Bait and Switch Religion - The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1 – 8: 11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward,^[a] they found a plain in Shinar^[b] and settled there. ³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel^[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Bait and Switch Religion – The Tower of Babel

As you can see from recent blog posts, the focus has shifted from the paid, professional mega-church clergy and their abuses, to the pew sitter who enables these charlatans and has adopted much of their nonsense, which causes harm to the family, church and Jesus’ work and mission.  As the 501(C)(3) organizations that call themselves churches continue to decline and lose influence, instead of focusing on the gospel of Jesus Christ, these charlatans and CEO’s have double downed and continued to narrow what it means to be a Christian, so much so that very few people want to identify as one and certainly don’t want to pay 10% of their gross income, undesignated, to said 501(c)(3) in order to be considered a “good” Christian. These pew sitters, following the lead of their holy man of God, rail against Supreme Court decisions, criticism of the pastor, and non-tithers instead of taking a look in the mirror at the real cause of decline of the spreading of the gospel.  They have more access to every language and country via internet, there are churches on every corner in every town, yet they are losing their ability to reach the lost and have become irrelevant and even offensive and embarrassing to the next generations.

Read the comments in the previous post to get a glimpse of what the focus on theology and doctrine look like.  It is laughable if not so sad.  I have faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, but it seems many charlatans, and many pew sitters that read this blog, don’t want to accept that I can do that without believing all of their theological nonsense and their narrow doctrines.  So call me what you will.  You are just illustrating my point.  This kind of back and forth with people like me who identify as “born again Christians”, not to mention the “nones” and “dones”, is divisive, destructive and decimating. (Isn’t that cute how all three started with a “D”, and I didn’t even need to plagiarize a sermon or attend seminary to do that.)

Which brings me to the Tower of Babel.  The story is found in Genesis 11.  I know that’s Old Testament.  That’s a discussion for another post.  Notice in Chapter 10 of Genesis, that verses  5 AND 20 AND 31 clearly and unequivocally state that after the flood Noah’s sons and clans were spread out over the earth accordingly by their languages.  They spoke different languages.  Obviously, if you believe the text and if you “take it up with da book.”  Nevertheless, in Chapter 11, Verse 1, we read that “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.”  No big deal right.  So what? Seminarians and theologians can explain that away.  But it’s not whether they did speak one language or not that is the issue, the key here is what God almighty did about it.  Look at Verses 1 – 9.  Particularly verses 6 – 7 that give us exactly what God was thinking. We don’t have to guess.  He speaks and tells us why he says what he says and why he does what he does.  Was he afraid they would build a tower that reaches heaven?  Really?  Take it up with da book. Would nothing be impossible for them unless he confused their language?  Take it up with da book? Did he not know that we would, within a few centuries, have the ability to travel into the heavens and that confusing the languages would not result in anything in the long run.  Did he really believe they could build a tower to heaven?  Or did bronze age men make up the story based on the little knowledge they had at the time?

I don’t know.  And more importantly, I don’t care.  

It has no impact on the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  And yes, I CAN pick and choose which parts I find believable and which parts I will put my trust and faith in for salvation. Whether you like it or not. Thank you Jesus, that I don’t have to believe that we have different languages on earth because God was worried men might build a tower that reached heaven. Instead, I can put my faith in your death, burial and resurrection.

And I can’t help but wonder why God wouldn’t just send a wind gust to topple the tower over each day or two.  Or simply kill or inflict illness on the workers. Why scatter the languages and then require centuries to translate his perfect, inerrant, and infallible word into the languages and tongue of every tribe and nation in the world?  Ooops. It makes no sense.  Could it be true?  Yes.  Does it have to be true? Of course not. And whether you or I believe it or not doesn’t matter. Hallelujah!

So please don’t present the gospel as a bait and switch technique.  If lost people have to believe all or none, then don’t tell men and women and children that all they need to do is call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Don’t tell them that Jesus died for them and took their sin upon himself and that if they repent, and put their faith and trust in him as savior and Lord they will be saved. Don’t read them John 3:15 and 16 and have them humbly accept Jesus by praying the sinner's prayer.  Because that is bait and switch.  They might do those things and then find out they have been duped, lied to and manipulated.  Be sure to be honest up front and tell a lost husband, father or son that he has to believe in talking donkeys, and the sun standing still, and that different languages resulted from God’s intervention so that a tower wouldn’t be built to heaven.  Tell that hurting wife, or mother, or daughter that she can’t really trust in Jesus, or be a Christian lady, unless she believes it all, understands the Greek meanings of words, and has her pastor explain what it all means and what she really must do, which by the way, includes giving at least 10% of her gross income, undesignated, to whatever 501(c)(3) she chooses to attend. 

Christian friends, let the seminarians and theologians and paid professional clergymen debate all day about the sacred text.  Let them preach doom and gloom for our great country. Let them keep building large campuses, hiring new staff, visiting the Holy Land, cruising the Danube River, and hiring family members. The rest of us should be telling people about Jesus.  And if these other subjects enter the debate, simply be honest and respectfully say: I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t care about talking donkeys, the sun rotating around the earth and then stopping overhead, or why Chinese people speak a different language then native American Indians did.  And don’t let them ever, ever tell you that you are not a Christian.  Or that you are not a real man, if you don’t tithe, or believe all of their nonsense.  Trust in Jesus. He loves you. Amen?