The Tower of Babel

I was reading through Genesis a few days ago and came across a story that I liked when I was a young child. The story of the tower of babel. Genesis Chapter 11 v 1-9. I believe in God but sometimes I have doubts of what is written in the Bible. Heck, parts were even taken out of the bible because they were believed to be false also.

The story, if you dont know, goes something like this. A city of people decide to build this big tower that will reach up into heaven. God sees this and doesnt like it so he confuses their language which is supposed to be the reason why there are supposed to be so many different languages today. Here is the problem I have with the story.

Today we have rockets, and sattelites that go higher than any tower could of gone back then and even today. Our rockets travel to distant planets. If God didn't want a tower of people coming up to him then woulndt he also prevent us from traveling in space?

Enlighten me.

The tower of babel is the 'story' of pride, ambition and arrogence.

God asked the people to spread across the entire land, and subdue it, however instead they stayed together in one spot and built one city. So they disobeyed his instructions ...

"Let's build a great city with a tower that reaches to heaven --a monument to our greatness! This will bring us together and keep us from scattering all over the world.""

They also were very proud and wanted, like satan, to have power, hence to make a tower that reaches to heaven.

Babylon was a city known for witchcraft and black magic, Isa 47.9 Yes, these calamities will come upon you, despite all your witchcraft and magic.
So I imagine that using the black arts were how they were gong to reach heaven...

The tower could have been the center of their witchcraft.


So these were an arrogent people who disobeyed the instructions that God had laid out..

In order for God's plan to be fulfilled then he had to break the unity of the group and by mixing up the language he did so. Interestingly enough there IS a root language from whiich all languages come from...

Now babylon has not gone, throughout the bible it has a literal and figerative sence.

It is a real place in Iraq where the Jews were taken to when they went into slavery.

As well the future state that will come ... the one world govt ... is described as babylon, for the same reasons as the first one.

[Edited on 28-10-2002 by Netchicken]

In a very literal sense the term Tower in the Tower of Babel. May not have had anything to so with a building or stucture, we commonly define under that word. Yes, to the masses it does seem clear that in those days God was accepted as living in the sky. This does not necessarily mean that those had been designated as leaders, accepted the same thing.

Netchicken has hit that on the button.

Its true this tower would have meant more to them than God himself, because it was the work of their own hands. Think about how people pride themselves on the work they do and especially if its for themselves. they would have worshiped it and eventually would have forgotten about God.
The leader of the people of that time was Nimrod and about him it says that he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. But actually in the original hebrew text it says that Nimrod was a mighty hunter AGAINST the Lord. So by building this tower it was like a fist in the face of god, and as Nimrod was against the lord he simply wanted to make a God for himself to worship. God could not allow this as it would have been a complete contradiction of his word. The first of the ten commandments says you shall have NO other Gods before me.


Now concerning rockets and satelites and so forth, look at the records of space travel. How many fatalities have there been, how many failed missions and spacecraft exploding. The MIR space station, it went up, had billions spent on it for maintenance, upgrading and repairs and then God said enough and sent it crashing into the sea. Has space travel really been successful?. What makes you think God does not play a part in what goes on up there. I believe he does, and he is not very happy and thats why space travel has always been a BIG mess.

God bless you and welcome aboard

I'm not one to believe much in Alien Creation theories but here is something I came across myself, not in some hokey conspiracy book.

There are three points...

First point, when a primative human culture comes into contact with a very advanced culture, they build a religion around it and have rituals that mimic what the more advanced culture did, this got its name "Cargo Cults" from WW2 when cargo planes would land on islands where the islanders never even saw white man before that...the islanders even to this day maintain a good airfeild, and ritually run "reed" aircrafts off the cliffs, in hopes it would one day bring back the gods (these massive proppellered aircrafts, whom the islanders believe that the humans were simply servants of these flying beasts.

Point number 2: This has occured on many islands where the populace went back into isolation after WW2, this has not only just occured on many islands, but it has occured on many islands in much the same rituals, INDEPENDANTLY!

Point number 3: The story of tower of bable is repeated through out culture in various manners, around much of the world, a good example is African Myth from sub sahara, a place at that ancient time, not accessable to Babylonians or the Bible. The African Myth states of a man who so wanted to be like the gods, that he felt he would build a tower of bush twigs to the heavens. He got high up when the gods cut his tower down and he fell to the earth, the gods then as punishment seperated his family all across the land, that they would forever be devided.

The book I found this in was way back in I guess sophmore english, called African Myths, I don't know who wrote it, but it's worth looking up, it is the chapter, I think around numbers 5 or 9 and the title is something like Maboki's climb to the sky.

It's quite a coincidense and shocked me greatly upon noticing it.

Sincerely,
no signature

Ahhh toltec... here is a case where you CAN find the literal meaning of the word, because it was written down...

04026 migdal [mig-dawl'] also (in pl.) fem. migdalah [mig-daw-law']

occurances in the bible...

1) tower 1b) elevated stage, pulpit
1c) raised bed

tower 47, castles 1, flowers 1, pulpit 1; total = 50

I too had thougth that it was a metaphor for something else but it does seem to be a literal tower.

Originally posted by Toltec
In a very literal sense the term Tower in the Tower of Babel. May not have had anything to so with a building or stucture, we commonly define under that word

Freemason, you are right, the same story does appear in other cultures ... the Ark for example appears in chinese culture and one f the oldest symbols in their language represents 8 guys in a boat!

But it no suprising that the same underlying truth is in all cultures .. as all cultures have ancestoral memories of the same events. It happened ..... as the people moved from out to cover the eath they took the stories of the event with them....

[Edited on 29-10-2002 by Netchicken]

[Edited on 29-10-2002 by Netchicken]

Net, you should read a book called: "Rule by Secrecy" by Jim Marrs.

It also goes into the possibility of the tower of bable being an event much like rocket travel that all of humanity at one time experienced, this is a good book for many reasons but primarily I like it because it links Gilgamesh to an "Alien genisis" theory in which man was created by aliens, perceived as gods.

Blah blah, you may find it interesting in the book it is the chatper, "The Annunaki"

Sincerely,
no signature

That is interesting NC the idea that the structure was not in fact a tower is not based on anything I have heard its a conclusion I made

In relation to the flood event I am familiar with some of alternative legends. They correspond to events called pole shifts. There is evidence of a world flood
but the most recent occurred 10s of thousands of years ago. It is possible that the Old Testament stories are in fact much older than we consider?

Yes, it is all lost in the mist of the past. Funny how all the water on mars disappears, and the stories of a great flood appear here.

All that water, and not a drop to drink

Actually if memory serves Mars lost its viable (able to maintain life) Atmosphere at about the same time Earth gained hers. But ASE that was a very long time ago considering the conclusions of scientist. Are you trying to imply that Mars was the Eden we left?

Originally posted by FreeMason
It also goes into the possibility of the tower of bable being an event much like rocket travel that all of humanity at one time experienced

Yep, I have read this story too, and I'm close to believe it. But I wonder why "God " didn't blow us again when we started to build ( one more time ? ) space-rockets.

Any ideas ?

Oh Phoenix that is because in the theory that the Tower of Bable was a "rocket launch tower" or something, stems from the idea that the "Gods" were just aliens that had business back then on earth, and when we tried to mimic them they put an end to it so we'd never be a threat hence "god knocking down the tower of bable, and scattering the people across the world with many languages" so that they could never unite in such a way again, reason why aliens haven't smashed our recent space program? Hmm they must have gone somehwere more important =D

BUT WE'LL SHOW THEM MUHAHAHAHAHAHA

Originally posted by FreeMason

Hmm they must have gone somehwere more important =D

BUT WE'LL SHOW THEM MUHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yeah, and we are coming back in space ! We'll have our revenge and we'll nuke them all.

The truth about the tower. It was when satan tried to use humans to
over power God! But God stopped this. And he will do the same again.
For the cities are corrupt, and God shall destroy them! Massive
earthquakes shall destroy NYC and WDC and the other sinful cities!
Death will come to those who sin, and hell is where they belong!


Peace

Hee hee heeeee....

You're addicted to this forum!!!

You know I never get tired of reading a post by someone who talks about death and people going to hell and then puts the "peace" signature at the bottom.


Steward -

So are you telling us that God brought MIR down from space. Why hasn't he done the same to the hundreds of other satellites orbiting the earth?

Yeah, accoding to stewards' logic, we shouldn't even be discussing this on an online messageboard...

Originally posted by The only Truth
The truth about the tower. It was when satan tried to use humans to
over power God! But God stopped this. And he will do the same again.
For the cities are corrupt, and God shall destroy them! Massive
earthquakes shall destroy NYC and WDC and the other sinful cities!
Death will come to those who sin, and hell is where they belong!

Peace

So, God will have to remove from earth ALL cities, towns, nations, country, states, humanbeings and so on....

Yes basically, if he's not too Pussy to go through with it

Sincerely,
no signature

I think that the main difference between the Tower of Babel & us using rockets for space travel today is more a difference in *goal* rather than actual consruction...Back then, everyone thought that the stars *was* heaven. The Tower of Babel was intended to reach heaven; The rockets are intended to reach the stars. I, for one, am not getting confused with the difference between the stars & heaven.