THE FRST SKYSCRAPER A fter the Food, during the days of Noah, God tod Noah and his famiy that they shoud have many chidren; God wanted them to fi the Earth with peope again. Noah s growing famiy moved away from the mountains of Ararat where the ark had come to rest. They decided to sette in the pains of Shinar an area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that ater woud become the home of the great Babyonian Empire. Under the direction of Nimrod (great-grandson of Noah), the peope decided to buid a arge city and a huge tower that woud reach high into the heavens. God decided to stop the buiding of the Tower of Babe. Unti this time in history, a men spoke the same anguage. This made it easier for them to work together, and sin together. So, God confused them by making them speak many different anguages. Because they coud not work together or communicate very we, the peope moved away from each other and scattered a over the Earth, just as God had wanted them to do in the first pace. What were their reasons for this great buiding project? First, they wanted to make a name for themseves; they wanted to be known throughout the ages as the famiy that buit the tower into heaven. Second, they wanted to stay together and not scatter a over the Earth, as God had commanded them. And third, they wanted to show their sefreiance and independence from God; they were fu of pride and sef-confidence. God knew what the peope were doing, and He did not ike it. He was angry about the buiding of the great tower, and angry that peope had decided, on their own, to stay in one pace. He was angry that they had such an arrogant, sef-sufficient attitude, thinking more and more about their own work, and ess and ess about their Creator Who had given them their strength and knowedge. He knew that eventuay they woud forget about Him entirey, and begin to worship the things they made. They were very proud of themseves, and pride is a sin against God. What does pride mean? t means to be peased with yoursef, especiay because of something you own or something you have done; it means to be conceited, arrogant, or haughty. 66 Why are there so many ors opeope? cof D o you remember the song, Jesus oves the itte chidren a the chidren of the word. Red and yeow, back, and white, they are precious in His sight? t s true, of course. Jesus does ove a the chidren. n fact, He and God, His father, ove a the aduts, too (read John 3:16). They don t care what coor a person s skin is. And neither shoud we. The Bibe recognizes ony one race of peope the human race. n Acts 17:26, the aposte Pau wrote that God made of one every nation of men to dwe on a the face of the earth. His point was that peope are basicay a aike, regardess of whether they have a different skin coor, anguage, or cutura heritage. Every human is made in the image and ikeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). But there s nothing wrong with asking about how a the red, yeow, back, and white coors of humans came to be. n humans, skin coor is caused by a pigment caed meanin (MEL-uh-nin). The coor of a person s skin depends on how much meanin he or she has. f a person has a ot of meanin, he or she wi be dark skinned. f a person has very itte meanin, he or she wi be ight skinned. The amount of meanin is controed by genes that are found inside the ces of our bodies. Genes contro ots of things, incuding hair coor, eye coor, and the amount of meanin in our skin. Meanin is hepfu to us as humans because it soaks up harmfu utravioet rays from the Sun that can harm our bodies. God designed our bodies so that meanin coud be produced to protect us. n cimates where there is a great dea of sunshine, peope with ots of meanin can survive better than those without much meanin. Those peope who ive in cimates with ess sunshine do not need as much meanin. t is very ikey that Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, possessed a buit-in variety of genes that aowed them to produce in their chidren some of the same varieties of skin coors we observe today. n fact, scientists today who study genetics te us that it is even possibe to get very ight, very dark, and medium-skinned chidren a from a singe pair of parents. [t s not at a odd for us to see parents who have two or more bioogicay reated chidren with noticeabe differences in their skin coors.] God knew that peope eventuay woud want to ive a over the Earth, and He gave us skin coors as buit-in protection. Skin coors are just another piece of evidence about how wise God is! 67
H human anguages f you ook in the back of your Bibe, you may see a map that shows where some of the peope and nations mentioned in the Od Testament were ocated. This map aso shows from which one of Noah s sons many different peope descended. We read in Genesis 11 where, after the Food and the confusion caused at the Tower of Babe, God scattered the descendants of Noah and his three sons a over the Earth (Genesis 11:9). n Genesis 10, we can read where a these peope went, and what nations they became. O Adam and Eve, and a peope up to Noah s day, spoke the same anguage. But sometime after the Food, God directy intervened at the Tower of Babe, and caused peope to begin speaking severa different anguages. Since that time, thousands of anguages and diaects have deveoped from the origina anguages that God brought into existence at Babe. Archaeoogica evidence shows that humans have had the abiity to speak (and write) anguage from the very beginning of human history. The descendants of Japheth ived in what is modern-day Turkey, ran, and many of the isands in the Mediterranean Sea. They became the nations of the Medes, Scythians, Greeks, and other various peopes of the Mediterranean Sea. W Heo Geia Sou Hoa Shao m shaom Bonjour Nî hâo 68 Ham s descendants moved to modern-day Turkey, Egypt, and to the and where the sraeites eventuay setted. They eventuay became the Hittites, Egyptians, Babyonians, Phiistines, Amorites, Canaanites, and most of the other ites in the Od Testament. The descendants of Shem moved to what is now modern-day raq, ran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, becoming the nations of Arabia, Syria, Persia, Lydia, srae, and Assyria. Eventuay, a these peope spread out to fi the Earth as God had commanded them in Genesis 1:28, but it took God s hand at the Tower of Babe to cause them to do it (Genesis 11:5-9). JUST ONE LANGUAGE BEFORE BABEL? Geia Sou? Turke ur abiity to speak in words came from God. Adam and Eve (and a human beings since) were created in God s image (Genesis 1:26-27). Among other things, that means we were created to speak by means of anguage. Animas were not created in God s image. They cannot speak ike peope can speak. f evoution were true, a human anguages shoud have evoved from an origina primitive anguage (which itsef came from the grunts and noises of ower animas). But the evidence does not support this idea. The evidence suggests that a anguagtongue es have deveoped from a few (perhaps ess than twenty) anguages. These proto-anguages were distinct within Pharnyx themseves. They did not come from a previous ancestra anguage. These few Voca cords mother anguages came from God Himsef when He brought them into Larynx existence at the Tower of Babe. God s action forced the peope to custer together with others who spoke their own distinct anguage. Just Trachea as we must tak to each other in words to communicate, so God taks to us through His Word (1 Corinthians 2:4-14). m in hen you read Genesis 10 verses 5, 20, and 31, and then read Genesis 11:1, it may sound at first as if these verses disagree. Since Moses wrote in Genesis 10 that the ancestors of Shem, Ham, and Japheth spoke different anguages, and yet he indicated that the whoe earth had one anguage in Genesis 11:1, some have a hard time understanding how both of these passages can be right. Obviousy, before the scattering of peope at Babe, the whoe Earth coud not have different anguages and ony one anguage at the same time. That is ike teing one person, can ony speak one anguage. And then saying to someone ese, can speak many anguages. Both statements cannot be true. The expanation to the question about the number of anguages that existed before the Tower of Hej Hao Babe was buit, is that the events recorded in Genesis 10-11 were not a written in the exact order the events occurred. Some of the things recorded in Genesis 10 occurred before the scattering at the Tower of Babe, whie other events in chapter 10 occurred sometime ater. The simpe fact is, just ike we do not aways te things in the same order in which they happened, Bibe writers did not aways record information in a strict, chronoogica sequence. We can be sure that before the word s speech was confused at the Tower of Babe, peope spoke ony one anguage, not many different anguages (Genesis 11:1). 69
o o He î hâ N o Ha Pangea ty t c v e Pag S A True or Fase Matchng 1. The name of the first skyscraper 2. The number of human races that exist 3. The name of the pigment that gives coor to skin 4. Japheth s descendants incuded these peope. 5. Ham s descendants incuded these peope. 3. Prior to the Food, a humans spoke the same anguage. 6. Shem s descendants incuded these peope. 4. God directy intervened at the Tower of Babe, and caused peope to begin speaking severa different anguages. A. Greeks D. Arabians B. Meanin E. Tower of Babe C. Egyptians F. One an T ra Guid nsation e s Hebrew the odest anguage? And did Adam and Eve speak Hebrew? Fransisca of Oberwunsch, Germany Dear Fransisca, The answer to both questions is probaby No, but no one can know for sure. Remember that in the beginning everyone spoke the same anguage (Genesis 11:1), but God made different anguages at the Tower of Babe. n Genesis 11:7, God said, Come, et us go down and confuse their anguage so they wi not understand each other. 4. The more meanin a person has, the his skin wi be. 5. The phrase in his days the earth was divided in Genesis 10:25 most ikey refers to the Earth s. When God confused the origina anguage (which was the odest anguage and the one Adam and Eve woud have spoken), then the first anguage might have been ost. Hebrew probaby was created after the confusion at the Tower of Babe. We reay cannot know for sure what Adam and Eve spoke, but we do know that through the wonderfu gift of anguage, God aows us to communicate His wi to peope a over the word. 6. f a the and was originay connected at the very beginning, the coud have been responsibe for breaking the and up into continents. Germ Dear Digger Doug, 3. A humans, regardess of skin coor, are made in the of God. (Heo! How are you?) 6. Animas are created in the image of God. 2. God does not care what a person s skin is. Guten Tag! Wie geht's? m o a Sh 5. The phrase in his days the earth was divided in Genesis 10:25 most ikey refers to the Earth s continents dividing. 1. Those who buit the first skyscraper were fied with. 70 1. God was unhappy with the buiders of the skyscraper because He did not ike new buidings. 2. God was unhappy with the buiders of the skyscraper because He wanted them to scatter a over the Earth. F n the Banks r jou Bon 71
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAD Montgomery, AL Permit No. 513 2010 Apoogetics Press, nc. A Rights Reserved Editor: Kye Butt, M.A. Associate Editor: Eric Lyons, M.Min. Layout and Design: Rob Baker, M.Ed. Cover by Ziv Qua ADDRESS SERVCE REQUESTED Pangea, Peeg, and a Divided Word f you were to ook at a map of the word, and especiay ook cosey at the shape of the seven continents, you might see something quite interesting. You may notice that the continents ook simiar to puzze pieces. When you visuaize piecing them together, they seem to fit together we. The continent of Africa seems ike it coud fit on the east edge of South America and just south of North America. The northeast border of Antarctica ooks ike it woud fit amost perfecty with the southwest edge of Austraia. n fact, many of these continents have simiar rock formations on the borders that seem to fit together. Because of this pattern, and because the continents are moving sowy apart today, some peope think that the continents in the past were a one big mass of and. They ca this huge andmass Pangea [pan-jee-uh]. No one has proven that this is true, but it does seem possibe. f it is true, it did not take miions of years as some evoutionists suggests. Something huge must have happened in the past that coud have separated a the and. One great expanation woud be the Food of Noah s day. When a the Earth was fooded by water, and the fountains of the deep broke open (Genesis 7:11), that woud have changed the and drasticay. Furthermore, such a huge Food woud have caused things to happen much more quicky than they are happening now. Because of the idea of Pangea, some have read Genesis 10:25, and used it as proof of the concept. That verse says: To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peeg, for in his days the earth was divided. Coud it be that the division of the Earth in Peeg s time is taking about the separating of the continents? That is possibe, but it is probaby not the case. n Genesis 11:1 we read that the whoe earth had one anguage. When the text says the whoe earth, it is taking about a the peope on Earth. As you read the rest of Genesis 11, you earn that the peope became wicked, disobeyed God, and buit the Tower of Babe. Because the peope disobeyed God, He confused their anguages so that they coud no onger work together to rebe against Him. When God caused the peope to speak different anguages, they were scattered over the face of a the earth. They were a divided. This is most ikey what Genesis 10:25 is taking about. The Bibe is the ony perfect set of books in the word. Whether it is taking about how the different anguages originated, or how the word was fooded, it is aways right. We shoud a make up our minds to study the Bibe diigenty and teach it to others. Pang ea ANSWERS Matching: 1. E (Tower of Babe); 2. F (One); 3. B (Meanin); 4. A (Greeks); 5. C (Egyptians); 6. D (Arabians). Fi in the banks: 1. pride; 2. coor; 3. image; 4. darker; 5. human popuation; 6. Food. true or Fase: 1-F; 2-T; 3-T; 4-T; 5-F; 6-F. APOLOGETCS PRESS, NC. 230 Landmark Drive Montgomery, AL 36117 (800) 234-8558 (Orders) (334) 272-8558 72 Yeary Subscription Fees in U.S. Funds Ony United States of America: ndividua rate: $12 each Buk rate (at east 5 to same address): $8.50 each. Cub rate (at east 10 to different addresses paid together): $10 Homeschoo discount 10% off above rates Canada: $16 each (buk: $12) Overseas Airmai: $21 each (buk: $14)