I know, I know. You’re looking at this title and wondering what the heck? When would we ever want division? If you want to know the answer to that, you’re going to have to follow me down the rabbit trail that is my brain. It all started with an article I was reading about germ theory versus terrain theory by Jason Pontin called, “The 19th-Century Crank Who Tried to Tell Us About the Microbiome.” I got to a statement he made that said, “These kinds of scientific resurrections occur from time to time in a complication of Thomas Kuhn’s episodic model of scientific progress (which holds that science advances as “paradigms” are overthrown when they no longer explain the world)”. My jaw dropped, my eyebrows furrowed. Did he just say that scientific fact is only fact until it no longer explains our world? So, let me get this straight, facts are only facts when they fit our narrative? Alarms began to go off in my head. No wonder so many people disagree about what is true or “fake news”. Lately, I have been amazed that two people could read, hear, or watch the same information and come to completely different conclusions. I immediately had a vision of the Tower of Babel.
Before I get into a dissertation about the Tower of Babel, I want to spend some time discussing the difference between fact and truth. Facts are pieces of information that have been proven to be true. Meaning, in our experiences we have witnessed certain things or made observations about how things work. It makes sense to us in our world and our surroundings, so they logically become accepted as facts. Truth, on the other hand, never changes. Truth is still true even when the facts seem to contradict. Truth doesn’t change when our paradigms change. Think of truth like a little ball of glowing light out in the middle of a dense forest. The light exists even if we don’t see it. We may have to navigate through all the trees (facts) to get to the light, but the light will always be there. Sometimes we see a little glimmer of light shine through the trees, but we have to keep searching for it to see the whole spectacular show of beautiful, glowing light.
So, how do we know what is immovable, unshakable truth, and what is a fact dependent on our understanding? John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Our truth is found in Christ alone. When we try to make sense of things on our own, that’s when we end up making a mess of things. It’s not our head knowledge that saves our soul. We have to study the word of God, so when someone makes an inaccurate claim, we can immediately spot it as a fake. James 1:5 reminds us that, “. . . if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
While I was mulling all of this over in my head, I distracted myself for a while and got onto Facebook–dangerous, I know– where I came across an article on Crosswalk called, “How to Know if You’ve Been Raised on False Teaching” by Betsy Haddox which I thought might align perfectly with the mess I was trying to untangle in my brain. She used an analogy that made sense to me, but when I looked to further fact-check, it turned out to be only partially true. She stated, “I’ve heard it said before that when bankers teach their tellers to recognize counterfeit money, they don’t have them study the fake bills—they study the real ones. When you’re familiar with the truth, the lies are easier to recognize by default. Christians would do well to enforce this same habit. Study the word of God, so when someone makes an inaccurate claim, you can immediately know the truth.” I agree with her premise, but a key trigger for possible ambiguous information was the phrase, I’ve heard it said before. I immediately thought, who said it? Where did she hear it? Is this the case for each teller who learns this? A further check found cases where this wasn’t the whole truth. Tellers recounted stories of being shown fake bills to see if they could spot the difference. I went directly to the source and found a training program on the uscurrency.gov website. It said in twenty minutes anyone could learn the basics; so, I gave it a try.
First, the training teaches the features of actual bills printed by the U.S. Treasury. We can equate this to learning the Word of God. We need to know the Word of God so we know when something contradicts the Word of God. The second thing the training does is show the security features within each of the separate bills. This is similar to learning the character of God. When we know someone’s character, and we hear news about him or her, we can assume if the news is true or not because we know if it fits into the previous pattern of behavior. The third step is to authenticate. This part of the training stated, one should feel, tilt, and check the bill in question. It even stated that bringing the bill to the light would help differentiate the genuine article from a fake. Lies like to hide in the darkness, but the truth comes out in the light. Just like bank tellers need to know all aspects of a bill and need to know the truth to be able to spot a fake, we need to know God’s Word, will, and character to know when worldly “facts” don’t line up with Godly truth. It is only with experience and being around lies, that we learn to spot the truth. We need to be like the Bereans and “examin[e] the Scriptures daily to see whether these things [are] so.”
Let’s get back to the Tower of Babel and my assertion that sometimes division is a good thing. If we look back into Genesis 9, we see that God had blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Within three generations, we see Noah’s great-grandson, Nimrod lead his people into disobedience. In Genesis 11:1-9 we learn of a group in the land of Shinar (Nimrod’s people) who decide to use their man-made bricks and mortar to create a tower whose top would reach into heaven so they could make a name for themselves. They think if they do this, God won’t scatter them abroad over the face of the earth. But God sees what they have done and in verse six says, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be impossible for them.” Building that tower was in direct opposition to God’s will. He knew that if the people worked together to accomplish something that was against His plan for them, it would be disastrous; so, He intervened and confused the people’s language so they couldn’t work together and scattered them over the face of the earth.
There is so much symbolism in the Tower of Babel story. It shows humanity’s arrogant pursuit of fame and power, our propensity to cross boundaries, God’s endeavor to check such behavior, and it reveals the widespread rebellion in the human heart. It was the sin of pride that made the people believe they could build a “stairway to heaven,” but God knew this would lead people away from Him if they thought heaven was something they could obtain for themselves. The people weren’t trying to glorify God in building the tower, they were trying to lift themselves and make a name for themselves. Mary Fairchild says it like this, “In seeking to be free from reliance on God, the people thought they could reach heaven on their own terms” (Tower of Babel Bible Story Study Guide).
Fairchild points out many lessons we can learn from this story. First of all, we can see that building the tower may have been a tremendous architectural achievement and one of beauty, but it was about convenience, not obedience. “There is a sharp contrast between man’s opinion of his own achievements and God’s point of view regarding human accomplishments.” She also emphasizes that unity of purpose creates a powerful force, but if that purpose isn’t aligned with God’s will, it is disobedience even if the majority of people are doing it. So, if humans can create great things when they are united in purpose, imagine if the body of Christ was unified in accomplishing God’s purpose on earth.
Why is there so much division in worldly matters? Because when we try to accomplish our desires, it can be destructive and against God’s plan. Therefore, God creates division to keep His purpose front and center. His purpose is to bring us closer to Him so that none should perish but have eternal life. I know this will offend many people, but God doesn’t care who is president, He cares who is the king of your heart.
What I love about Old Testament lessons is there always seems to be a New Testament resolution. If we look at the story of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-12, we will see how the Holy Spirit fills the people who then begin speaking in tongues so that everyone understands in his/her own language while they were speaking of the great deeds of God. All of the speakers were Galileans, but the people from every nation listed could hear them speaking in their native languages. There is unity when God’s purpose is being spoken.
Relevant Verses:
Psalm 119:11 I have treasured Your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You.
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success.
James 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.
Acts 17:11 Now these people were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Romans 1:18-25 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.
Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Acts 2:12 And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The Sunday Girl 