Linguistic Diversity

Today’s Reading:

• Genesis 11:1-26
• 1 Chronicles 1:24-27
• Genesis 11:27-31
• Genesis 12:1-14:24

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world. – Genesis 11:9, NLT

Thoughts:
In an interesting article/bulletin put out by the Linguistic Society of America, Stephen R. Anderson says that one source puts the number of languages in the world at 6,809, and these languages are broken into 250 families of languages. But from a biologist’s perspective, he says, the similarities of all these human languages far outweigh their differences and distinguish them as a class from any other organism’s communication patterns to the extent that a biologist could say that they’re really just one language (http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/howmany.pdf, pages 3 and 10).

This seems to me to make the best sense if the Bible’s account of the Tower of Babel is true.

As the Bible tells it, all mankind originally came from one couple, Adam and Eve. And then, after a while, there was a flood that wiped out all mankind except Noah, his wife, and their children. They were all speaking the same language. And that continued until the Tower of Babel.

Whether you believe in Creation or not, doesn’t it make sense that humanity would begin by all speaking the same language? I mean, no matter what theory you believe, how many humans would there have been at the beginning? 1? 5? 10? And they would have needed to exist in the same part of the world, or humanity would have died out within the first generation. So you would think that they would have to communicate with each other.

And the benefits of communicating with each other outweigh the advantages of being unable to understand one another by far. Just look at what’s happening to our world today. The biggest languages are growing stronger because people are finding that communication leads to mutual success and prosperity, so everyone wants in on the world’s most widespread and useful languages. And the smallest languages are dying out as fewer and fewer people find them to be worth spending the time to learn.

So why would humanity start off with a united language and then divide into so many individual languages, let alone dialects, when being unable to communicate leads to misunderstandings and mistrust and war rather than to prosperity?

It would be one thing if all these languages seemed to be clearly related to each other. You might then be able to argue that the original humans just split into different groups and spread apart, then developed different accents, and over time the accents got to be too strong for mutual understanding. But there are around 250 language families. They share the same basic underlying linguistic foundation, but the language families themselves are completely different and unrelated in their sounds and grammars. Within this common human linguistic capacity that makes it possible for any human baby to learn any human language as it grows up, there are very real differences that are completely unrelated to each other. How do you get so much unity and so much diversity at the same time?

The Tower of Babel. God created man, as the Bible says. They all shared one language. But then one day God saw that they were not filling the earth as He had commanded them to do (Genesis 9:1). Instead, they were banding together to keep from being scattered (Genesis 11:4). So God decided to make humans become foreigners to one another to force them apart. The result? A history filled with different languages and scattered throughout the earth by their differences. A modern day where humanity is abandoning linguistic differences and seeking linguistic unity for the sheer benefits that come from mutual understanding and cooperation. Considering how important the ability to communicate is, why else would humanity have ever given it up besides the events that took place at the Tower of Babel?

How can I believe it? It just makes sense to me. How about you?

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.

Weekly Sermons in Swanton: Let Divisions Die

The message, preached on October 24th, 2010, covered 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, and it can be heard via streaming audio at http://www.swantonalliance.org. Jesus prayed for our unity. For Christians, committing to unity means remembering Jesus’ death and then being considerate and cooperative. Note: Past sermons can be accessed through the resources page.

The Family that ... Together

ALL – Psalm 36:1-12
ALL – Proverbs 21:21-22
OT – Esther 4:1-7:10
NT – 1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Interesting passage for the day: If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. – 1 Corinthians 12:26, The Living Bible

Thought: Have you ever tried to send just a part of your body to play a game or do a job?

“Hey, feet, go play soccer for me.”

“I don’t want to stay up late tonight. Hands, do you mind just typing out this paper for me?”

We don’t say, “My feet played soccer today,” or, “My hands were on the computer all day.” We say, “I played soccer,” and, “I was on the computer.” Why? Because if one part of our body is involved, we ourselves are involved. Our entire body shares life’s experiences, even if different limbs get used more than others. When I’m typing at the computer, it means my fingers are working wildly. But it also means that my feet are resting, my back and stomach are working to keep me sitting upright, my heart and lungs are working to keep me alive, my eyes are watching the computer screen, and my brain is directing my thoughts through the whole process.

Christ’s church is Christ’s body. We are one. We share life. One life. Jesus Christ’s life. If one of us gets a promotion at work, we are all happy. If one of us falls into sin, it shames and hurts all of us. If one of us introduces a friend to Jesus, all of us share in the celebration and all of us feel like we’ve succeeded in making progress towards fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission. You can pretend to be a loner Christian, but the truth is that you’re a part of a community—like it or not. And even your attempts to disassociate yourself from the church affect the rest of God’s people. You’re simply that connected because of Jesus Christ.

Question: Since Jesus has joined all us believers together, what could you do to make our experience as a family, community and body the best possible experience on earth?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Breather/Truce

ALL – Psalm 35:1-16
ALL – Proverbs 21:17-18
OT – Nehemiah 12:27-13:31
NT – 1 Corinthians 11:3-16

Interesting passage for the day: But remember that in God’s plan men and women need each other. – 1 Corinthians 11:11, The Living Bible

Thought: I know there’s a debate over women’s roles in the church. But I’d like to focus on one area of agreement for a moment. I’m coming from the Complementarian side of things (for those who care), and I would like to affirm that men and women need one another.

Just for existence, for one thing. Women wouldn’t exist if men didn’t help out in their own way, and men wouldn’t exist if women didn’t give birth to them.

But in the daily rhythms of life, too, we need one another. Even without getting into a discussion of which people should shoulder which responsibilities, there are simply too many responsibilities in this life for one person to try carrying them all alone. That’s why even singles end up working as teams (finding roommates, for instance, to share chores and costs) or hiring people to perform various services for them; without help, life is simply overwhelming.

Thank goodness that God created both men and women, and that we are interdependent in His plan. He’s good.

Question: How long has it been since you affirmed a woman (if you’re a man)? Or a man (if you’re a woman)? What can you do to let the significant opposite-gender people in your life know they’re valued, rather than waging an ongoing battle of the sexes?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Serving Shoulder to Shoulder

Zephaniah; Psalm 139; Proverbs 30:15-16

Oil and water. Dogs and cats. Twilight fans and the sane. None of these pairs go well together. None of them mixes.

That’s how it used to be with Jews and non-Jews. They didn’t mix, and the true God seemed at times to be only the God of the Jews.

But this true God revealed that He does not want to be God only of the Jews. He is God of non-Jews, too. He accepts them. They can be welcomed among His people. And He—God Himself—will draw them to Himself.

Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder. – Zephaniah 3:9

Come and join me, whether you’re Jewish, Afghani, Indian, Native American, European, Hispanic—whoever you are and whatever race you come from. Let’s serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the one true God, shoulder to shoulder.