Tongue Helped Extinct a Tower

(20)

“But Rafael, you have been saying only about Jesus, which means Christian faith. So how does it encompass all mankind?”

“Great question Mark. Now I’d like to ask a question?” All smiled and nodded?”

“Do you believe in God?”

“Yes Rafael, we believe in God” all spoke in unison and Rebecca continued, “ He is only one God and He is the creator this Universe. In short He is the owner of all what we see here and the unseen.”

“Wow!!! Rebecca, that was simply superb. You surely can give punch lines.” Mark spoke in wonder.

“Oh come on Mark, you believed it, I spoke it, that’s the only difference.” All nodded.

“Yes, Rebecca, what you said is true and Mark has pointed you one of your innate talents, try to develop it.” All nodded

“Thank you Rafael, Thank you Mark. I’ll sure take up on that.” Rebecca said smiling.

“OK now back to the topic. How many religions are there in this Universe?”

“Countless.”

“The same answer would be for how many cultures, castes, creeds, etc Do you agree?”

“Yes Rafael, we do.” All spoke in unison.

“But if I ask, name some major religions? Would you be able to do that?” All nodded.

“Hinduism, Islam, Christianity”

“Thank you Monica. The next question is Name their sacred scriptures.”

“The Vedas, The Qur’an and The Bible”

“Yes. Now we are going to say that these religions too believed the existence of God and there is only one God.

In the Bible, God says directly to man.

"May you acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in the heavens above and over the earth below—there is no other God.”—

Deuteronomy 4:39.

The Vedas says thus,

There is no second God, nor a third, nor is even a fourth spoken of

There is no fifth God or a sixth nor is even a seventh mentioned.

There is no eighth God, nor a ninth. Nothing is spoken about a tenth even.

This unique power is in itself. That Lord is only one, the only omnipresent. It is one and the only one.

                        Atharva 13.4[2]19-20

The Qur’an quotes thus.

"Say: He is Allah,

The One and Only.

"Allah, the Eternal, Absolute.

"He begets not, nor is He begotten.

And there is none like unto Him."

                         Al-Qur’an 112:1-4

“So these verses proves that three major religions believe that there is God and He is only one. But in the Bible, God says directly to man. Its not any findings or thoughts or feelings, it’s a direct communication between God and man. But in the other scriptures Man was bestowed this truth of God as One and no other God by God  Himself and not a dialogue between God and man.”

“But Rafael, If there is only one God, then there should be only one religion, then how come we ended up with so many religions?”

“Yes Rebecca, you are right. Now we’ll have to go back to the Bible, After the great flood for forty days only the family of Noah had survived. Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. And the rest of mankind was erased from the face of the Earth.”

“You mean to say, we are the descendants of Noah?”

“Yes, Mathew, we are. And after the big flood, God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them,

“Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. ³ Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

⁴ “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵ And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

⁶ “Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
    has God made mankind.

⁷ As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

“That’s cool. Then what happened?” Rafael smiled and continues

“The sons moved off to distant lands their roots spread, different tribes were created according to the names of the sons but even though they moved to distant lands, they had one language and one speech. Every one could understand each other. So naturally that in itself created a unity.” All nodded. Rafael continued, To celebrate this oneness and to commemorate this unity, all the clans together decided to build a tower, a tower that reaches heaven.”

“Really!!! Then they are really dumb.”

“Why do you feel like that Monica?” Monica shrugged and said,

“ We can’t even  scale the height of the sky, then how would it be possible to reach heaven?”

“Good, that is true, but God knew, that if man, when united can make anything possible, decided to act upon it. I’ll quote the Bible exactly

The City and Its Tower

1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinarb and settled there.

3They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4Then 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.”

5But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babelc—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11

“But Rafael, that’s not fair from the part of God to scatter the human race by jumbling up their languages.”

“Yes Rebecca, reading this part of the Bible, we feel that God played fowl. But as Monica had said, when we can’t even scale the sky, then for how long will they invest their time and money on such futile venture?”

“Forever, I believe”

“Exactly Mathew, forever, not only that, if God had not scattered them, then naturally, the tower would have become an obsession among men, since its an unending situation. How do you think the men would complete it? What do you feel?” All nodded.

“And this new venture proved that man with only one language would lose focus of his very existence - His aim to return back to God and get stranded in the maze of his own creativity. Seeing the structure being planned by man we should understand that, Deep in the heart, he really is finding a way to reach heaven and knock the doors of it, until God has no recourse but to open it. What do you think?” All nodded and smiled.

“Might be Rafael, we should really acknowledge their courage. They really are strong and very decisive.” All nodded.

 “Yes Monica, they were indeed gallant.  Man had made it his priority to reach God, unknowingly, but the course of action, he was taking was not correct, they felt that they can step to heaven by a physical structure. But would that be possible?”

“God, they were real weirdoes.” all smiled and nodded.

“When man feels that he needs it. He has the strength to cross  all the oceans and seas and climb all the mountains and peaks to achieve what he has set for, but wisdom is necessary to decipher how to achieve it than just use our physical and mental strength. That is what this tower teaches us. Man had strength but no wisdom. Our vision is what we see in front, but for God, the vision about us, crosses time. So God had to intervene.” All nodded. And be sure that God is our father and not our father-in-law.” All smiled

For this is what the LORD says, who created the heavens— he is God, and the one who formed the earth and made it, and he is the one who established it; he didn't create it for chaos, but formed it to be inhabited— "I am the LORD and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:18.

“But Rafael, is there a proof in man’s history that all these happened?”

“Actually when we go through the world history, there is something weird regarding the time of the year  Civilizations of most of the countries came into existence. Can you just name a few civilizations?”

“Egyptian Civilization, The Pre Inca Civilization, The Indus Valley Civilization?”

“Well, good Mathew. For each country there are some sort of civilization, which gives an identity  and heritage to that country. And the best part is most or all of the civilizations got sprouted between 2500 – 2000 BC.”

“Rafael, How can that be possible. Are there are any texts proving that?”

“The findings by the archeology department and through advanced dating technology, most of them were dated in that period and the timing coincides when the confusion of tongues happened in the city of tower – The Tower of Babel.”

“Oh!!! That’s superb. No wonder, straight from the tower they had these ideas very fresh, which came out in the places they settled.” Rafael smiled and continued.

 “In short, The scattered tribes who had already possessed the know-how  had only to  implement it in the places they decided to settle in. They did not have to develop things from scratch because there was no proof that it was developed from generations ahead. It was put directly from nothing.”
"There is one thing you should learn from this story."
What is it Rafael?"
"Your Tongue is a very powerful tool, You are surrounded with people, at home, in school, in playground, with friends. what you speak decides many a peoples life. It can make a tower as well as break a tower.Consider each individual as a tower. Your speech can guide a person  to the epitome of success as well as to the dearth of despair. It can help another  gain distinction as well as send them to extinction. So use it wisely and be careful when you open your mouth." All nodded
"Thank you Rafael, we'll really take care of it." All nodded

“Good Monica, now there is something you will have to know and inculcate in you, which is very important for your ongoing journey in life.”

“What is it Rafael?”

“Why don’t we discuss it tomorrow?” All nodded

...to be contd....(21)....

Until then... Take care.....Bye

Meena