The Lesson from the Tower of Babel.
The Bible tells an interesting story of the people after the Flood in Babylon. After God had reestablished his covenant with Noah, it didn't take the people long to back-slide into apostasy and sin. Most people think that the story of the Tower of Babel is all about the people building the tower to get to heaven. The tower itself was not really the problem.
The real problem with the situation surrounding the tower of Babel is that God said that people were one, and had one language and their religion, politics, and economy was dominated by evil. Therefore, the answer to this problem was for God to confound the languages and divide up the people to prevent Satan and his evil government from having total control of the people.
From the Book of Mormon we learn that if Christ could be our King, it would be good to have a King, but since we cannot guarantee that a righteous man could always be our king, the Bible and the Book of Mormon warn us that all political, and economic power needs to be divided and delegated locally and at the individual level. This is the great principal upon which the Constitution of the United States is based. The Constitution only permits the Federal Government those rights expressly enumerated. All other rights remain with the States and with the individuals and can be taken back at any time.
Therefore, when it come to solving our political and social problems, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. And the Gospel of Christ in the Bible reminds us that that in our current fallen state, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Therefore the answer to corrupt Big Business and Big Banks is not Bigger Government. The answer to the corruption is to do what God did to the people at the Tower of Babel and do what the US Constitution provides which is to break the consolidation of power up.
Gen 1:1, 6-8 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. . . And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
4 comments:
Define "big government". I am not opposed to big government if it means everyone becoming more involved in the runnings of society. But if you are talking about a large policed society that is different. Now some may say that "big government" equals "big money" which in turn may mean "poor Americans". For some" big government" means simply "beurocracy" with a neverending paper trail. If we make this similar to the church, then really the LDS church can be equated with a type of "big government". We keep a paper trail on everything that happens, everyone is a member of this government serving in some position or another.
So, I am somewhat turned off when we say "big government" because it means different things to different people. The reality of it is we all want an ideal society where people are generally equal in society. That only happens when people cooperate together and become "one" in both substance and in wants.
The LDS Church represents Jesus Christ so what I am saying does not apply.
But when it comes to Big Business and Big Money and Big Government, the answer to many of our problems is to prevent the consolidation of power.
The Tower of Babel is parable about pride and feeling that man can become close to God or like God by our own strength and actions. To warp the parable into a model for government is building another tower.
That is a major part. The Tower is a manifestation of the corruption. But I am explaining why the Bible begins the story by pointing out the problem of the people being of "one language and and one speech." The Bible could also say the people were of one government. And because in this current world the consolidation of power in the hands of a few people corrupts and that is why God confounded the languages and scattered the people. And that is what we need to do with Big Business and Big Government, and Big Money.
Gen 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
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