Babel and babble

Our Bible lesson this week includes the account of the Tower of Babel. Babylon is represented as the original center of human civilization following the flood. The magnificent buildings were repugnant to the Jews who associated them with idolatry, a rebellion against God. The people were choosing not to learn from and be guided by God, but to follow their own ideas. This was the pursuit of false knowledge and human reasoning. As a result they began to disagree and they 'did not understood one another's speech'. Sounds like some church business meetings. Babble. Instead of being all of one accord they spoke many different languages and this apparently lead to them dispersing in groups. It shows that rebellion against God is the original source of discord. It also shows the early misconception of an anthropomorphic sense of God who would be concerned that men would become so powerful that they would be His opponents.

We read about the exact opposite happening in the New Testament when the early Christians were all in one place and were of one accord. In that instance, they were suddenly able to understand each other, even when the spoke different languages. As believers, we should be on a spiriutal journey, not away from God, but drawing closer to Him through faith.

Another interesting fact is that the buildings in Babylon were made of bricks composed of dust and slime. There was no stone available in the alluvial plains. So they were actually building their 'house' on sand and not on rock, much less bedrock. No wonder it could not stand. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Spiritual ideas lead u pto their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense of being". That is a much higher sense of building our understanding of God and our relationship with Him.

Go in peace.

Let's be sure be are speaking the pure language of Spirit concerning any situation.