Tower of Babel (Genesis, Chapter 11): This is my favorite Bible story. It's right up there with the tale of Icarus and his artificial wings. Of course, I interpret both the opposite of how they were intended. A united humanity decides reach Heaven on their own. Since they believe it to be up in the sky, they move to build a really tall tower. God sabotages the project by making everyone speak a different language. Humanity abandons the tower, and splits up into distinct tribes according to their new languages. Later, the incomplete tower is destroyed (the actual destruction is apocryphal).
God did not just do this because he was angry at our "hubris". He says that a united humanity can accomplish anything. Even if Heaven isn't up in the sky and a really tall tower won't work, we'll find another way. This is why he didn't just sit back and let us fail. If it was supposed to be a lesson against human hubris, making it impossible would get the lesson across much more clearly. But no, God confirms for the second time in Genesis that he is afraid of humanity's potential. We're just as smart (Tree of Knowledge), so if we had his immortality (Tree of Life), we would be true equals. This is why humanity was banished from Eden.
Who would have thought that such inspiring humanistic fables would be found in the Bible?
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- PeZook
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