Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves
Genesis 11:4a
I wasn’t there the day the tower collapsed, but it still bothers me.
I’m not talking about September 11, 2001. I’m talking about the original “world center.”
The Tower of Babel.
Here’s an inconvenient truth: Terrorists didn’t tear down the tower of Babel. God did.
And why? Did we get too big for our britches? Were we acting a little too powerful? Was God scared of what we could do?
Actually, Genesis never says God tore the tower down. Only that God brought the project to a halt. I tend to read this as a story about the birth of diversity, humans spreading out into the world rather than building up, up, up.
But even then, I don’t like it. God hollered “Jenga” and we scattered into various tribes.
What gives, God? Do you see how fragmented we are? We can’t come together to accomplish anything now.
Except…
There’s the International Space Station. More than 18 countries came together to build a sustainable platform in space. We’re exploring the cosmos together.
There’s CERN, the Large Hadron Collider. It is used by scientists from all over the globe to smash protons and delve into the very elements of creation.
There’s the United Nations. I know, I know, it’s never been particularly potent, but currently 193 nations send delegates there, to settle disputes, form alliances, and generally try to agree on a few things. Even across language barriers.
And even Wikipedia. Folks from many nations have catalogued much of human knowledge in a way that just about anybody can access.
Each of these projects are bold, challenging, with massive potential benefit for all of humankind. There are more. (The Red Cross, The Human Genome Project, and SETI, to name a few)
The world’s major religions at least attempt this, too. There is virtually not a country on Earth without Christianity. It’s good to know that God isn’t just a bully, knocking down just any collaborative effort by our species.
It can be hard to see, in this age of acrimony and division, but humanity is “making a name for itself”. There are many ways that we continue to reveal the best that humanity has to offer, together.
Unlike Babel, these undertakings represent creativity with a purpose. They are living monuments that will stand the test of time.
God would never block creativity with a purpose. That’s a big chunk of why we were made.
We may have cheated with the apple, but God never stopped believing in us. We’ve multiplied, and more than that,
we’ve remained
fruitful.
Have a great week,
Mitch
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