Overcoming what happened at the Tower of Babel

Ken Rank

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At the Tower of Babel, God confounded the language into many because He said, "they are one people, and they have all one language; and they have reasoned to do this thing; and now nothing will prevent them from doing that which they have imagined to do." (Gen 11:6) In other words, the people had reached a point where they might accomplish things that might have been outside of God's will and ahead of God's timing. So God confounded the language and made many languages to prevent this from happening.

Today, we have overcome the fence that God placed around us in the form of technology. We now have a number of ways to interact live, in real time, with people who speak different languages than we do. Right here on Facebook, for example, a post by somebody in a foreign language can be translated with one click of a mouse. And more, we have hand held translators where one can speak in their native tongue and have it instantly repeated out loud in the language the person with the device speaks. We have overcome what happened at Babel.

What does it mean? I am not sure... but I am sure if God was able to confound the language at Babel, then surely He could have prevented us from reaching the technological level we have reached. Which means, for whatever reason, God has allowed us to overcome Babel.
 
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eleos1954

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At the Towel of Babel, God confounded the language into many because He said, "they are one people, and they have all one language; and they have reasoned to do this thing; and now nothing will prevent them from doing that which they have imagined to do." (Gen 11:6) In other words, the people had reached a point where they might accomplish things that might have been outside of God's will and ahead of God's timing. So God confounded the language and made many languages to prevent this from happening.

Today, we have overcome the fence that God placed around us in the form of technology. We now have a number of ways to interact live, in real time, with people who speak different languages than we do. Right here on Facebook, for example, a post by somebody in a foreign language can be translated with one click of a mouse. And more, we have hand held translators where one can speak in their native tongue and have it instantly repeated out loud in the language the person with the device speaks. We have overcome what happened at Babel.

What does it mean? I am not sure... but I am sure if God was able to confound the language at Babel, then surely He could have prevented us from reaching the technological level we have reached. Which means, for whatever reason, God has allowed us to overcome Babel.

I think the technology that He gave us is paramount in getting the good news out and that IS His objective.
 
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Ken Rank

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I think the technology that He gave us is paramount in getting the good news out and that IS His objective.
I didn't say it wasn't... I said the voice recognition software allows us to overcome the fence God created at the Tower of Babel. I also said, if you read all that I wrote in the OP... that "God has allowed us to overcome Babel." So how do we disagree? What was the point of your post?
 
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Ken Rank

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Like I said, if God could confound the languages then He could have prevented us from reaching this level we are now at. My question is... why now? Is this an indication of where we are in history? This needed to be done in order to bring about the final end of days? Just questions... not statements. :)
 
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Like I said, if God could confound the languages then He could have prevented us from reaching this level we are now at. My question is... why now? Is this an indication of where we are in history? This needed to be done in order to bring about the final end of days? Just questions... not statements. :)
I think of what Lord Jesus said about it would be as it was in the days of Noah when He returns. The languages were not divided until Babel. So in Noah's day, there was just one universal language. So, imho, the technology we have today is a fulfillment of Lord Jesus' words, and prophecy.
Ecc. 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
 
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eleos1954

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I didn't say it wasn't... I said the voice recognition software allows us to overcome the fence God created at the Tower of Babel. I also said, if you read all that I wrote in the OP... that "God has allowed us to overcome Babel." So how do we disagree? What was the point of your post?

It was in response to this

Which means, for whatever reason, God has allowed us to overcome Babel.

the whatever reason ... which I believe is to get the Gospel out ... perhaps we disagree I guess
 
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At the Towel of Babel, God confounded the language into many because He said, "they are one people, and they have all one language; and they have reasoned to do this thing; and now nothing will prevent them from doing that which they have imagined to do." (Gen 11:6) In other words, the people had reached a point where they might accomplish things that might have been outside of God's will and ahead of God's timing. So God confounded the language and made many languages to prevent this from happening.

Today, we have overcome the fence that God placed around us in the form of technology. We now have a number of ways to interact live, in real time, with people who speak different languages than we do. Right here on Facebook, for example, a post by somebody in a foreign language can be translated with one click of a mouse. And more, we have hand held translators where one can speak in their native tongue and have it instantly repeated out loud in the language the person with the device speaks. We have overcome what happened at Babel.

What does it mean? I am not sure... but I am sure if God was able to confound the language at Babel, then surely He could have prevented us from reaching the technological level we have reached. Which means, for whatever reason, God has allowed us to overcome Babel.
I disagree that it's fully undone. The world is more interconnected than it has been before, and we can do rough translations in seconds. But at Babel, they all had one purpose, to build that tower to reach Heaven. I don't see all humanity coming together in a similar way anytime soon. Look at the divisions even within existing nations, let alone between the nations.

All that said, there are people who claim that chipping away at those barriers is wrong. Problem with that is, they were erected before the coming, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who gave us the Great Commission to spread the Gospel. The Holy Spirit himself in Acts 2 gave the Apostles the gift of tongues so that everyone in Jerusalem from many nations heard the Gospel in their own language, so God himself began to break the barrier down. And in the centuries since, Christians have translated the Gospel into many languages so that new people groups will have the opportunity to hear it. If that is good, I don't see a Biblical problem with furthering translation technology and breaking down other divisions that would make it easier to travel and spread the Gospel. Furthermore, if this coming together is bad, one has to not only explain why Christian mission work over the last 2000 years hasn't been bad, but also deal with the fact that the Internet is one of those things that chips away at those divisions, and therefore justify their using the Internet to say it is bad without invoking a double standard or circular logic.
 
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Ken Rank

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I disagree that it's fully undone. The world is more interconnected than it has been before, and we can do rough translations in seconds. But at Babel, they all had one purpose, to build that tower to reach Heaven. I don't see all humanity coming together in a similar way anytime soon. Look at the divisions even within existing nations, let alone between the nations.

All that said, there are people who claim that chipping away at those barriers is wrong. Problem with that is, they were erected before the coming, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who gave us the Great Commission to spread the Gospel. The Holy Spirit himself in Acts 2 gave the Apostles the gift of tongues so that everyone in Jerusalem from many nations heard the Gospel in their own language, so God himself began to break the barrier down. And in the centuries since, Christians have translated the Gospel into many languages so that new people groups will have the opportunity to hear it. If that is good, I don't see a Biblical problem with furthering translation technology and breaking down other divisions that would make it easier to travel and spread the Gospel. Furthermore, if this coming together is bad, one has to not only explain why Christian mission work over the last 2000 years hasn't been bad, but also deal with the fact that the Internet is one of those things that chips away at those divisions, and therefore justify their using the Internet to say it is bad without invoking a double standard or circular logic.
I don't disagree, we lack united purpose. All I am saying is..the fence put in place by God has been climbed and because we can instantly communicate as if with one language....only the unified purpose is lacking
 
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Ken Rank

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I think of what Lord Jesus said about it would be as it was in the days of Noah when He returns. The languages were not divided until Babel. So in Noah's day, there was just one universal language. So, imho, the technology we have today is a fulfillment of Lord Jesus' words, and prophecy.
Ecc. 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
That's good...hadn't looked at it that way
 
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Ken Rank

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It was in response to this



the whatever reason ... which I believe is to get the Gospel out ... perhaps we disagree I guess
We have taken the gospel to all nations, translating the bible into all or most languages....long before we invented universal translators.
 
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eleos1954

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We have taken the gospel to all nations, translating the bible into all or most languages....long before we invented universal translators.

I would agree ... but never in our lifetime has His word been so easily accessible and easily studied ... and also, tons of other info regarding history, other beliefs, theologies, archeology, cultures ... all kinds of additional tools/aids in studying His word (and most being free) ... and real-time or near real-time communication etc. click click click instead of having to thumb through several resources through hard cover books (although) I still have quite a few of those available.

Has really accelerated the learning time involved.
 
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JackRT

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While I believe that the story is a tribal myth or parable attempting to explain the diversification of languages, it also has a number of interesting spiritual meanings built into it. If you force a literal understanding onto such a story you run the risk of losing the spiritual meaning.
 
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public hermit

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Today, we have overcome the fence that God placed around us in the form of technology. We now have a number of ways to interact live, in real time, with people who speak different languages than we do. Right here on Facebook, for example, a post by somebody in a foreign language can be translated with one click of a mouse. And more, we have hand held translators where one can speak in their native tongue and have it instantly repeated out loud in the language the person with the device speaks. We have overcome what happened at Babel.

I like what you're saying. I have made a similar argument with science, i.e. it is a "language" that transcends language and cultural barriers in order to "make a name for ourselves." Not that I am anti-science. I am not. But it is a kind of transcendent "language." People from all over the world can and do work together on the same scientific problem, say in physics. Such unity produces great power-not always for the good.

I read the events at Pentecost as God's intended reversal of what happened at Babel. Not only is the language barrier transcended, but hearts are united in faith and love. Lots of good can come out of that kind of unity.

The problem is that all unity is not necessarily good unity. Unity is powerful, and the ability to overcome the things that divide us (language, culture, etc.) may seem great, but if that unity is put towards malicious ends, then we're in trouble. So, I worry about our current situation. I wonder what route the masses will take with their new found power.
 
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Ken Rank

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I would agree ... but never in our lifetime has His word been so easily accessible and easily studied ... and also, tons of other info regarding history, other beliefs, theologies, archeology, cultures ... all kinds of additional tools/aids in studying His word (and most being free) ... and real-time or near real-time communication etc. click click click instead of having to thumb through several resources through hard cover books (although) I still have quite a few of those available.

Has really accelerated the learning time involved.
And all that said... God doesn't need anything. I think He uses it... but He changed the world 2000 years ago without even a megaphone. :)
 
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Ken Rank

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I read the events at Pentecost as God's intended reversal of what happened at Babel. Not only is the language barrier transcended, but hearts are united in faith and love. Lots of good can come out of that kind of unity.
This is possible. My only hesitation is that He put a stop to those not seeking His will at Babel, whereas Pentecost was about a totally different kind of people. I also think that Pentecost was "quite" as unique as we think it is. The church was commissioned to build a house (the House of Israel)... that is what we have been doing for 2000 years, adding pieces to the house and the Holy Spirit has been there guiding, teaching, influencing, etc. But go back to Exd. 35 is memory serves, where Bezale'el was given the Holy Spirit to built a house for God too. :)
 
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Ken Rank

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While I believe that the story is a tribal myth or parable attempting to explain the diversification of languages, it also has a number of interesting spiritual meanings built into it. If you force a literal understanding onto such a story you run the risk of losing the spiritual meaning.
Just throwing this out for consideration.... assuming there was one single language at the beginning (that would be reasonable) then even when families moved out into the depths of the land, there is no reason to think their language had to change. And yet, today we have hundreds of languages. I could see dialects, slang, certain idioms being different between cultures, but the base of the languages should all be the same because they all came out of one. Yet... they are not the same Jack... in many cases, there are no similarities at all. To me, that adds to the idea that this was a literal event and that God intervened.
 
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eleos1954

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And all that said... God doesn't need anything. I think He uses it... but He changed the world 2000 years ago without even a megaphone. :)

True .... world was a lot smaller and more localized back then :)

No doubt He'll get er done :)
 
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Just throwing this out for consideration.... assuming there was one single language at the beginning (that would be reasonable) then even when families moved out into the depths of the land, there is no reason to think their language had to change. And yet, today we have hundreds of languages. I could see dialects, slang, certain idioms being different between cultures, but the base of the languages should all be the same because they all came out of one. Yet... they are not the same Jack... in many cases, there are no similarities at all. To me, that adds to the idea that this was a literal event and that God intervened.

Time easily explains all of this. Modern man first evolved in sub-Saharan Africa some 400,000 years ago. They began to migrate out of Africa some 60,000 years ago and by that time I am quite sure there were already a multitude of languages that had evolved. More has happened since and continues to do so.
 
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JackRT

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True .... world was a lot smaller and more localized back then :)

No doubt He'll get er done :)

If one believes in a young earth the Babel story took place some 5,000 years ago. However, in reality mankind had occupied every continent except Antarctica by then. We got around to the Pacific islands just a thousand years ago. It is a big world then and now.
 
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At the Tower of Babel, God confounded the language into many because He said, "they are one people, and they have all one language; and they have reasoned to do this thing; and now nothing will prevent them from doing that which they have imagined to do." (Gen 11:6) In other words, the people had reached a point where they might accomplish things that might have been outside of God's will and ahead of God's timing. So God confounded the language and made many languages to prevent this from happening.

Today, we have overcome the fence that God placed around us in the form of technology. We now have a number of ways to interact live, in real time, with people who speak different languages than we do. Right here on Facebook, for example, a post by somebody in a foreign language can be translated with one click of a mouse. And more, we have hand held translators where one can speak in their native tongue and have it instantly repeated out loud in the language the person with the device speaks. We have overcome what happened at Babel.

What does it mean? I am not sure... but I am sure if God was able to confound the language at Babel, then surely He could have prevented us from reaching the technological level we have reached. Which means, for whatever reason, God has allowed us to overcome Babel.
Around the world the young have been learning English also.

And scientists have been using it as the standard language for science.
----

There is another aspect though--
You talk with someone, you both have English as native tongue, yet cannot fully understand each other(!).

In fact, if you talk long enough, hours, dozens of hours, you discover to total surprise even some old friend was saying a whole different meaning than you thought about something.

You two have talked for years, enjoyed it a lot...and then comes a day for this surprised realizing about something you two totally didn't really understand each on. :)

Babel.

Still in force it seems.
 
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