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The Sin of the Tower of Babel
What was the real problem with the tower of Babel?
There are varying ideas about this. One movie I watched as a child showed the completion of the Tower and then a man (presumably Nimrod) shooting an arrow from the top of the tower “in to heaven.” Others say that the tower was a plan to “get to heaven” without God.
But the act of erecting a tall structure was not the problem. The Bible does not tell us that the people who built it thought they were going to reach God. It uses the phrase “let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven” (Gen 11:4) but when we look elsewhere in Scripture we find that this simply means the city and its tower was built very high:
Deuteronomy 1:28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
So what, exactly, was the sin?
Like so many things, the Tower of Babel was an act of disobedience. It starts in Genesis chapter 9 just after the flood:
Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Note the end of the command: replenish the earth.
Genesis 10 gives us genealogy, which ends with an explanation of God’s will for Noah’s progeny:
Genesis 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
In chapter 11, we see man’s rebellion and disobedience:
Genesis 11:1-2 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
Notice that it starts with defiance to God’s commandment to replenish the earth and to emmigrate and form different nations. Instead of travelling to separate lands, they stopped in one place together.
Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And there is the crux of the matter. The people wanted to be “one people” and did not want to obey God’s will to spread across the earth. They wanted a single name for themselves. (I suppose they all figured they were “citizens of the world” and not of nations!)
God’s response to this disobedience has led some to come up with some wildly strange notions about the “Old Testament God” of the Bible.
Genesis 11:5-7 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
I’ve seen some strange interpretations of this passage, but the meaning is not so strange. Let’s go back to before the Flood:
Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The key word to compare here is imagination. Men are wicked and their hearts imagine evil. When it says “and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do” it does not mean that man would accomplish any task he set out to do (thus making God fearful of man!). It simply means that man would continually come together in disobedience and rebellion without restraint of wickedness.
Finally, we see God accomplishing his will:
Genesis 11:7-8 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
And there we see: God’s will was for men to spread over the earth, as he said in Genesis 9:1. The building of Babel was a collective act of defiance against God. That was the Sin of the Tower.
http://www.believingstudy.com/2009/04/10/the-sin-of-the-tower-of-babel/

Muslims attack fleeing Christians with acid
9 women, 4 children injured by rampage
Muslims apparently angered because a Christian man driving a tractor reportedly tried to pass a Muslim on a motorcycle have rampaged in one village in Pakistan, destroying Christians' homes and throwing acid on women and children as they fled, according to a new report from Barnabas Aid.
The ministry reported that the violence this week happened in the village of Bahmani Walla in Punjab state in Pakistan, which is dominated by Islamic influences.
The report said 600 Muslims used gasoline bombs to vandalize 117 homes belonging to Christians – including 48 damaged by fire, and sabotage water pumps and cut electricity.
According to the report, the violence apparently stemmed from an incident one night earlier, "in which a Christian man driving a tractor requested that a Muslim man riding a motorcycle allow him to pass."
"The request was refused and a disagreement ensued," said the Christian ministry that directs financial support to projects that help Christians "where they suffer discrimination, oppression and persecution as a consequence of their faith."
(continue reading at the following link)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102978

North Korea threatens foreign Christians
Warns of 'something bad' for group that sent Gospel via fax
North Korea, busy in recent weeks launching test missiles, exploding test bombs and warning the world it will respond with a barrage of weapons should it be attacked, is not neglecting its assault on Christianity.
The nation has responded to a campaign to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world with a threatening fax sent to the Christian ministry Voice of the Martyrs.
The organization confirmed an anonymous fax apparently from the North Korean embassy in Finland promises workers affiliated with VOM that "something very bad will happen to you" if the ministry continues a special Gospel project.
"This fax is good news," said Todd Nettleton, VOM's director of media development and the author of a book on the history of Christianity in North Korea. "This means that (our) faxes are getting through, and they are being read. It is highly unlikely that this type of response would have been made from an embassy without some approval from Pyongyang."
The Voice of the Martyrs project has sent Gospel messages to as many fax-linked telephone numbers inside North Korea as possible.
(to read the rest of the article, follow the link)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102963

New 'American Patriot's Bible' sees USA's 'godly roots'
Americans looking to combine love of God with love of country this July 4th can quote the new American Patriot's Bible, which says God has influenced America through godly Founding Fathers, presidents and soldiers.
"This Bible is designed for the decent, hardworking core of America, the ordinary man or woman who loves this nation and believes it springs from godly roots," says Richard G. Lee, a Southern Baptist pastor from Georgia who served as the Bible's general editor.
"Christians have believed all along that this nation sprung from Judeo-Christian ethics. Now they can say, "Oh, now I know where this uniqueness comes from in our nation's history."'
More than two years in the making, The American Patriot's Bible is the latest entry in a line of niche and specialty Bibles that have been targeted at women, men, parents, students, ethnic groups or people struggling with depression, addiction, obesity or even breast cancer.
For mega-publisher Thomas Nelson, the new Patriot's Bible joins a catalog of bestselling audio Bibles and "BibleZines" that look and feel like glossy fashion magazines.
"It is my hope that this title can inspire people during a very turbulent time in our nation's history," says Wayne Hastings, senior vice president of Thomas Nelson's Bible division, which is promoting Lee's Bible with an "Honor An American Patriot" campaign.
In his introduction, Lee writes that "America stands without equal as a beacon of hope and freedom in a hurting world." The Patriot's Bible, he says, speaks to Americans who feel their conservative theology, politics and morals are under assault.
"We are at our lowest ebb at this particular time," he said in an interview. "Judeo-Christian principles are being beaten down. They're actually under attack. This has never happened before."
Lee is the founding pastor of the 4,000-member First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Ga. A registered Republican who's organizing an Independence Day-themed "Restoring America" conference featuring conservatives David Limbaugh and Oliver North, Lee said he's "disappointed" when politicians "use the word of God for the purpose of vote getting."
His goal was to create a "non-partisan" Bible, but he quotes Republican Ronald Reagan more times than Democrats Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy combined.
In an interview, Lee said he doesn't even know if Carter, a fellow Georgian and longtime Baptist Sunday school teacher, is a Christian. As for President Obama? "I haven't seen any patriotism from him yet."
Lee sprinkles his Bible with some 300 articles about "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," the right to keep and bear arms, the war in Iraq and religious broadcasting.
While some have praised the Patriot's Bible— former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called it "fascinating" — others have condemned it as something akin to theological and political heresy.
"Get thee behind me, Satan," wrote "Crunchy Con" blogger Rod Dreher on Beliefnet. "To the extent that this Bible's publishers conflate serving Christ with patriotism … they are corrupt, and corrupters."
Evangelical author and pastor Greg Boyd's lengthy critique, posted on Christianity Today's website, calls Lee's Bible "idolatrous," saying, "There's not a single commentary in this Bible that even attempts to shed light on what the biblical text actually means."
Lee says such criticisms misunderstand the purpose of the Patriot's Bible, which is already in its second printing.
"Another study Bible is not needed," he said. "The purpose of this Bible is to go deeper in people's understanding of the nation in which we live, from whence it came, and where it is going unless we return to the Scriptures."
Lee isn't alone in seeking to repackage the Bible for a particular ideological audience. Some recent Bibles have targeted more liberal Christians, including The Poverty and Justice Bible, produced by the American Bible Society, and the eco-friendly Green Bible from HarperOne.
Indeed, there's nothing new about Christians seeking divine confirmation for their views. Northern and Southern Christians did as much during the Civil War: "Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other," Abraham Lincoln said in his Second Inaugural Address.
Today, both red- and blue-state Christians crave God's endorsement, said Larry Eskridge of Wheaton College's Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals.
"The problem for those who read The American Patriot's Bible is that their contemporary Christian peers on the left cite the same source to justify their view that America has much to repent for in its economic, cultural, and military relationships to the rest of the world," Eskridge said.
"Maybe, just maybe, the unadorned text of the Bible has something to say to both sides of the equation."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-07-01-patriots-bible_N.htm