

I was listening to a recent speech that Matt Dillahunty gave in Australia (listen here if you’re interested), and in part of it he brought up the story of the Tower of Babel, found in Genesis 11. It’s a story I’ve thought about several times since leaving Christianity. I don’t recall everything Matt said about it, though I know I’ll be making some of the same points he did. I haven’t been a Christian for about 5 years now, and it’s sometimes hard to imagine that I ever believed stories like this one, though I definitely did. And a number of other conservative Christians do as well.

A few days ago, I asked my wife if she remembered what God was angry about in this story, and she gave the same reason that I thought: God was angry because people were being prideful. In case you’ve forgotten, the crux of the story is that several generations after the flood, mankind was growing numerous, and they all had one common language. They decided to build a tower that would reach Heaven (see how prideful?), so God put a stop to it by confusing their language. This caused the various groups to split up, each person going along with whomever could understand him or her.

However, after looking at the details a bit more, it turns out that my recollection was a bit off. First, the people weren’t actually being prideful at all. Instead of trying to build a tower to Heaven — God’s abode — they were just trying to build a tall one to make it easier to stay in one geographic area:

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
— Genesis 11:1-4

The phrase “in the heavens” is just talking about the sky, not the realm of God. For just a moment though, let’s pretend that they really had been trying to reach God with their tower. Why would that be such a bad thing? Doesn’t the Bible repeatedly tell us to seek after God? Furthermore, would they have succeeded? On September 12, 2013, Voyager 1 actually left our solar system. In all those miles, it didn’t bump into Heaven. No earth-based tower would ever run the risk of reaching God’s home. So not only were the people not attempting that, even if they had been it wouldn’t have succeeded, and it actually would have been flattering toward God.

So if God wasn’t angry at them for being prideful, why did he confuse their language and force them apart? The next few verses give us the answer:

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
— Genesis 11:5-9

Essentially, God was just being a jerk. He was like a kid stirring up an anthill. I mean, God forbid (literally) that people advance technologically, right? Wouldn’t want them discovering things like the germ theory of disease, after all. And why prevent wars by keeping people within the same culture? Much better, I guess, to create different cultures so mistrust and bigotry can form. Furthermore, if this was such a problem at the time, why hasn’t he stopped us again? We’ve figured out ways to overcome language and culture barriers now. We’ve done so much more than just “build a tall tower.” God’s motivation in this story simply makes no sense at all.

However, if you step back for a moment and stop trying to view this as literal history with an actual god, things become clearer. Imagine living thousands of years ago and trying to make sense of the world around you. You think the world is flat and that the sun revolves around it. You don’t understand the cause of thunder storms, earthquakes, or volcanoes. You can’t imagine how animals and humans got here without some kind of creator. And if there’s a creator, why didn’t he make life easier? Why does he allow disease and starvation? There are so many difficult questions that just have no answer. And so people began to formulate answers as best they could. It’s easy to see that one of those questions may have been “why didn’t God (the gods) give us all the same language?” And so they came up with an answer.

Looking at it from that perspective, it’s much easier to understand how a story like this came to be. These people were dealing with the world as they saw it — and to them, the only reason they could think of for God not wanting everyone to have the same language, is that they would accomplish too much. They had no idea that humanity would one day find a way around that problem, rendering their explanation invalid.

Speaking as someone who grew up believing that stories like this were actual history, I know how easy it is to just go along under that assumption without question, especially if those around us believe as we do. It’s not stupidity; it’s either isolation and ignorance, or it’s stubbornness. We can help the isolated and ignorant by just being available to discuss these things when they come up. And with the Bible, there are plenty of examples to be found.

682 thoughts on “Skeptical Bible Study: Tower of Babel”

  1. “At least you’re maintaining your never-wavering intention of demonstrating the depth of your ignorance, Mike. Both history and archaeology indicate that the Sumerians settled in Mesopotamia and maintained a theocracy there for over 4000 years before the Akkadians gradually took over the valley with their own pantheon of gods,”

    and I must congratulate you on the consistency of your density when reading. the issue is not what archaeology can show (as if you ever have source material for that anyway ) but what it doesn’t and can’t show such as when religions formed that utilized no archaeological artifacts to leave behind. Basic logic and what the issue is always seems have a way of flying over your head

    Now go ahead and tell the class how you can archaeological confirm that a belief system such as the worship of god that relied only on prayer and what would appear to be cooking (impromptu sacrifice) could be determined not to exist in a certain time period as you alleged.

    If you can I’ll upgrade you from the Present grade of F. I sense this is probably where you will run away like nate when you can’t answer the question

    Its such a simple a point and you are so clueless on the point. I am gathering there is something else that attracts you all to each other . You cannot think

    “All fictional characters, about whom nothing was written until 950 BCE, ”

    as always a claim of fictionality you cannot prove because archaeology cannot prove or disprove many if any individual persons

    Try the rhetoric with someone else. Coming fomr the guy that states an entire monarchy could not exist in a certain time period because his hero FInkelstein said so but who archaeology is yearly proving wrong it has no ummph

    But thanks for the irrelevant to my point history recap. IF any kiddies come along I am sure they will be wowed not knowing the irrelevance of the post to my point.

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  2. “Even your copy and paste of a commentary (not the biblical text as nate claims) thats asking a question (not stating a fact as Nate claims is in the text ) indicates the concern would OF COURSE be IDOLATRY not technology just to stop people from advancing.”

    I’m sorry Mikey. I should have continued with what the commentary had to say.

    “One writer distinguishes between mountain cultures , which see the heart of the world in wilderness, revering nature and adapting to it and the tower cultures, for whom the essence of the world is the city and the human-made environment, stripping the sense of awe from nature and attaching it to the social and TECHNOLOGICAL order.”

    “The people of the Tower of Babel are a pre-eminent example of a tower culture. Although human beings have done many wonderful things to reshape their environment , there is always the danger of becoming so enamored of TECHNOLOGY that human values are lost”

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  3. “Mikey, would you mind sharing where Nate claims this ? I really don’t recall seeing it. ”

    theres this function in most browsers your PC/table/laptop tutor might have missed teaching you in your last five hour session. you can actually search for words on a page.

    You can search and you will find where i ask Nate where in the the actual text the verses mention anything about technological advances? Nate ask me if I am kindding and then posts a passage he claims mentions it but ….it aint in there.

    Now you do your rubber stamp dance and spin away on that all you want. Oh and by the way You can use it to search for the word idolatry and you will find your fearless leader saying it has nothing to do with that text so I dunno what you are going to do with that commentary you posted that indicate it would be about that.

    Maybe use it as a bookmark?

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  4. So what I’m hearing you say, is that the Jews COULD have been in Mesopotamia, and that no one should believe they weren’t just because they left no physical evidence. You actually expect me to dignify that with a response. OK, here’s one – I believe you had a hand in killing Kennedy, and just because you didn’t leave any evidence to that effect, doesn’t mean you didn’t do it. Just when I thought your rational thought processes couldn’t get any more baseless!

    “All fictional characters, about whom nothing was written until 950 BCE”

    as always a claim of fictionality you cannot prove because archaeology cannot prove or disprove many if any individual persons

    There’s ample evidence by independent linguistic scholars to support the Documentary Hypothesis, as well as those employed by the Catholic Church, as their publication, “The New American Bible” even goes so far as to pinpoint exactly which verses in each of the books and chapters were written by which of the four sources of the Torah, so if you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with the Pope. Even you probably know where he lives.

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  5. “I’m sorry Mikey. I should have continued with what the commentary had to say.”

    It doesn’t matter how much you quote or think that because the word technology appears in it and you cap it its makes it say the same thing that Nate does. The cat is already out the bag. Your commentary states straight up the concern would be idolatry. I’ve always stated that has Biblical context so I’d agree with the possible angle

    Its actually pretty funny that you could even dream quoting more takes back what it already states about idolatry. Somehow the first part vanishes by adding more? too funny. Yes there is a thought by some that a united people would get full of themselves and pride would lead to idolatry but Nate has rejected the prideful angle and stated

    “So if God wasn’t angry at them for being prideful, why did he confuse their language and force them apart?……….essentially, God was just being a jerk. He was like a kid stirring up an anthill. I mean, God forbid (literally) that people advance technologically, right? Wouldn’t want them discovering things like the germ theory of disease, after all.”

    There it is. Your fearless leader rejects the pride and idolatry angle and claims God just wants to be a prick and keep people from advancing for no other reason

    LIke I said . You can always use your commentary quote on a piece of paper for a bookmark. It aint bailing Nate out of this whammy of a claim. It s not in the text and its not even in that commentary which does not substitute for the text

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  6. You can search and you will find where i ask Nate where in the the actual text the verses mention anything about technological advances? Nate ask me if I am kindding and then posts a passage he claims mentions it but ….it aint in there.

    This is what I don’t understand, Mike. You seem intelligent enough to understand the text as it’s written… but you repeatedly accuse me of not pointing out to you where the text talks about the technological advances. Even Howie’s explanation went into the details and suggested that maybe my use of “technological” was bringing up thoughts of modern technology, which wasn’t really my intent. But you said that wasn’t an area of confusion for you. So let’s go through it one more time — and this time, I’ll make comments along the way.

    Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

    So people make a tower — and regardless of how tall they make it, their intention is to make it very tall. As William said, this isn’t the same as just baking bricks or building a simple dwelling. Building a tower takes some skill.

    And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

    So God “comes down” to see the tower, and is so impressed that he realizes mankind will be able to accomplish anything they set their mind to.

    Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

    So now, presumably because of what he saw (mankind’s ability to create sophisticated things when working together), he decides to confuse their language so they can’t collaborate.

    I haven’t taken the time to answer you to this point, because this passage seems very clear to me. Honestly, when I wrote this post, I didn’t imagine anyone would try to argue this particular point with me, because the verses are pretty clear. Do you see it some other way?

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  7. “So what I’m hearing you say, is that the Jews COULD have been in Mesopotamia, and that no one should believe they weren’t just because they left no physical evidence.”

    At this point i am saying that you are even more dense that I thought. You made a claim that there was no other religion but pagan at the time . I quoted it told you that there is no archaeological evidence that would be left for a monotheistic religion that didn’t t have articacts and here you are still unable to get it

    “You actually expect me to dignify that with a response.”

    NO because at this point I do not even know if you can process basic english

    “There’s ample evidence by independent linguistic scholars to support the Documentary Hypothesis”

    Pile of garbage. Put up the evidence and stop trying to refer to it by proxy so you don;t have to do the heavy lifting . And don’t even bother trying to post articles in its support by those who buy it because thats pointless as I can post articles from people who don’t. You did this SAME EXACT nonsense with the Davidic monarchy when I was last here . trotted out your scholars agreeing with you as alleged “top scholarship” laugh and lambasted any conservative scholar as not up to snuff and that has turned to mud with recent findings that are backing the conservative scholarship you laughed at

    So I don’t want to hear about publications that support it and who does and who doesn’t – The evidence not what people say about the evidence You always resort to this laziness. In what branch of science or law can you say something is an established fact based on authority rather than the actual evidence? If you can;t put the actually evidence on the table then stop wasting my time

    ” I suggest you take it up with the Pope. Even you probably know where he lives.”

    ROFL.. Its always good when real laughter can warm up a night. I don’t give a rip about the pope. welcome to the 21 century. Theres this group you might have heard of called Protestants. The Catholic church’s practical worship of Mary make them a border line cult to many protestants. Wake up and educate yourself on the modern religious landscape.

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  8. Mikey, most of us here are stating opinions as we interpret the Bible or any other subject. You on the other hand claim some divine knowledge of what the scriptures truly say and call us idiots for not seeing the Bible the same way you do.

    Why not do away with the testosterone laden comments and try sharing your opinions for a change ?

    Someone might actually listen. Just a thought.

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  9. ” So let’s go through it one more time — and this time, I’ll make comments along the way.’

    Alright Nate from one jerk to another …lol (including both our perspectives)lets try it again

    ” So people make a tower — and regardless of how tall they make it, their intention is to make it very tall. As William said, this isn’t the same as just baking bricks or building a simple dwelling. Building a tower takes some skill. ”

    okay but sorry it doesn’t necessarily require any technological advancement. Looks like they build it with the knowledge they already had, Could they learn somethng new? Sure did they have to ? Nope

    “So God “comes down” to see the tower, and is so impressed that he realizes mankind will be able to accomplish anything they set their mind to.”

    and theres where it gets dicey. Is it reasonable to assume that any and everything they could do God would be against? Nope. SO then it would be some things he had in mind. So how do we mind read that? I’d say the only things we could really be certain that he wouldn’t want them to do are things we know from the rest of the Bible he didn’ t want them to do. Sin being high on that list if not the only item

    ” So now, presumably because of what he saw (mankind’s ability to create sophisticated things when working together), he decides to confuse their language so they can’t collaborate.”

    Okay I have been doing this response sequentially not reading ahead and its been okay but now you are trying to fudge a bit with sophisticated. We know they are building a great large city but sophisticated sounds like you want to put in a technological advancement angle and large and big does not equal that and as before it doesn’t even begin to logically indicate that God would be against any and everything they would do. Would he be against them being united and worshiping him or creating a temple in his honor? hardly likely.

    “I haven’t taken the time to answer you to this point, because this passage seems very clear to me. Honestly, when I wrote this post, I didn’t imagine anyone would try to argue this particular point with me, because the verses are pretty clear. Do you see it some other way?”

    eh? Whatzzzz? thats it? Bewildering Nate. I was scrolling down sure to see more . How in the world do you think that the verses you just went over even begin to answer my request for you to show me anywhere in the text that refer to technological advances much less that that is whats God is against as say opposed to pride or idolatry that may result? I’m sorry I just don;t believe you. I”ve read you enough to know that you at least can do basic reasoning and I really don’t think you could honestly believe you made the case for advanced technologies being what God is trying to avoid them getting . Its just not in the actual text like you have claimed

    I just can;t take you seriously.Its kind of twilight zonish. WHere did you establish that in the text? or was it because as I suspected you are kind of fudging the word sophisticated to get there.? But then that was your word not whats in the text.

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  10. ” You on the other hand claim some divine knowledge of what the scriptures truly say and call us idiots for not seeing the Bible the same way you do.

    Why not do away with the testosterone laden comments and try sharing your opinions for a change ?”

    for someone that was just comparing me to a little dog you sure are quite the hypocrite to claim I am insulting, And theres no need to lie….again. You guys do sharing as fact all the time. its so amusing to watch your duplicity. WHile youa re claiming your sides just shares opinions Arch is furiuosly claiming (and you re reading) that he is stating historical facts

    Sheesh at least lie when you are more likely not to be at the very same moment demonstrating you are lying

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  11. Dave,

    if you return and I am not here I will probably be busy the next two days and maybe through the weekend. Will try to stop in if i Can but like you were today going to be a bit tied up and then I have a forced total day off with family. take care

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  12. and theres where it gets dicey. Is it reasonable to assume that any and everything they could do God would be against? Nope. SO then it would be some things he had in mind. So how do we mind read that? I’d say the only things we could really be certain that he wouldn’t want them to do are things we know from the rest of the Bible he didn’ t want them to do. Sin being high on that list if not the only item

    But how does that have anything to do with people being able to build a tower? I think this is where you’re jumping the shark. Remember, it’s seeing what the people have built that makes God decide to confuse their languages…

    We know they are building a great large city but sophisticated sounds like you want to put in a technological advancement angle and large and big does not equal that

    Why can’t “sophisticated” refer to building a city and a tower? It’s not an easy task, and this is written from the perspective of people who lived a very long time ago. An extremely tall tower would likely have seemed very impressive to them.

    Again, the passage is clear: God sees their tower (and city), and from that concludes that they would be able to achieve all kinds of things in working together. Call that whatever you want, if you don’t like “technological advancement,” but it basically means the same thing. He’s impressed with what they’ve built and doesn’t want them doing more. That’s the whole impetus for his decision to confuse their language.

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  13. Funny you should speak of processing basic English:
    I quoted it told you that there is no archaeological evidence that would be left for a monotheistic religion that didn’t t have articacts and here you are still unable to get it>

    I can only assume you’ve been drinking.

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  14. More processed English:
    WHile youa re claiming your sides just shares opinions Arch is furiuosly claiming (and you re reading) that he is stating historical facts

    I’m guessing he’s about three sheets to the wind, or he badly needs his meds.

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  15. Evidence for Christians that Jesus was not the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies of the Jewish Bible:

    I am currently reading a fascinating book by orthodox Jewish author, Asher Norman, entitled, “Twenty-six Reasons why Jews don’t believe in Jesus”. I highly recommend that every Christian and ex-Christian buy it and read it.

    Was Jesus the Jewish Messiah as we have been taught since Sunday School…or an imposter?

    Here is an excerpt from Norman’s book:

    Malachi was the last Jewish prophet and therefore represented God’s last communication to the Jewish people through the mouth of a prophet. This may be compared to a final “deathbed” statement to one’s family and friends. At such a moment, a wise person says what they consider most important. What was God’s final message to the Jewish People through His final prophet Malachi?

    “Remember the Torah of Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb [Sinai] for all of Israel—[its] decrees and [its] statutes.” Malachi 3:22

    Christian theology requires one to believe that the very next thing God did after sending Malachi to remind the Jewish People to keep the commandments was to send Jesus to tell the Jewish people not to keep his commandments. This cannot be possible if God is logical and consistent.

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  16. “I am not confused Nate” ABlckmansagain

    oh?

    so you’re just lying then. confused, lying, nose-bleeding from trying to think, whatever the problem is, if you cant or wont see what Genesis 11 is clearly saying after reading it (you have read it?) and after all these people have pointed it out to you again and again, then there is some problem, some hinderance of the mind that you’re obviously grappling with.

    you may need help. It could be a brain tumor and you should have that investigated.

    plus, you’re a mighty douche.

    It does have me wondering if you even view yourself as a christian. I cant recall where you’ve come right out and said so much. by your presentation, I would say that you’re not.

    If I’m wrong, where does it say anything about “pagan worship?” it’s just not there. if you see it, you should seek help. your 4 pitiful points in defense of this assertion were quickly wiped away like pooh on toilet tissue and flushed down the toilet where they belong. the 4 points you gave made me wonder what age you are, as they seemed so shortsighted and immature in thought. I would ask you your age, because I am curious, and because i would be somewhat impressed that such a youngster has the boldness to step out among so many that see things so differently. kudos, if that’s the case. if you’re not a young man…. ah.

    beyond that, declaring that the first cause must be a supernatural cause is ridiculous. it could be anything. If I’m wrong, show how it must be supernatural. And again, if you say it’s because all of the observable natural events cannot start themselves, fine, but now show where there’s been any start that isn’t natural? could be, may be, if – is as good as you can get with a first cause. not to mention, how do you know where the first cause it? is there one?

    regardless, if we leave that arena of infinite speculation, and if we all just assume that it had to have been a supernatural cause – what now?

    why does that necessarily imply only 1, all powerful god? and even if that, what makes that mean that it is the god of the bible?

    you can pretend to ignore these questions all you like. but thy’re still here, and I’ll keep reminding you that they’re here. avoiding them doesnt look like you’re too good to respond, it looks like quite the opposite, especially since you’re such a huge douche.

    you’ve forgotten the face of your father… unless he was douche too… in that case, i’d stand corrected.

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  17. “okay but sorry it doesn’t necessarily require any technological advancement. Looks like they build it with the knowledge they already had, Could they learn somethng new? Sure did they have to ? Nope” – ABlacksmanagain

    but it does. how do they raise the bricks higher than they ever had before? How do they know how big the foundations must be or how sturdy the lower walls must be to bear the weight, if it’s taller than anything they built before?

    are you sure you know what “technological” means?

    “looks like they built it withe the knowledge they a;ready had?” depends on what you mean. i mean, if you do something then you know how to do it. when apple first built their iphone, they knew how to build it, but had to learn knew things and make some advances in technology to get that knowledge.

    this is stupid. but it’s what you do. You want these discussions to get lost in cloudy, go-nowhere, arguments over things like semantics, ALL so you can AVOID having to deal with the fact that your assertion of pagan worship is not supported in anyway in genesis 11, and nate’s is (clearly – if you understand what “technology” means).

    and so you can also avoid answering how you get from a supernatural first cause to 1 god and how that 1 god must be the god of the bible.

    smoke and mirrors. and the longer you play this game, the sadder it gets. I can literally keep this up for years.

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  18. “How in the world do you think that the verses you just went over even begin to answer my request for you to show me anywhere in the text that refer to technological advances much less that that is whats God is against as say opposed to pride or idolatry that may result?” – ABlacksmanagain

    since you clearly havent read the text:

    5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 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. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

    you see, god comes to look at the people and sees this tower they were building. he then realizes that they all speak the same language and that if they can build this tower, that perhaps they can do anything, and so he then decides to confuse their languages to prevent them from completing the tower and try and hinder from doing other big, new and neat stuff.

    in grade school, they encourage young readers to use context clues and deductive reasoning. you see, even though the exact term “technological advances” werent used, we can see where that is an acceptable paraphrase of what the text is saying god wanted to stop by confusing the languages.

    you may also note, that “pagan worship” or “idolatry” are neither mentioned specifically, nor alluded to in any fashion.

    I hope this helps you see these rudimentary concepts. Once you actually read it, it’s quite clear that pagan worship had nothing at all to do with the tower, whatsoever, and that technological advances does indeed play into the story’s plot.

    do you still not understand?

    care to show us the passages that make you see it differently?

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  19. “We know they are building a great large city but sophisticated sounds like you want to put in a technological advancement angle and large and big does not equal thay” – ABlacksmanagain

    for a successful, large city, it does mean sophisticated and that does involve technological advancements.

    do you use the restroom? where does it go? imagine all the people in a huge city – where does all their pooh and pee go?

    what about trash?

    what about food?

    what about drinking water?

    what about huge construction projects in the middle of a big city?

    if you could stop for moment and think about all that that stuff implies, it’s not hard at all to see.

    I do not think you really understand what technology is. it’s not just iphones and laptops.

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  20. “nate not a little time today but I don;t think this will take long so here goes

    “But how does that have anything to do with people being able to build a tower? I think this is where you’re jumping the shark. Remember, it’s seeing what the people have built that makes God decide to confuse their languages…”

    The passage clear as day and you refuse to see because of where you want to go says its not so much the tower but the people being united and what they might do NEXT and Yes a people united in thinking about their own fame – nothing about God in their motives. Clear as day in the text. It pretty clear now your eyes will gloss over anything in the text that doesn’t suit your argument

    Meanwhile you cannot logically defend and neither does the text give you any indication of what actions are in God’s view unless as I already responded you come back with the drop down dead silly argument that God would be against anything they did even if it was to worship him (you can potentially get better in architecture building buildings dedicated to worshiping God too). Furthermore they were never prohibited from building cities and yes egads!! you can get more skilled by doing that too…..(lol,,,,sorry your argument is so silly). Separated they are allowed to build buildings, farm and God even later inspires them in works of creativity in building a temple to himself and with his approval some to excel at Babylonian “schools”.

    Nevermind all that though Nate says God is anti technology and human creativity and ummm its in the text…..well………. in a emperor has new clothes kind of way 😉

    This is why I say rightfully you are the master of text hacks and are intellectually dishonest. You have an enemy and its the Concept of God and the Bible (and I guess it just grows and deepens because you have been ostracized by your family which I think you take far too little responsibility for given the Church lying thing – not all blame but more than you take. Its also partly why they won’t read your stuff and fairly so. Its hard to come back to having credibility after that very extreme deception you resorted and only your wife put an end to).

    Bottom line. You neither apply logic, context or balanced thinking when its in the pursuit of your hack. You continue to claim whats not in a text is in there to the ridiculous point where you lie that the text itself proves it is talking about technology when it never does and you latest gambit was to try and sneak the idea of technology into your sophistication word plant (which I immediately caught).

    SO I still await where in the text does it talk about God wanting to stop people from acquiring knowledge?

    You can’t even show that any new technology was actually even learned in building the city they were building. Its purely assumption not having any idea of what they did or did not know about building.

    complete washed out argument on your part. Like I said though – one of my favorite posts of yours because it perfectly illustrate your hackery that is present in lesser forms in most your posts. and lest you are upset again at pointing out this problem of yours and think its unbiblical. You missed a verse

    “Open rebuke is better than secret love”

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  21. “The passage clear as day and you refuse to see because of where you want to go says its not so much the tower but the people being united and what they might do NEXT and Yes a people united in thinking about their own fame – nothing about God in their motives. Clear as day in the text. It pretty clear now your eyes will gloss over anything in the text that doesn’t suit your argument” – ABlackmansagain

    “clear as day… what they might do NEXT…” very good. “what they might do NEXT” is relation to building the tower. so now you can understand why nate sees it as “technological advances.”

    you see “pagan worship” which is not there at all. perhaps you have special insights into the mind of the author, or perhaps you think this legend is real and think you have special insights into the mind of god, to know what just isnt there.

    without any doubt, “pagan worship” nor “idolatry” are anywhere in the context of genesis 11.

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  22. “It pretty clear now your eyes will gloss over anything in the text that doesn’t suit your argument” – ABlacksmanagain

    irony

    “Meanwhile you cannot logically defend and neither does the text give you any indication of what actions are in God’s view” – ABlacksmanagaian

    you know what else cannot logically be defended and what else isnt supported by the text? pagan worship.

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  23. “Bottom line. You neither apply logic, context or balanced thinking when its in the pursuit of your hack” – ABlacksmanagain

    irony

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  24. “SO I still await where in the text does it talk about God wanting to stop people from acquiring knowledge?” ABlacksmanagain

    I give up. where?

    oh, oh you mean that nate is saying this? where did nate say that?

    while advancing in technology requires knowledge, knowledge and technology arent the same. if you’re not familiar with them, there are several free online dictionaries. http://www.dictionary.com is one.

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