even if they couldn’t build a stargate or an ascension helping device then, all of mankind united under one ruler could eventually if that was its actual goal. i mean i could set up a “you to clone of you” head swap with today’s technology with a 85 percent chance of eternal life, its not even complicated. even though it would give all of us eternal youth, i can’t get a team of skilled but unethical doctors and a sufficiently wealthy patron (much less all of humanity) to back me up on it.

having established the power of humanity, and that there are those of us that seek power, it is more likely the function of the tower was a lie by nimrod to gain control over that power. just like the current intentional misinterpretations and misrepresentations of our ancient mythologies are used for the same purpose today. i personally do not believe it was always as such, but its undeniably the case today.

at any rate there are several ways this could go down, but any way you look at it, god HAS to get off his ass to fix that problem. he can’t have the entirety of earth enslaved forever and he can’t let us actually make a machine that kills all ascended beings in the galaxy or w/e else. letting either happens makes him defy his own self image as the christian god concept, like its outside of his nature and established behavior patterns.

I think the tower of Babel myth is similar to the myth of Atlantis – a society that was destroyed because of its technological hubris (according to New Age interpretations). That myth is once more very popular – it resonates today because of the dangers of global warming. And the tower of Babel story resonates similarly because we could destroy ourselves with our technology.

ie: “That’s so mean. Why can’t they build a tower?”
or:
“He drowned everybody that wasn’t on the ark? Even babies? That’s so mean!”
or:
“All she did was eat an apple, he didn’t have to be so mean.”

With this in mind, how in the world does the Christian reading of the Tower of Babel make any sense? How is it relevant to us in our modern world? Is God angry at us for our knowledge, for our accomplishments, for our explorations, for our attempts at making this world a much better place? Or would he just as soon keep us ignorant, as he forced ignorance onto those who would dare build a giant mudbrick ziggurat?

If you were to believe this story, you’d have to say that God doesn’t want us to gain in knowledge, to collaborate together, because somehow he feels we’d somehow be a challenge to him. Doesn’t sound like an infinite God vs. finite creatures to me.

I always thought the whole language thing was a bit strange. Similar to the whole origin of the rainbow story w/Noah and the flood.

Paul

In other words, the ancients pictured the cosmos as something like a shelf hanging on a wall. Below the shelf was the abode of the dead (Sheol / Hades). On the shelf, the living. And above the shelf — quite literally, “up” — were the heavens and God’s throne.

Hence Paul’s reference in Philippians 2: every knee shall bow to Jesus, “in heaven and on earth and under the earth”. It was that era’s way of refering to the totality of the cosmos.

I take it from your subsequent comment that you think the story of Babel might have continuing meaning, as long as we don’t interpret it literally. Again, I agree.

I would be inclined to see the story as a warning that we will not attain ultimate knowledge by our own feeble efforts: that way lies only confusion. Instead, we must be receptive to “the foolishness of God”, as Paul once put it.

And I don’t mean a naïve, uncritical devotion to the Bible. Rather, I’m thinking of the myriad, surprising ways in which God makes him-/herself known to us: including the biblical text, but also including the testimony of others and our own experience of life.