Babel & Communications

From the Bible, Book of Genesis,
Chapter 11, Verses 1 through 9:

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.

The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, they can do whatever they want, without God. (See commentary below.) Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel --because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world.

Commentary:
At first glance this confusion of communications may seem a little harsh and unfair. The point is this: Without God nothing is really profitable or worthwhile. Thinking we can do anything God can do (or thinking we can do without God) is not only foolish, but destructive.

A new era.
Despite Bill Gates comment about still living in the age of Babel, a new era of communications and understanding has arrived. It was ushered in as reported in Acts 2:2-4:

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came
from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now that's communications! You won't find it in towers built by men.
Of course "Good-News" not only travels fast but also translates easily, from heart to heart. Those of us who follow Jesus' example live in the "Age-Of-Grace". That doesn't mean perfect communications, but it does mean perfect love.