Language Barriers
- September 7, 2009
The Tower of Babel
In the Bible the first
eight verses of the 11th Chapter of Genesis presents the origins of the
various human languages. It is the story of the Tower of Babel and was
an enormous structure built at the city of Babylon a cosmopolitan city
that was located roughly 55 miles south of present day Baghdad, Iraq,
According to the Bible,
a united humanity of the generations followed the period of the Great Flood.
This people group spoke a single language that migrated from the east,
and they participated in the building of the tower. They decided that the
city should have a tower so immense that it would have "its top in the
heavens”.
Continuing in the Biblical
text; when God saw what the people were doing He came down and confounded
their languages and scattered the people throughout the earth. All
because the tower was not built for the worship and praise of God but was
dedicated to the glory of man and to make a name for its builders.
Quite often it comes to mind for many when our ability to communicate bogs
down or gets out of control.
IMHO* we are currently
experiencing one of those moments in this country. The language of
our politics is creating ever greater divisions within our society.
Free speech/freedom of expression is a right we all are guaranteed under
the U. S. Constitution but unfortunately our “free speech” at present is
full of a whole lot of ugly which polarizes us.
The speechifying that
is floating all around us is full of lies and more lies. What I find
unfathomable is how something such as “the government wants to euthanize
Grandma” can actually gain any traction. I have heard people that
I presumed were reasonably intelligent repeat this propaganda with a zeal
that indicates they really believe that it is totally true.
The crazies around us
could not appear any more stupid than they do now. The only way it
could get any more ridiculous is if they were speaking in other languages.
Did God make these people so dim-witted? Did someone fail to marry
outside of their family tree? Did another Tower of Babel get erected?
*(in my humble opinion)
