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Old 02-07-2001, 08:35 PM   #1
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Post Where the heck is the Tower of Babel?

Fundamentalists believe that the bible is true, word for word. Was heaven lower back then, so that a man-made tower reached "heaven"? How can anyone take this story to be anything but a myth? And a silly myth at that! Where is the ruins of this supposed tower? What country does it exist in?
Did these ancient people built a tower taller than sky-scrapers? If it wasn't taller, how come god hasn't complained about our buildings obstructing the view?
I challenge anyone to come up with PROOF that the Tower of Bable existed.
 
Old 02-07-2001, 10:29 PM   #2
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According to Isaac Asimov, there was a large tower begun in Babylon and left unfinished for many centuries. The Sumerians were ziggurat builders, so it isn't unreasonable that one of their pyramids (being then the largest structures in Asia) served as the model.
 
Old 02-07-2001, 10:35 PM   #3
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Isaac Asimov? Are you joking? When did he become an expert on ancient Sumeria? I thought he specialized in Science Fiction. Maby it is aplicable, after all.
There are many "unfinished" monuments. The Tower of Babel claims to have reached heaven. My point is that a tower that can reach "heaven" must be abnormally large. Did heaven move after they reached it? Maby god decided to move heaven out of range lest some farmer decided to lob dung at the pearlly gates.
 
Old 02-07-2001, 11:09 PM   #4
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Mr. Asimov was a scientist first, then a novelist. If you'd like to check this out for yourself, I recommend Asimov's Chronology of the World, Asimov's Guide to the Bible, and a collection of essays called The Relativity of Wrong.

As far as Guide to the Bible goes, keep in mind that it was written in the sixties and is not completely in line with some modern research.
 
Old 02-07-2001, 11:13 PM   #5
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I'll have to check them out. However, my earlier points still remain fairly sharp.
 
Old 02-08-2001, 12:19 AM   #6
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Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by JragonFli:
I'll have to check them out. However, my earlier points still remain fairly sharp. </font>
I know a book that has some claim about an archaeological find with a base of a tower or the like with an inscription from Nebuchadnezzar claiming it was the place where the nations were confouded, or something of the like. I will clarify when I get my mitts on it.
I have heard it said that the "reaching to heaven" was a kind of rhetorical exagerration to stress the purpose and desire of the builders, and their egomanical desires. The reference to God needing to go down there to see it is in fact a mockery on the pride of man- what man thought was a stairway to Heaven was "hard to see" from God's abode- like a man on his knees looking for dust in the carpet was God "going down" to check out the Tower "that reached to heaven". It maybe is God's mockery of man's claim to reach the heavens(Obadiah:4)
 
Old 02-08-2001, 03:10 PM   #7
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And I suppose racing to the Moon just to beat the Russkies was a noble enterprise, free of any "egomaniacal desires."

I tell ya, God just don't rain the fire & brimstone the way he used to.

I kinda wish he had confounded the tongues of the NASA guys, if only to prevent Richard Nixon from leaving his name on the surface of the Moon.
 
Old 02-08-2001, 05:28 PM   #8
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It's near Baghdad, The Zuggernaut of Enlil, about 330 foot tall step pyramid. The tower of Babel story comes from an ancient Sumerian poem 'Enmerkar & the Lord of Aratta'
The god Enlil (or Enki) opens the gates of Sumer & lets in the barbarians, (foreigners who spoke other languages thus 'confusing the tounges)
 
Old 02-08-2001, 05:45 PM   #9
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Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Grumpy:
And I suppose racing to the Moon just to beat the Russkies was a noble enterprise, free of any "egomaniacal desires."

I tell ya, God just don't rain the fire & brimstone the way he used to.

I kinda wish he had confounded the tongues of the NASA guys, if only to prevent Richard Nixon from leaving his name on the surface of the Moon.
</font>
What will happen when we get around to building a tower to geosynchronous orbit?
 
Old 02-09-2001, 01:40 AM   #10
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Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Grumpy:
And I suppose racing to the Moon just to beat the Russkies was a noble enterprise, free of any "egomaniacal desires."

I tell ya, God just don't rain the fire & brimstone the way he used to.

I kinda wish he had confounded the tongues of the NASA guys, if only to prevent Richard Nixon from leaving his name on the surface of the Moon.
</font>
The Obadiah quote is more about God's response to Edomites if they "made their nest among the stars"- aka interstellar travel. But the prophecy is more generally on God wiping out the Edomite nation. Anyone know of where the Edomites are today?

 
 

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