Was the Tower of Babel Real?

[@dairyqueue]

Yes, let's build a tower to heaven! Where should we put it? How about a valley, nice head start.

[@utubepunk]

Lol. I see your point, but when have humans let the environment restrain us? Dubai is a city in the desert with an artificial archipelago.

[@nuttysquirrel8816]

,🤣😆😂 Never thought of that before.

[@dairyqueue]

@@utubepunk but it would've been hard to see the towers point.😂

[@Darisiabgal7573]

I know, right.

[@tonyschumacher-jones1540]

That’s really funny. I love it.

[@Shake0615]

I’m surprised that Dan the linguist didn’t go into any of the linguistic evidence that demonstrates how languages- much like organisms-have clearly evolved rather than been created in a singular event.

[@weirdlanguageguy]

The parallels between language development and bacterial evolution are striking

[@TechySeven]

@@weirdlanguageguy 'Striking' perhaps, in some senses (though it depends on the personal perspective), but not really all that unexpected or surprising (imo). I mean, pretty much the Entire idea behind evolution is Imperfect Change Over Time. And as far as languages go, the Only Other Options would have been either: 1) The language being Non-Existent (in which case we'd perhaps Still Only be communicating with Body Language alone). 2) Perfect Change Over Time (which would effectively leave Zero trace of origins, roots, inspirations, or relations through similarities & flaws, etc). 3) Or a Complete Lack of change over time (which would be Highly prone to very rapid stagnation into utter irrelevance, eventually resulting in extraordinary amounts of Practically Continuous Confusion when attempting to use it for communication). When viewed in this light, it seems the furthered 'evolution' of man-made languages would have been virtually pretty much inevitable.

[@xplicitgoofy1015]

Yeah languages have evolved but God made it so that the different nations of the world speak different languages and these nations have evolved over time, some words in other languages are indeed similar because before humanity did all speak the same language but God made it so we speak different languages now

[@stephenspackman5573]

@@xplicitgoofy1015 The biological example still holds, but you need to know a bit about the mechanisms of speciation. In the linguistic case, the key question is, what mechanism exists to keep languages _the same_ when they are out of communication range with each other. There isn't one, so languages diverge. If you're really determined to cast God as the agent of this process, then what he did to accomplish this was to provide us with distance, mountains, seas, and, yes, political boundaries. But of course the immediate mechanisms are to do with physics and sociology, as usual.

[@calanm7880]

The garden, the flood, the tower were all such vivid “events” put into my baby mind to explain my world to me, and interpret my inner “me” to baby me. Today I learn these narratives are about humanity crossing into deities patch, so they need to stop us acquiring other attributes lest we equal them! Thank you Dan - I want to laugh and cry at same time because of the impact of all this on my life til now 40yrs later - but I’m grateful for this moment. The “penny dropped” massively to use a British phrase, suddenly I see this in plain sight for the 1st time. Need to play it again (plus memorise that ziggurat name to sooth my mind and soul). Thank you - my baby brain areas thank you so much Dan

[@boboak9168]

Reads like you are going through some momentous times. Please take good care of yourself, take your time, and all the best.

[@ericpatterson2178]

It can be difficult to go through changing a worldview, especially with regard to scripture/religion. I went through deep questioning of my faith a few years ago and still feel like I'm uncovering things I was taught which were lies. Go slow, ask questions, find answers from good scholars, be patient with the part of yourself that cannot be hurried, and know that deconstruction doesn't have to mean deconversion.

[@AndrewReesonLeather]

I've realised that most of the bible stories I was taught as a child make sense in that context. Children need simple stories to explain the world. The issue was that I was never taught the complexities of reality. My church taught that the simple children's stories are truth and we should just accept that oversimplified worldview. It made it hard to unlearn all that as an adult. It's worth it though. The world is big and complicated and fascinating. Sticking to childrens' stories robs us of the opportunities it holds

[@davidholman48]

It's so sad that people believe the God of Love would deliberately "inspire" stories that serve only to instill anxiety and terrible self-doubt.

[@Zahaqiel]

"Do you think God lives in Heaven because He, too, lives in fear of what He's created here on Earth?" - Spy Kids 2, also maybe Genesis?

[@Greyz174]

"Oh man theyre gonna become like us if we dont kick them out before they get to the second tree"

[@Greyz174]

Oh Dan already brought it up i was commenting while listening halfway

[@John-cf5im]

Dan McClellan, always the voice of reason in a world of misinformation.

[@eugeneoisten9409]

By world you mean the Bible's?

[@punishanpika]

​@@eugeneoisten9409 It usually is 🥑 not the Bible 📖 being the main source of these delusions. 😅

[@bskec2177]

Babylonians "If we build this tower, people will remember us for all history God. : I'm going to stop you from finishing, and put it in my Holy Book so people will remember that forever. Babylonians : ummm, Thanks? God : I think you mean "Merci"

[@boboak9168]

An irony put succinctly and entertainingly in to words 😃 Kind of like Deuteronomy 25:19: “Therefore, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies in the land he is giving you as a special possession, you must destroy the Amalekites and erase their memory from under heaven. Never forget this!” (New Living Translation) ‘Never forget to remember to forget!’

[@Danny451]

Forgive my engles. I don't really understand some of you. I wish this god character didn't come down and confuse the languages.🤣

[@jemckee]

The tower of babel was clearly the breeding ground of the Babel fish that wasn't discovered until Douglas Adams found it in a fever dream in the 1980's

[@niceguy191]

Great, now that you've brought it up you've caused God you disappear in a cloud of logic. Who's gonna help me find my car keys now?

[@baarbacoa]

But God is fine with the pyramids, modern skyscrapers, etc.

[@eugeneoisten9409]

​@@metabolights...to bad for you that the bible, you know the infallible word of God clearly says he did get his knickers in a twist over men piling brick on top of each other to reach heaven.

[@marquisdemoo1792]

@@metabolights What has the tree of life got to do with the Tower of Babel?

[@baarbacoa]

@@eugeneoisten9409 Yeah, he was worried that folks who possess mad dirt-piling and brick-stacking skills, speaking the same language, had the power to challenge God(s).

[@MarcillaSmith]

Not at first, obviously, but He got over it.

[@baarbacoa]

@@MarcillaSmith He may just be a stickler for building codes.

[@noelhausler2911]

Does that mean the Tower story in the book of Ether in the Book of Mormon is a fable?

[@jamescrane6583]

Yes, the author thought it was real.

[@noelhausler2911]

@@jamescrane6583 You mean the real author Joseph Smith?

[@jamescrane6583]

@@noelhausler2911 yes.

[@Reignspike]

It makes sense to me that most myths would be loosely based on real places or events. Obviously, that's not proof that a real tower existed, nor that Etemenanki is it if so, but I appreciate learning about new things regardless. Thanks, Dan!

[@TacticusPrime]

You're talking about the fallacy of Euhemerism. That's not how myth or history work at all.

[@pythondrink]

​@@TacticusPrime what do you mean?

[@TacticusPrime]

@@pythondrink There's no "reality behind the myth" or other such nonsense. It's just a story. It wasn't based on some specific tower or some specific event. It's like claiming that when Harry Potter casts a spell he's really shooting a gun or something. He wasn't really doing anything.

[@ramadadiver8112]

@@TacticusPrime Do you know the difference between fiction and non fiction . In fiction the author intended to write fiction . In non fiction the author does not have this intention even if he reports incorrectly. The reader or the audience doesn't decide weither an author is writing fiction . The author does

[@ramadadiver8112]

@@TacticusPrime Let me put it another way . You will never walk into a library and see the Bible in the fiction section . Why ? Because librarians do not put their bias into categorisation of genres

[@shuai83]

One more potentially embarrassing insight for Christians to deal with in the tower of Babel fable would to once again point out the fact another reason the tower was such a threat to this insecure god trying to suppress mortals was that these people believed in a sky dome/ "firmament" separating their flat world from "the heavens" where the gods hung out - which literally could have been reached and even breached with just enough height!

[@ramadadiver8112]

Hello Christian here .. I'm Okey with the cosmology of the Israelites . There is no command to accept their cosmology as fact

[@Julian0101]

Most of the fables of the bible, if taken seriously instead of metaphorical gymnastics, are embarrasing for an all powerfull all benevolent god.

[@ramadadiver8112]

@@Julian0101 not ready . Israelites use the cosmology of their time to express god is creator . The same way modern. Christians use the cosmology of the big bang to demonstrate God is creator . But even the big bang could be wrong and demonstrated so in 1000 years

[@utubepunk]

@@ramadadiver8112 Then why accept any of their beliefs as facts?

[@ramadadiver8112]

@@utubepunk oh that's easy . What exactly are the authors inspired in . To teach science ? Well no. To teach economics ? Well no philosophy ? Maybe Theology and history . Most certainly

[@clearstonewindows]

How do y'all feel about the book of Mormon version? 33 Which Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered Seems like the idea of the tower getting to heaven isn't there

[@clearstonewindows]

"went down into the valley which was northward"

[@adrianpettifer2036]

Thank God He'd changed His mind by the time Salisbury's awesome 404-foot spire was built! (Not to mention many modern corporate monstrosities.)

[@waderogers]

We tend to forget in the West that not everything that has been written, and which sounds historical, is actually historical. Much of what we see as history in the O.T. is a mix of history and propaganda, and the story of the tower of Babel is a prime example of that. Because the Babylonians couldn't get this ziggurat finished over the course of a hundred years, they became the laughingstock of their neighbors who, in an effort to explain why it was taking so long to build this thing, blamed it on God confounding their language to the point that they could no longer communicate what needed to be done to finish the ziggurat, and the reason He did so was to put humans in their place and show them that he alone was God. When in reality the reason the thing couldn't be completed was because it was repeatedly being torn down and then rebuilt. Again, more evidence that one shouldn't take the bible at its 'Word'...

[@TacticusPrime]

No. It's a made up story. It has nothing to do with the actual construction of anything. There's no evidence for that at all.

[@thefnaffan2]

Can't have a tower but you can have a space station.. lol

[@TestUser-cf4wj]

Well, we don't know how long one of God's "days" are. Maybe He's still resting?

[@Benjaminimize]

Insightful

[@MrArtist7777]

They could have just climbed Mt. Everest, pretty sure they never would have built a tower 32k feet high. Like most Genesis stories, there's a sprinkle of truth, with A LOT of fictional tall tales.

[@Vishanti]

The tower of Bae-ble, in the land of Bae-bylon😂

[@rainbowkrampus]

Yah-Bae.

[@nmappraiser9926]

If she was a president, she'd be Babe-raham Lincoln.

[@jamescrane6583]

What should we make of the story being in the book of Mormon?

[@GeoKnowLearning]

Probably just that Joseph Smith's understanding was that the biblical accounts were historical and he discussed events and people as if they existed in human history.

[@nmappraiser9926]

Plagiarism.

[@celestialknight2339]

Why does 1:25 show someone reading the Qur’an 😅 As an Arabic-speaking Muslim, I noticed that immediately.

[@hive_indicator318]

I thought that was Arabic script! It for sure wasn't Phoenician.

[@danielgibson8799]

0:31-1:08 There’s probably validity to that.

[@fordprefect5304]

I find it ludicrous that in 2023 we still have to debunk this story

[@xplicitgoofy1015]

There is nothing to “debunk” your either believe in it because you believe in the Bible or you don’t, logically there is a valid explanation of it though Humanity after the flood is descended from a single ancestor, Noah, and are united by a common language. They become proud of their strength and organization, and decide to build the tower to reach heaven and make themselves equal to God. They also want to build it as a base for their planned colony, so that everyone will stay together and maintain cultural homogeneity. However, some say that their plan is actually the first step towards a tyrannical state, and that God responds by scattering the people and confusing their languages so they can no longer understand each other. This explains how the descendants of Noah came to be separated into different nations and speak different languages. Regardless the fact of different nations throughout the world and people speaking various languages is in itself factual and does make this a magnificent piece of text

[@fordprefect5304]

@@xplicitgoofy1015 Aesop had better fables

[@xplicitgoofy1015]

@@fordprefect5304 No, everything within the Bible is real, I don’t believe people would write thousands of pages for a “lie”

[@fordprefect5304]

@@xplicitgoofy1015 Aesop did. You could do with no one has ever done. Provide evidence for any story in the bible

[@xplicitgoofy1015]

@@fordprefect5304 There have been many confirmed Hebrew inscriptions around the area where Mount Sinai is, now provide me evidence how this world was all created by a magic space explosion that according to you happened from nothing lol

[@Darisiabgal7573]

I should here give a list of why the garden of babel story is late. 1. El worship in canaan commenced on high peaks, much much taller than any tower in babylon. The mountain changed over time, but they seem to have been close to the trade routes mesopotamians cared about. 2. The true israelites had their own high mountain, gerezim. It appears there has been some continuance of practice there since the LBAC, with a few interruptions. 3. The tower of babel, situated between the 18th and 24th century in the bible is not particularly early in Sumerian history. There is an almost constant history of Sumer, Akkad and Akkad and Sumer dating from, 3300 technically but defacto cultural presence going back to 6th millenium BC. 4. There were many great Zigguart built. Because ziggurat were mad from mud bricks they would erode during heavy rains. If dynastic leaders did not initiate rebuilding campaigns it was natural fir Ziggurats to shrink over time. We have to remember that fire wood was precious in Sumeria, there are essentially no trees for firing bricks. So the Tower of Babel is just that, a story. Its like the book of daniel, its authors are not looking to tell a history, but the create a pejorative. Finally Where is babilu. Babilu was a trading point near the edge of Akkad during Sargons empire. Its not as far out as Mari or Anah, but it is not core and is relatively far from the seat of power. Its the local amorite kings that make babilu and its city state god Marduk grow. Here is a list of ages. Eridu - Ubaid Uruk - Ubaid Sumer - prediluvian Sumer - antediluvian Akkad Gutian Sumer Babylon - first Kassite - Assyrian - first Elamite - Middle Assyrian LBAC NeoAssyrian Neobabylonian - chaldean Neobabylonian - Nabonidus Persian - Cyrus End of Akkad and Sumer the greater part of Sumerian culture was before Babilu was a thing.

[@AurorXZ]

Out of curiosity, how strong of a connection do you find this narrative to have with the tale of linguistic unification/disruption in the Sumerian story of _Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta?_

[@owenduck]

Don't ask too many questions like that lol. The stone tablets found in sumarian ruins literally outlone the biblical narrative. Including the confusing of the single language spoken after the flood.

[@AurorXZ]

@@owenduck Ha! Yes, I'm aware that the broad strokes of the Primeval History can be traced back to Sumer. However, the Sumerian linguistic episode remains nebulous (for instance, we're not sure if it's disruption or unification). From what I understand, too, the narrative was not in circulation for ~1200 years prior to the Babel story. As such, it's left questions about how much the writer(s) of Genesis knew, and in what specific ways they innovated.

[@owenduck]

@@AurorXZ the stone tablets clearly say that an angry God confused their one language into many.

[@AurorXZ]

​@@owenduck Well now I'm frustrated-I _clearly_ have written in my study notes about the ambiguity, but I can't find my source! I thought it was Stephanie Dalley, James Kugel, Michael Coogan, or Jean-Pierre Isbouts, but they don't even touch on it. Bizarrely, my entire Yale, Cambridge, and Oxford collections also don't even mention the episode in connection with Babel. Hell, neither does David Carr's "Formation of Genesis 1-11." 😑 Curiously, however, my copy of Herman Vanstiphout's "Epics of Sumerian Kings: Matter of Aratta" only mentions the unification spell and predicts Enki will unify language (line 145-55). The Oxford translation online also matches this.

[@TeamShopRite]

Actually it was a Ziggurat, very close to the Ziggurat of Ur which still stands today in Southern Iraq. The Tower of Babel was over three times as large as Ur's Ziggarat. The footprint of it is still visible, a drone shot of it is very clear with good definition. It was destroyed by invaders several times. All of the useful bricks were eventually scavenged by locals to make other structures. Both Babel and Ur Ziggurats are located in what was then Sumeria. Babel was founded by Nimrod/Gilgamesh and construction was started under his command. Many years later the city of Babylon was established a very short distance from the tower, the cities name being based on 'Babel'>'Babylon'.

[@MalachiMarvin]

Insightful. Thank you.

[@michaelbarry8513]

these stories from Genesis are about the hubris of man which does not appear to change with the passing of time.

[@masterbulgokov]

"etiology"

[@sail2byzantium]

Hi Dan. In discussing narrative threads in Genesis, you have prompted a question for me: Have you done any videos that discuss the Documentary hypothesis? I understand that it has come under challenge esp. in the past four decades or so but I'm unclear what any prevailing consensus might be concerning the hypothesis' posited Jahwist (J), Elohim (E), Deuteronomist (D) and Priestly (P) texts for the Pentateuch / Torah. I've always found the idea fascinating esp. in accounting for the double telling of stories like the creation / Garden of Eden and Noah and the Flood. And the common theme of the three Genesis narratives of humanity breaching the boundaries between human and divine was quite interesting. I had not made that connection between them so firmly before hearing this. Further explication on that as to why this theme is stressed in this early part of Genesis would be welcome. Appreciated!

[@NielMalan]

Do you think there is a connection between the story of Babel and a city where they once had widespread literacy, but due to some calamity this education system broke down? I understood that this could be interpreted as their languages becoming confused: they could no longer maintain the administrative system that allowed the construction of complex public buildings.

[@TacticusPrime]

Removing the supernatural elements from supernatural myths doesn't make them more true. That's just writing your own less supernatural myth. Etiology doesn't come from actual events. These stories rise up naturally as useful for groups to tell about themselves. The story of Lot's daughters isn't secretly true if you take out some supernatural element. It's a made up story to connect the Ammonites and Moabites to each other and to Israel in a disparaging way.

[@zenmite]

Babylon was a melting pot for several different ethnic groups and languages during the Neo Babylonian Empire. Encountering this during the exile, the Judeans (speaking Hebrew) would've probably found trying to communicate with others frustrating and confusing. Maybe where they got the idea of a confusion of languages. In short, I agree completely.

[@TechySeven]

That is at least something to possibly consider. I mean, in terms of actual Lost Languages, the closest thing in those ancient times that I'm aware of was the fact that the Sumerians (whom were eventually conquered by, and assimilated into, Babylonian culture) had at one point lost their *Written* Language of cuneiform, specifically because some King who conquered Babylon at one point had all the schools that taught it (and as many tablets as they could find using it) completely destroyed. And I think, if I recall, either they Never got it back or else it took them Several Centuries before they finally got it back. But of course there's the obvious point of contention with this idea; namely that a Written Language is NOT A Spoken Language, However... The idea of it Kind of Being A *Sort of* "Universal" [Written] Language could still potentially be backed-up, Somewhat, by the fact that Some Other Cultures had learned to use the Sumerian Cuneiform for Trade with them (and later with the Babylonians). Or at least I think I remember learning something along these lines. And there is a fair amount of evidence that could support the idea that the Hebrews (whom 'borrowed' different beliefs & stories from various neighboring cultures) would absolutely have eventually Heard and/or Known about this whole debacle (considering the fact that they too were enslaved by the Babylonians [at a Later Point than the Sumerians]), and they likely were even forced to learn the Sumerian-cum-Babylonian Sexagesimal Counting-System (for the sake of more-efficient labor).

[@TacticusPrime]

@@TechySeven Everything that you've written is total nonsense. Sumerian is a language isolate that was used as a language of elites after it was supplanted by the unrelated Akkadian, but it gradually disappeared even there. The Akkadians supplanted the Sumerians over 4,000 years ago. The Neo-Babylonian empire conquered Jerusalem and brought about the exile of Jewish elites to Babylon just over 2,500 years ago. The difference between these events is something like the difference between Emperor Justinian's attempt to reconquer Italy from the Goths to today. Jews in Babylon had nothing to do with the Sumerians. They no doubt renegotiated their myths in light of their Babylonian context, but they weren't inspired by an real world factual events. That's NOT how myths work.

[@punishanpika]

Broken down languages 👄💬 are still very mutually intelligible.

[@WingRaidCoach]

My whole life… I have always heard tower of b(short a)bel never b(ay)bel

[@larrywest42]

Weird bot that pronounces "Babel" two different ways in two minutes

[@Ibis-of-Equilon]

What if its an analogy for not being able to break the firmament or a warning to not try to breach it.

[@owenduck]

Tablets found in assyria regarding king enmerker (great hunter) outline the biblical narrative. They say kings had to pay tribute to king enmerker for a tower he was building and that their languages were confounded by an angry god. Go figure.

[@jerrygrover8992]

There are other academic theories, one being that it is based on more ancient Sumerian myth as one is similar to that of the Tower of Babel, called Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, where Enmerkar of Uruk is building a massive ziggurat in Eridu and demands a tribute of precious materials from Aratta for its construction, at one point reciting an incantation imploring the god Enki to restore (or in Kramer's translation, to disrupt) the linguistic unity of the inhabited regions-named as Shubur, Hamazi, Sumer, Uri-ki (Akkad), and the Martu land, "the whole universe, the well-guarded people-may they all address Enlil together in a single language." Fair to say there is not a lot of definitive information on the tower of Babel and that whatever it was if in fact based on a more ancient religious story or legend, it was adopted, interpreted, and later recorded by the Hebrews in the Biblical text.

[@Darisiabgal7573]

Although some new guesses places Aratta south west of Elam, based on the metalurgic claims of Aratta, it seems more likely to have been associated with Jiroft civilization. Also the placement of Bad Tibera at the base of the trigris river (i.e. no real local sources of copper) strongly suggests they were trading eastward for copper. The notion that people were hauling off building materials from Jiroft to build a tower (particukarly since all sumerian towers were largely constructed of mud bricks, often unfired mud bricks, very much limits Aratta as a source of bulk constrction materials.

[@stephenbelmont1918]

Are the tower of Babel claims in the BOM a work of literary fiction? Or the idea that the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve existed in Missouri, and Noah's ark transferred his posterity to the Middle East after the flood subsided. Data/Dogma

[@JosefPollard-sm1gr]

That would make the savior a bald faced liar if I'm not mistaken. For he/she said The Lord dug a pit, set a hedge about it, placed a tower (temples were built over wells) in the center, and sent workers....Nimrod was a program produced by sex magic (and why he failed)..that is the illustration of the vineyard and has become one that is of the winepress. Mayhaps a look into the use of crowns in the "old testament" which predate vowel points? I appreciate your well informed and excruciatingly detailed discussions! Thank you!

[@JosefPollard-sm1gr]

A sidebar: Nimrod was not remotely as laughable as he's made out to be. In fact he was incredibly ahead of his time. To this day many scientists believe what he was doing is possible and work to make it a realization. That particular structure is referred to as a Jefferies tube......

[@ronjones1414]

Tell me again why you disagree with Jordan Peterson? His Genesis series was just succinctly summed up quite agreeably by your video.

[@777Atum]

Which suggests that Genesis 1-11 was written during the Babylonian exile.

[@xplicitgoofy1015]

Nah it doesn’t, it’s speculative but this being written and revealed in Egypt makes more sense but people need to realize Abraham came from Mesopotamia

[@777Atum]

@@xplicitgoofy1015 Abraham is also a fictional character. That makes a big difference too.

[@xplicitgoofy1015]

@@777Atum Prove he is a fictional character though lol, it’s been confirmed the cave of the patriarchs exist, if someone like you actually takes a second to do research about anything you will see why theists have a plausible case

[@ramadadiver8112]

My hypothesis is the stories from genesis 1- 11 come from Abraham who was from Ur. Which places him right at mesopotamia Sumer and Babylon . I believe him to be an Amorite The garden of Eden being the Persian gulf oasis and the flood being the Persian gulf flood and the tower of Babel being the Ziggurat you mentioned .

[@GeoKnowLearning]

We all know the Garden of Eden is in Missouri ;)

[@ramadadiver8112]

@@GeoKnowLearning You may be interested. But the Persian gulf oasis was an oasis the size of a country that exists in Arabia which is mostly dessert . It has precious raw material plenty of wild life and plant life . Springs and rivers and fish etc . To describe it as paradise by the ancients would be appropriate

[@Darisiabgal7573]

@@GeoKnowLearning The garden of Eden is from Texas, these be me peeps.😂

[@GeoKnowLearning]

@@Darisiabgal7573 lol no doubt! I was, of course, referring to an old Mormon teaching

[@jamescrane6583]

Abraham is just as likely as the tower to be a myth.

[@TestUser-cf4wj]

Oh no! People speak different languages! How will they ever learn each other's languages and be fluent enough in them to conduct international trade and diplomacy and intermarry and explore and get an education via foreign teachers and texts? Whatever shall they do? This is just the most ridiculous thing to say, that because people spoke different languages they couldn't communicate or work together. Just taking the example of Daniel speaking some proto-hebraic language, as governor _of Babylon,_ but modern Christians don't immediately WTF? this absurd story? I swear, I think there's something in those communion wafers that negates the ability to think.

[@danielgibson8799]

0:26-0:30 6th century BCE.

[@icollectstories5702]

So we've reached the heavens but not godhood. God had nothing to worry about. Why do I feel disappointed?

[@adamb89]

The old men that wrote the bible had to be drunk at least 95% of the time, because that's the only way any of god's logic makes any kind of sense. "These guys are gonna build a huge tower... I know how to show them, I'll have them speak different languages! That'll do the trick!" Angel: "But um, if you do that, then how are they going to spread your actual gospel? Aren't you just condemning them all to hell by default, by virtue of not being able to spread your teachings?" God: "Damn it Lucifer I told you if you make sense one more time, you're out." Angel: "Pft fine, I'm going to live with mom. And I'm gonna tell her the truth about that 7th day, you weren't resting, you were hung over again. AS USUAL."

[@xplicitgoofy1015]

That’s Christianity, it’s a false religion

[@Mendozam4]

When was etemenanki originally constructed?

[@chadstroman3325]

Utah Belt Company (Grip6) getting a little love from Dan. Hope you got paid for it (in more than just belts!) 😉

[@dahmanbeck5256]

Poor God. Always displeased with humanity. Such a ridiculous way of looking at reality! People that believe in anything in the bible have zero critical thinking skills.

[@guillermogouldburn763]

Is it BAB-EL or BABE-EL?

[@stephenderks1209]

So the tower is real, just not in the same context provided by the Bible?

[@eyeofbraille4659]

Zechtony eth nurflangen, vias micht entoleo. Dre copes evant? Nasht altu, senn briosso revt! Ultan. Spech Ultan.

[@curtishowe2288]

Thanks for your videos Dan. My question is if the story of the Tower might just be a “made up” story according to ancient writings, how do you reconcile that idea with the writings of the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon which claim to be from the actual Tower of Babel?

[@Danny451]

Well, it MUST be TRUE then.🤣

[@rager4able]

You sound low and the video sounds loud

[@Jake-zc3fk]

No

[@tramberg1972]

Whats the deal with wanting to live for ever? You do know we reincarnate...hence, live for ever. We just have no rememberance of the past.

[@Catholic-Perennialist]

What must it be like to lack any ability to appreciare the broader meaning of mythological symbolism? "He knew everything about literature, except how to enjoy it."

[@stopgont7360]

What?

[@Catholic-Perennialist]

@@stopgont7360 Imagine debunking The Little Engine That Could by telling children that trains can't talk. What if I patted myself on the back for recognizing that trains cannot talk? Wouldn't I be the dunce for not recognizing that the story exists to demonstrate a moral? Wouldn't I be a bully for mocking those whose intellectual ability is far behind my own? I'm describing the foundation that this channel is built on.

[@stopgont7360]

@@Catholic-Perennialist Bro, he's not ignoring the symbolism of the story, he's just explaining the actual history behind it. Talking about the context behind the story of Little Red Hood doesn't diminish it's value, and it neither does with this myth. And if you said that there's an enginer that could talk you have to first prove it anyways so. Any evidence of an engine talking?

[@Catholic-Perennialist]

@@stopgont7360 Dan tells the world that there is no tower of babel, and then goes into detail describing the actual tower of babel. It's total incoherence to wage a literallistic war against a mythological tradition.

[@stopgont7360]

@@Catholic-Perennialist He didn't describe the tower, he described a structure that could have inspired the myth. Talking about serial Killer as an inspiration for the werewolves and vampires is not the same as saying that they exist.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

Not in our world 🌍. Though the explanation of God 💃🤖 making all the languages and making them confusing is a lot better than the theories posited by linguists for how languages came to be. They never seem to get proven anyway. Though I think that was the author not believing 🙏 humans would believe an origin for the languages that was benign and also natural. Rather than trying to tell the truth. ------------ Anyway, within the story it makes more sense God means having an objective view of the world from an unbiased aerial perspective above the working humans.

[@rjpearsonIV]

Like all Bible stories. False.

[@elderinisrael]

The Tower of Babel was real, we have a second record that supports that. It's found in The Book of Mormon, It's called "The Book of Ether".

[@kvltslime2261]

superman is real we know this because he is in other comics also

[@GeoKnowLearning]

I think what that demonstrates is that Joseph Smith believed that the Tower of Babel was real.

[@elderinisrael]

@@kvltslime2261 The difference is The Book of Mormon is true, Superman is a known fictional Character.

[@elderinisrael]

@@GeoKnowLearning Joseph Smith only translated The Book of Mormon, he didn't write it.

[@GeoKnowLearning]

@@elderinisrael it is difficult to sustain that belief for many, including faithful members.

[@alonzoharris9049]

The Babylonians were Arabs.

[@punishanpika]

They really aren't very close to each other by the standards of the 👍💯 day.

[@Shadow6taka]

Really Babylon is ancient Iraq. And the history of current Arab occupied countries are attributed to ancient “pagan gods” they spoke an ancient tongue phonetics of the language which no longer exists. So not exactly Arab.

[@alonzoharris9049]

@@Shadow6taka The descendants of the Babylonians still live in Iraq. There is no settler colonialism. The Babylonians are todays Arabs. The western secular liberal ideology tries to strip the Arabs from any civilisation for geo political purposes.