Does God fear human power?

[Red_Tory]

I'm just looking for some perspective and new ideas before I present an argument to another group of people.

In the eleventh chapter of Genesis, we see God introduce a multitude of languages to humanity in an effort to disrupt the construction of what is now called the Tower of Babel.

Taking the text at face value, His reasoning seems to be that when humanity is united, it is essentially all-powerful; our ability to plan, reason and imagine means that we are able to overcome problems that we face, and that nothing is impossible for us (purportedly God's idea, not mine).

At first glance, it would appear that God fears human ingenuity and power.

So here's the question: would it be appropriate to argue that given the corrupt state of human nature (i.e. sinful, depraved), unlimited power and ingenuity would result in "unlimited" evil?

i.e. Would you accept a counter-argument that says our ability to overcome all problems would be accompanied by the unrestrained ability to commit evil beyond what we would today regard as conventional/practical barriers?



Any other comments on the Tower of Babel or explanations for its destruction (other than God fearing humanity, of course)?

 

[lil_christian]

God didn't mix up other's languages because He was afraid of human powers. That's like being scared of...a bug. A liiitttle tiny bug. He mixed up other's languages because they were rebelling against God and not doing what He told them to do.

 

[jimmydiggs]

1

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.

Nothing would be impossible within human capability, of course. So I don't know that he "feared" per se... I don't know that we have enough information to know why it is he didn't like the idea of it being impossible to do what would be within human capability.

 

[Ramon]

HA....................