Everyone knows the story about The Tower of Babel right?

We all know about the lessons to be learned there - its listed in the Wiki too if ever you don’t know what lessons are to be learned. I recall the story however, not just because I was watching some anime that pertained to it, but I suddenly realized something really off-tangent.

Remember how people argue if there is a God, or at the very least what type of higher being are we dealing with… or how He/She/It deals with us for that matter.

I remembered one of the most prominent arguments of any soul who has lost the faith: Why doesn’t God do anything about the evil in the world? Some people would even argue the absence of such a supreme, omni-benevolent being because of these facts of life. But let’s not complicate the issue - hell, we still don’t know [beyond the shadow of a doubt of course] which side is right up to this point… ain’t life fun?

We’ve all heard the different answers one can use on that line. And the Catholic stance is somewhat to the effect of “He can, but because of His love for us, He respects the free will He has given us.” They extend the argument and say that the evil is caused by people.

Obviously the people have caused this, this isn’t what the whole Babel thing raised for me - The whole not interfering with free-will however, is certainly being challenged by the whole Babel story.

To my understanding, the people had a selfish motive of making a name for themselves… greedy ambition if you will. And God, intervened obviously. Now, what makes this whole thing tricky is that no matter how I assess this action, it seems to be a[nother] double edged sword for Catholic doctrine.

On the one hand, if you take greedy ambition as evil, then God’s judgment would certainly be justified… but that would vindicate the argument, or the doubt of people demanding His intercession during really evil times.

The people were greedy, selfish, and ambitious - granted. Is that “evil” anywhere near the same level of the greedy ambition political powers have? The same ambitions that start world wars? I’d say the latter is FAR MORE EVIL… so why doesn’t God intercede then? It really seems unfair to deal that degree of punishment to a bunch of people who wanted to be famous - an fail to at the very least prevent global catastrophe, by nations which want to kill people.

I always have taken the Bible as a symbolic guide, never to be taken literally as historical fact. Other sects or religions I’m afraid, do. But that’s beside the point. My point is wether literally or symbolically, I cannot seem to come to terms with the fact that God “mediated” in an trivial evil, and not in atrocious crimes.

Oh well, this discussion was never meant to be answered, and I still believe in God. My only pet peeve with religions in general is that because they are man-made, it seems sort of arrogant to assume you (man) understand that which you do not understand (God)… and try to shove those very same, flawed, doctrines down everyone’s throat.

I really liked what the movie Dogma stated: It’s the concept that counts.

Why or how do you think the golden rule (treat others as you want them to treat you) can be found in any religion? Because they are all derived from the same concept of respect. You don’t need a specific structure of religion to teach you that.

That’s my major beef on structured religion… especially Catholicism, where they have a whole bunch of concepts that contradict each other: Fully God, yet also fully man. Virgin birth. Three beings, but also one.

The last one actually really is interesting… so during Christ’s passion, Jesus was just talking out loud… to himself (and suddenly I’m reminded of Gollum). But no, church teachings will tell you that there are three separate beings in the Trinity. Ok fine… but it doesn’t stop there - Jesus and the Father are one. CHOOSE ALREADY WILL YOU!? I think its unfair to have all these doctrines only to have a bunch of exceptions to the rule for convenience - which confuse the people even more!

Actually that nuance doesn’t really concern me… at the end of the day, I know that the church, or any religion for that matter, are just attempting to encapsulate what they think God is, and what they think God is trying to say (if God is attempting to say anything at all). And they will forever be “interpretations of a human mind.”

That doesn’t mean there is no truth in these “interpretations,” I mean to a certain extent, the whole “what you hold bound on earth, will be held bound in heaven” makes perfect sense. I mean if I were some higher being, then I wouldn’t blame the world for acting the way it does if they thought that’s how they should’ve been acting.

That also means however, that you can doubt some teachings. People would never doubt the golden rule obviously, but they surely can start questioning the church when they see people being burnt at the stake simply because they don’t agree with them.

With that in mind, I for one, am certainly not buying the whole product called “Structured Religion” hook, line, and sinker.

It’s the concept that counts!

post updated on July 4, 2006 @ 02:43PM