Tower

Paul had an understanding of our origins, created by God, all descended from two individuals, whose story we find in Genesis, in the story of the Garden. Inside, we're the same, and Paul declared in Acts 17:

(25) He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us...

So what do we derive from this? Well, I think it can determine how we treat one another - we are all creations by God, and Christians are new creations, possessing a heart that has been regenerated by Christ. So, we don't look at one another through worldly eyes, but through eyes of love for each other, a love given to us by Him.  As James teaches, we don't show partiality to each other - we recognize the dignity of the individual and treat each other as Christ has regarded us. 

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We can determine whether or not we are living to call attention to our Savior or to ourselves. In Genesis 11, we read about the people on the earth who were devoted to their own fame, rather than their Creator's. We can read:
3 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

When I first read the news, I was curious to know if this was something taken from the satire site, The Babylon Bee, but, as they say in the world of sports broadcasting, "upon further review," I found the information to not only be true, but it made a lot of sense.

What I read was that the ministry of Answers in Genesis, led by Ken Ham, which operates the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum in Kentucky, was planning to add a new attraction adjacent to the large replica of Noah's Ark...a replica of the Tower of Babel.  You know, the large tower upon which construction began not too long after the worldwide flood.  The Lord intervened and confused the languages of the people who attempted to build this monument to themselves rather than to follow Him.

Sure enough, there was a Babylon Bee story from 2019, in which Ken Ham is allegedly quoted; the story says:

“Everyone loves seeing Bible stories come to life,” said Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis. “When we sat down to brainstorm about what to do next, we asked ourselves ‘what did Noah’s descendants do next?’ They built a huge tower!” This, of course, is excluding Ham’s failed project The Table of Nations, which was literally just a big table with names of nations written on it.

The Bee went on to say:

The Tower is located near the Ark Encounter on a plain Ham has dubbed “Shinar.” Unfortunately, the project was quickly plagued with construction delays, from communication problems and translation errors to smiting from on high.

"こんにちは、バカ" shouted one worker as another put a beam in the wrong place. The other one shouted back, "Twoja matka była chomikiem!" Such arguing has stalled construction for the foreseeable future.

Ken Ham actually responded to the article on Facebook, saying:

The Babylon Bee (my favorite satire site) is having some fun again at our expense.

Actually, as part of our master plan at the Ark Encounter, we do have plans (for some time in the future) to build a Tower of Babel exhibit.

Our exhibit we plan on building would detail the events of Genesis 10 and 11 and also cover topics dealing with racism, genetics, the human race, etc. People often ask me when this exhibit will be finished. I jokingly reply: “Read the Bible—it never will be!”

Well, the time is now - or soon - it seems. The Answers in Genesis website has announced the beginning of the process for the Tower of Babel project, saying that the raising of funds will begin later this year, and it "likely will take three or more years to research, plan, and construct." The article goes on to say: "Among other things, the huge Babel structure will help people understand how genetics research and the Bible confirm the origin of all people groups around the world (and all people belonging to one biological race) and will tackle the racism issue."

The article also announced that the Ark Encounter attendance is "seeing record crowds, with attendance returning to pre-pandemic levels and beyond."  It goes on to relate:

On recent Saturdays, the Ark has drawn over 7,000 daily guests. As a result of excellent 2021 attendance, area hotels, restaurants, and other tourism-related businesses are booming. “An incredible number of visitors are coming to the Ark and Creation Museum and hotel occupancy in the region reflects that,” said Julie Kirkpatrick, president/CEO of the tourism group meetNKY. “Florence hotels ran close to 77% occupancy in May; the national average was 59.3% as reference.”

We need to have that discussion about our origins, including what happened at Babel, which doesn't negate the teachings of Scripture that we are one race - as it's been said, there are different ethnicities, but inside we are the same.  That can be helpful in building Biblical unity.  God will use our differences for His purposes, and in our differences, we can be one.  Each of us is uniquely created and equipped for specific roles in God's Kingdom.  In an age in which critical race theory has taken root, dividing people based on race and generalizing how people of different races are supposed to act, this certainly is an important topic to address. Racism is sinful, and we have to understand its harmful effects.

I think in the Tower of Babel story, we recognize the potential for impacting the world if we are submissive to carrying out God's will.  However, the people were motivated by worldly power and were not devoted to that mission.  We have to make sure we do not allow sinful desires for power and control to overshadow that desire to do the will of God.