Modern Babel

In the Bible, the multiplication of languages resulted in the division of the people. They scattered abroad and this subtracted from their harmony and added to their confusion. The Tower of Babel stands as a symbol for division, confusion, and tribalism – all of which breed misunderstanding and hostility.

When I was studying with Wycliffe Bible Translators to be a missionary-linguist, I learned that there were 6,500 languages in the world. I discovered that there were 6,499 languages that I couldn’t speak or understand. Since then, I’ve discovered other languages that I don’t speak or understand.

Our time has seen another Tower of Babel constructed, which has resulted in the multiplication of languages resulting in the division of the people. To the existing languages of French and Swahili and Cantonese we can add Postmodern Deconstructionism, Autonomous Individualism, Critical Race Theory, Social Justice Rhetoric (with regional dialects), White Supremacy, QAnon, Feminism, GenderSpeak, Identity Politics, Socialism, Wokism, Globalism, and Intersectionality. These Babel sounds fill the airwaves and instead of people understanding one another and coming together, greater confusion and division results – all of which breeds misunderstanding and hostility.

When someone tells me that I can’t look at a baby’s genitalia and conclude that this baby is male or female – I am confused. I don’t get it. They speak a language I don’t understand. When someone tells me that feelings and desires determine gender and that the science of DNA and chromosomes have no bearing on the matter – I am confused. I don’t get it.

When someone tells me that they can dismember a life growing in their womb and discard it into the trash can – I am confused. I don’t get it. If it’s their body – who would do that to a healthy member of their body? A growing life doesn’t have the moral equivalence of a diseased kidney. Sure, you can do what you want with your body (there are limits, of course), but the life growing inside you isn’t your body. It’s in your body, but it isn’t your body – unless, of course, you have two heads and four eyes and twenty toes. Good grief, the life growing inside you only has 50% of your DNA. No, that’s not you – it’s another. I do not understand the language of abortion.

When someone tells me that they have a more virtuous vision of what society should look like, but they need my money to fulfill their vision and then proceed to forcefully take it from me – I am confused. I don’t get it.

When someone tells me that I am a racist by virtue of my skin color – I am confused. I don’t get it. This turns on its head the most popular thing Martin Luther King Jr. said during the Civil Rights era – “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Well, don’t open your eyes now, Martin, skin color means more than character. Outward form means more than inner essence. Identity Politics is the lazy man’s politics. They speak a language I don’t understand.

When someone tells me that if I voted for Trump I am not a Christian – I am confused. I don’t get it. When someone tells me that if I voted for Biden I am not a Christian – I am confused. I don’t get it.

As you can probably tell by now that I walk around confused most of the time.

• Men aren’t men (unless they want to be).
• Women aren’t women (unless they want to be).
• Life in the womb has no value (unless you want it to have value).
• I can take your money by force to fund my social vision (and it doesn’t matter what you want).
• Depending on who you voted for, you’re not a Christian (because I say so).

I’ve walked the streets of Russia and Nepal and Ghana and Israel and wasn’t able to understand the languages being spoken. I walked the streets of London once and was hard-pressed to understand even that! America has become like a foreign country to me – I hear so many moral/social/political languages that confuse me.

Here’s my thought, though. With the various moral/social/political languages come differing moral/social/political visions. It’s very possible that even as those at the Tower of Babel were scattered abroad due to the confusion of the multiplication of languages – so today. Even as the multiplication of languages led to the division and misunderstanding and hostility of the people – so today.

There’s a line from “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” that declares, “… above its sad and lowly plains, they bend on hovering wing, and ever o’er its Babel sounds the blessed angels sing.” Let’s you and I join the angel choir and sing of Jesus and the cross of redemption and the empty tomb. The language of Identity Politics speaks only to some. The language of White Supremacy or GenderSpeak speaks only to some. The gospel speaks to all. Let the gospel be your language in the midst of our current Babel cacophony.