Re: Writing and the Tower of Babel story

On May 6, 9:39 pm, Inez <savagemouse...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On May 6, 4:12 pm, chadmaester <chad.d.john...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I read on Wikipedia that the first literate societies developed in the
late 4th millennium BC (seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamians,
which was linked to fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing).

How well does this line up with the biblical account of early history
and the Tower of Babel story (give or take maybe 1000 years)? Is it
valid to say that writing seems to have begun to really flourish
within the timeframe of the biblical account (within some variance)?

I'm afraid I don't see the connection between the Tower of Babel and
literacy. To the best of my recollection the myth was not about the
creation of written language specifically, but the diversity of spoken
languages. I would assume that a person who had their language
forcibly diversified by God would also have their written alphabet
changed as well, but that is neither hear nor there. There is no
particular reason why even a bible literalist would expect writing to
start at Babel.

I've always considered this as a bible part that ought to make the
biblical literalist uncomfortable. Shouldn't such a person be against
the Empire State Building? If God went through so much trouble to
make people of Japan (for example) difficult for us to understand,
should we not avoid learning their language? Why does God not take an
active hand in world events anymore?

Personally, I recall this story as the beginning of the end of
my belief in the Bible - for that very reason. I didn't know
much about history at the time, but I knew the Bible was
"a long time ago" and any tower they built couldn't possibly
have been as tall as a skyscraper, not to mention the fact
that I was a child at the hight of the Apollo program, and
it never made sense to me that God would get all pissed off
about a little mound of rocks yet sit by quietly at men
flew to the moon.

-jc





.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: 3 evidences against Evolution and Abiogenesis
    ... Ron Wyatt is transparently a conman. ... Moses resisted such temptations by writing exactly what God inspired ... Wiki entry says nothing about the tower of babel. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: The origin of gender
    ... in the history of living organisms did a single culture develop ... Tower of Babel was, anyway? ... I think the natural process by which the French language came to be is ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Angels & Theistic Evolution
    ... First let me say that this is the most intelligent post i have read on T.O. ... Babel. ... The Babel tower was man's effort to climb up and be higher then God. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: OT The Tower of Babel
    ... ALL humanity: "the people is one, and they have all one language". ...   God ... To build the "tower", if it was anything at all like other ... Babel and I expected a bit more focus on hubris or pride or something ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Writing and the Tower of Babel story
    ... and the Tower of Babel story? ... I would assume that a person who had their language ... If God went through so much trouble to ...
    (talk.origins)