CHRISTIANS PLEASE EXPLAIN "tower of babel"

[ShaMan]

Can't we all just get a bong?

[Jacob(smooth)]

I repeat, What exactly are you trying to achieve with these threads?

Also, when you use caps lock for all your thread titles, then don't bother with any caps at all in a sentence like this :-

increasing thread count i dont think sooo. silly man,.. alot of threads keep dragging on and not sticking with the original topic.

along with treating punctuation like a game of pin the tail on the donkey, it makes the baby Jesus cry. Just letting you know

[Jackalope]

alot of threads keep dragging on and not sticking with the original topic.

You must be new here.

[truthBtold]

I repeat, What exactly are you trying to achieve with these threads?

Also, when you use caps lock for all your thread titles, then don't bother with any caps at all in a sentence like this :-

increasing thread count i dont think sooo. silly man,.. alot of threads keep dragging on and not sticking with the original topic.

along with treating punctuation like a game of pin the tail on the donkey, it makes the baby Jesus cry. Just letting you know

i cant help it i GoT 14 fingers that God "allbrighty" gave mE.. ha!!!

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alot of threads keep dragging on and not sticking with the original topic.

You must be new here.

this forum.. jes!!!

[Jacob(smooth)]

i cant help it i GoT 14 fingers that God "allbrighty" gave mE.. ha!!!

Fair play. I lol'd.

[Cato]

truthBtold,

I think it would help if you didn't assume that all Christians believed in Biblical literalism. Most don't. It's almost as bad as a theist claiming evolution teaches that we came from monkies and then attacking the absurdity of that position.

I suggest a more nuanced approach to discussing Biblical content. At such time that someone comes swooping in as if to say "that shit's real" then have a go.

Here's an example of a more reasoned theological approach to the story:
http://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/201...-of-babel/

Notice that nobody thinks that the tower would have actually reached heaven, the sin was the fact that they thought they could. I have recently learned to ignore the supernatural elements and reexamine some Biblical accounts while asking myself, "What was the author trying to tell us about the human condition?" or "How do modern theologians interpret a story for modern consideration?".

There is certainly plenty in the Bible that can just be dismissed; however, if properly considered there is much that can be useful.

[ShaMan]

Just the other day, I was building a tower to get to heaven, when all of the sudden, out of nowhere, I began speaking in confused tongues. I was like... WTF?

[Chad32]

I'm sure from a nonliteralist perspective, it's just to explain why different languages exist. The problem is that stories like these are the only way we can know what Yahweh is like. You can't just say that he's full of justice and mercy and love, and then tell stories about how he makes a beautiful garden and puts something in it that will screw everything up, or destroy the world because people are doing things he doesn't like, or ruin an attempt to make one of the wonders of the world because it's not something he directed himself, or kill babies because of something their parents did, or have people killed because they broke a commandment they didn't know about, or command the slaughter of villages where people don't worship him and reward his followers by allowing them to rape the virgins, or any number of things that he's supposed to have done or commanded people to do.

What's meant to be literal? What's meant to merely be metaphor to explain things in the world? Sometimes I think the only reason we take some things as metaphor is because we've found out enough about the world that we know these things can't really happen. Two people, or a small family, can't propagate the human race without some serious genetic defects down the line. You can't survive long at high altitudes in a boat with a bunch of animals without suffocating to death. You could spend your entire life devoutly following Jesus, and no matter what you do there will be other followers that say you're doing it wrong.

[ShaMan]

You could spend your entire life devoutly following Jesus, and no matter what you do there will be other followers that say you're doing it wrong.

The True Christians™?

[Chad32]

Some people, including the guy that wrote the linked article, seems to think this is about the evilness of pride. It annoys me that just about any time someone tries to do something for himself or herself, and doesn't prostrate themselves before Yahweh, it's the worst kind of sin in the world. The sin of pride. Anything less than groveling on the ground and begging someone to think for you is somehow wrong in the eyes of those who want power over you.

This passage about Babel doesn't say squat about Yahweh. It's not like they're planning to invade heaven and overthrow Yahweh. That's what he's so ticked off about. If it's not about him, it deserves destruction. If he didn't want us thinking for ourselves, he shouldn't have given us free will. or at the very least he should respect some people's choice to not follow him. Otherwise it's just a catch 22. You have a choice, but you're not allowed to use your ability to choose and be allowed happiness.