#genesis 11:4

[quotesfromscripture]

The tower of Babel

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then 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; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 

- Genesis 11:3-5 NIV (2011)

[tom4jc]

Genesis 11:4 Making A Name For Self

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4 Having a name that everyone knows is a dream of many people. It shows that one has made it and is successful at something that everyone recognizes. Some will do whatever it takes to get their…

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[holmezc]

[wisdomfish]

Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die? (an ongoing discussion)

God is a merciful God beyond our imagination. He is kind and merciful to the evil and wicked. He looks at the heart of people and sees their intent. We all worship the same God is not misguided. Some religious practices are different, but none the less; He is our creator. Jesus was a tender plant that grew out of dry ground. Do you really believe that God would condemn people that had a heart for God? — sunshinecj

You are correct in saying that God is Creator, “...God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).” Again, "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female (Matthew 19:4)” You are also correct in saying that God is merciful because, “God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4).” Also it is written, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die (Ezekiel 33:11) So God is Creator and is merciful however you do err. Your error is the same as those at the Tower of Babel who thought that in their own effort they could, “build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; (Genesis 11:4).” How blinded are they that believe through mere human effort (jihad) they may obtain heaven and place their names above. This belief, henceforth the dismissal of the Cross of Christ is your folly,

However I do understand your current position as all Christians once thought, “....the message of the cross is foolishness" Fortunately the backside of the verse reads, "to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). In my defense let's revisit the earlier quote in this ongoing discussion from Ravi Zacharias,

“All religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same....Every religion at its core is exclusive.”

Here is the exclusivity of Christianity,

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,....Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.....Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

(1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:6; Matthew 7:13-14).”

So why is the Cross of Christ so important? It's because sin is so egregious it requires a blood payment. Please take heed this is why humanity enters the grave, "...for the wages of sin is death, (Romans 6:23)." First spiritual (separation from God), then physical (the body returns to dust). God warned us about sin, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:17), We partook, we die but Instead of annihilating humanity look at the mercy God showed Adam and Eve after the fall,

"Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3: 21).”

God covered their sin with coats of skin, and clothed them. This is the first glimpse, foreshadowing, of the coming Messiah and His sacrifice to clothe humanity in His blood for the forgiveness of sin:

“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world....But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

(1 John 2:2; Isaiah 53:5; Romans 4:25)

Will Pounds explains it thus;

Throughout the Scriptures, garments are symbols of righteousness; either God's all sufficient righteousness or man's self-made righteousness. The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 61:10, "I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." The prophet also speaks of self righteousness in the following statement. "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away" (Isaiah 64:6). The coats of skin with which the Lord clothed Adam and Eve represent righteousness provided by Him in which they could stand in His holy presence. These coats of skin are a type of what God provided for us in the imputation of His righteousness through Jesus Christ. Behind those garments, that God made for Adam and Eve has been sacrifice and death....Since a life had to be sacrificed before Adam and Eve could have been clothed with "coats for sins", there was a substitutionary death. God must always provide adequate covering for man to stand before Him clothed in righteousness. Only in Christ is man ever properly clothed.

This is the difference between Christianity and all other religions. All other religions have a form of 'jihad' inner straggle as the path to redemption but none of them have an atoning sacrifice. Jihad then may make you sanitized, but it will never make you sanctified.

2 Timothy 1:9 offers a good illustration:

Who hath saved us; that is, brought us into a state of salvation, and given us a right to it. And called us with an holy calling; and, in order to our obtaining it, hath effectually called, renewed, and sanctified us. Not according to our works; not for any merits of ours. But according to his own purpose and grace; but from his own free love purposing and decreeing eternal salvation to us, with the means adequate to it. Which was given us in Christ Jesus; to be obtained through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ. Before the world began; which purpose of his was before the foundation of the world was laid, and therefore could not be according to our works, but must be of his own grace, Ephesians 1:4 Titus 3:5.

Not according to our works!

Final word.

You quoted Isaiah 53:2, "He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.:" Matthew Henry's commentary puts to rest your argument,

No where in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied, that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into his glory, as in this chapter. But to this day few discern, or will acknowledge, that Divine power which goes with the word. The authentic and most important report of salvation for sinners, through the Son of God, is disregarded. The low condition he submitted to, and his appearance in the world, were not agreeable to the ideas the Jews had formed of the Messiah. It was expected that he should come in pomp; instead of that, he grew up as a plant, silently, and insensibly. He had nothing of the glory which one might have thought to meet with him. His whole life was not only humble as to outward condition, but also sorrowful. Being made sin for us, he underwent the sentence sin had exposed us to. Carnal hearts see nothing in the Lord Jesus to desire an interest in him. Alas! by how many is he still despised in his people, and rejected as to his doctrine and authority!

Yes He came the first time as a tender shoot but His return will much different;

For the sheep,

....the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

But for the goats,

…Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" Revelation 6:15-17

Are you covered in the blood sunshinecj? Jesus Christ is humanities, and your only hope!

[wisdomfish]

“. . . and let us make a name for ourselves.”

“. . . and let us make a name for ourselves.” Genesis 11:4

This sentence reveals the arrogance of the people at Babel. They sought a name for themselves rather than to honor the name of their Creator, who is above all and whose name is worthy of all praise.

Throughout history, humans have longed to share God’s glory. The serpent tempted Eve with the promise that she and Adam could “be as gods.” All man-made religions try to “honor” God by the works of our own hands. God, in contrast, is not impressed by our works. He desires obedience and humility (1 Samuel 15:22-23). Moses’s account reminds us how we are all naturally stubborn and rebellious.

Ironically, if we are humble and obedient, God will honor our name. Moses shows this by contrasting the events at Babel with the later faithfulness of Abraham. God promised to make Abraham’s name great, and all he needed was humble faith (Genesis 12:2).