Why did God do this to us?

[relaxeus]

[GENESIS 11]

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 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. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth



The way I see it, humans were progressing very well. We built ourselves a nice city, spoke the same language and had a tower. Then God comes along, makes us speak different languages and scatters us across the earth all because we were doing well and had a nice city? Isn't that really, really immoral?

 

[CSmrw]

You see, it's all very simple. The tower was to be to heaven. Heaven, of course, is not actually "up", per se. But these primative peoples didn't understand that. Why? None of your business. Anyway, God, fearing greatly that they might accidentally break the square cubed rule, or solve that problem and build the tower up to where the atmosphere is too thin to breathe and potentially suffocate, decided in the manner he used at that time, to completely destroy everything and then rub salt in the wounds by confusing people's ability to communicate. Lest they try to build another tower to heaven. Humans, you must remember, at that point in history were just north of drooling idiots. They were only able to build at all in the same manner that termites are. Accidentally and due to ...well, not evolutionary tendencies...um, it was one of God's many gifts to them that they were stupid enough to try to build a tower to a place that doesn't exist in this material plane but clever enough to build any kind of tower at all.

It's all very simple.

 

[calidog]

Genesis 1:28 be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

 

[CSmrw]

And the earth has been regretting it ever since.

 

[MethodMan]

[GENESIS 11]

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 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. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth



The way I see it, humans were progressing very well. We built ourselves a nice city, spoke the same language and had a tower. Then God comes along, makes us speak different languages and scatters us across the earth all because we were doing well and had a nice city? Isn't that really, really immoral?

By who's standard?

 

[kopilo]

Personally I find the diversification of our world a beautiful thing.

 

[CSmrw]

Specifically regarding human diversity I can see beauty - and a great deal of ugliness, but mainly I see simple inevitability. As the original tribes spread out their languages "forgot" each other and new terms were added for new phenomena. I can sometimes barely understand people from the deep south and far north in my own country.

 

[relaxeus]

By who's standard?

By my standard, and by many other peoples. I would hope most people, because there doesnt seem to be a reasonable defense for what God did to us.

 

[relaxeus]

Personally I find the diversification of our world a beautiful thing.

From another perspective, these differences cause problems. Rascism, for one thing. Ethnic wars, another. Confusing and scattering us has hindered our ability to communicate with eachother and we have advanced much more slowly than we would have had God not done this to us. A lot of suffereing has come from this.

 

[setzie]

The way I see it, humans were progressing very well. We built ourselves a nice city, spoke the same language and had a tower. Then God comes along, makes us speak different languages and scatters us across the earth all because we were doing well and had a nice city? Isn't that really, really immoral?

Why is it immoral?

 

[relaxeus]

Why is it immoral?

Because we were doing well for ourselves, and God, from malice or jealously or whatever the reason, made our lives much harder by purposely making us speak different languages and scattering us across the world.

 

[jayem]

By my standard, and by many other peoples. I would hope most people, because there doesnt seem to be a reasonable defense for what God did to us.

The questionableness of God's action is further compounded when you consider that God is supposedly omniscient. Why did He give everyone the same language in the first place? Especially since he would have forseen this would happen. Was this just another of God's "tests" of mankind to see how far we would go? (Again, even though he already knows the outcome?)

Just another of the OT myths which illustrates the incoherent and illogical nature of the biblical God.

 

[kopilo]

From another perspective, these differences cause problems. Rascism, for one thing. Ethnic wars, another. Confusing and scattering us has hindered our ability to communicate with eachother and we have advanced much more slowly than we would have had God not done this to us. A lot of suffereing has come from this.

The suffering has been caused by humans not God and without global perspectives and wars who really knows how far back we may actually have been as compared to now, don't forget a lot of technology and concepts have been developed because of wars.

 

[relaxeus]

The suffering has been caused by humans not God and without global perspectives and wars who really knows how far back we may actually have been as compared to now, don't forget a lot of technology and concepts have been developed because of wars.

If were a family to start with we would have gotten along much better. We spoke the same language and were geographically connected. God made our lives significantly worse by pitting us against eachother. Second, you can't justify wars because they give us better technologies.

 

[kopilo]

If were a family to start with we would have gotten along much better. We spoke the same language and were geographically connected. God made our lives significantly worse by pitting us against eachother. Second, you can't justify wars because they give us better technologies.

Firstly you should notice that my character is wearing an anti-war badge.

Secondly I'm just showing the other side of the coin, I still enjoy different cultures and different view points. War, hate and agression exists within every society, haven't you heard the term civial war. God has not commanded us to attack our neigbours, we are not pitted against our enimies, or do you not hold the book of Matthew to be true.

Do not blame God for our wars, it is our free will (as given by God) that we choose to commit such things.

 

[salvation12288]

If we were all the same the world would be extremely boring! It also gives us a chance to travel the world and meet new people. If we all lived in the same area we wouldn't be able to multiply that well because we would be quite crowded. God had a plan and so we shouldn't question it like that!

 

[relaxeus]

Firstly you should notice that my character is wearing an anti-war badge.

War - was is it good for? Absolutly nothing!

War, hate and agression exists within every society, haven't you heard the term civial war

Like the American civil war? That was fought for the freedom of one race. Sure, there are wars in societies that speak the same language and are of the same ethnicity. There are also many wars because of our differences that were caused by God.

Do not blame God for our wars, it is our free will (as given by God) that we commit such things.

So you credit God with giving us free will that has caused us to do all these horrible things and in the same sentence you say not to blame him? Is it beyond God to have done things differently for us, that we don't end up killing and hating eachother?

 

[relaxeus]

If we were all the same the world would be extremely boring! It also gives us a chance to travel the world and meet new people. If we all lived in the same area we wouldn't be able to multiply that well because we would be quite crowded. God had a plan and so we shouldn't question it like that!

Theres not much boredom among my friends, who are mostly of the same ethnic background. People would have gradually moved further and further away, space would not be an issue. His plan includes making our lives worse.

 

[kopilo]

War - was is it good for? Absolutly nothing!



Like the American civil war? That was fought for the freedom of one race. Sure, there are wars in societies that speak the same language and are of the same ethnicity. There are also many wars because of our differences that were caused by God.



So you credit God with giving us free will that has caused us to do all these horrible things and in the same sentence you say not to blame him? Is it beyond God to have done things differently for us, that we don't end up killing and hating eachother?

I'm sure God could have done things differently, I mean why didn't God stop the bubonic plague or humans from commiting any sins..
However that type of discussion really belongs in the Christian Theology section, and I am not knowledgeble or wise enough to answer it.

I just don't see God to contradict the bible in such a manner, love thy enemy but I'll send you out to war.

Also people use differences as a justification for war, when in real terms evolution has a lot less blood shead.

 

[MethodMan]

By my standard, and by many other peoples. I would hope most people, because there doesnt seem to be a reasonable defense for what God did to us.

God didn't do anything. We do it ourselves.