Question

what would be the consequences (positive or negative) of one world language? How does this relate to the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) The tower of Babel is a biblical story of the Old Testament. It is at the time after the flood of Noah took place. This is when people migrated to the land of Shinar and began to make great economic progress. However, they began to be too proud of their successes and believed themselves to be invincible. They wanted to build a tall tower that would reach the heavens and be a beacon of their progress. In order to teach them humility, God struck them with different tongues. In other words, they each began to speak a different language and could no longer understand each other. Building the tower became difficult and was consequently terminated. Since their talks seemed like babbling, it came to be known as the tower of “Babel.”

If one thinks about the world today, the greatest issue that stands in the way of unity is a lack of acceptance towards other communities. This lack of acceptance stems from a lack of understanding. This problem of poor comprehension could stand a chance of being solved if we begin to understand each other better. A common language could help the world and its varied communities achieve a sense of unity and understanding.

The situation of a common language in contemporary society is different from the biblical story. This is because language is used as a tool to explain a story with a lesson in the Bible. It is likely that there was never any tower but rather the story was designed to illustrate how pride and arrogance in one’s success can easily be destroyed. It is a didactic about the importance of humility.