The Tower of Babel–the first experiment in global government.
If you’re going to include within your country’s borders a whole raft of competing groups, some of which have a history of hating each other, there’s only two ways go go.
Either make everybody afraid to break the peace, in the face of the state’s overwhelming force; or everybody makes a commitment to the peace and order of the host country.
What? You mean you can’t just wander into a country and then demand they give you free stuff and change their own country to make it more like the hell-hole you just left?
When God split the human race into nations (Tower of Babel, Genesis 11), He saved us from the horror of a world government. We should be thankful for that!
We certainly should be thankful for God’s plan – in everything. I always knew mankind was incapable of self government, and the Scriptures clearly show that.
Interesting how we’ve gone almost full circle from the Tower of Babel when God confused our languages and dispersed us into separate nations. Now borders are ignored and we’re all being forcibly mixed together again by a wanna-be global government. English has become the most widely spoken language of all time. Clashes of culture, violence and perversion, idols, war, starvation, cold hearts. But God has a plan in everything, as Erlene says. Christ is King, now and forever!
Thy Kingdom come, O Lord!
I think that there’s a greater reason behind this, especially with what Daniel prophesied, the knowledge would become abundant and many would rove about. I’m not speaking in favor of open borders, but I sometimes think that Babel is being undone.
By making the confusion worse???
Well, it seems to have had that effect. My life has become a living demonstration of Babel. The typical workday involves working with people in India, frequently people in the UK, people in the US, from the Eastern time zone to the Pacific time zone, and occasionally people in Australia. Between the time differentials and various accents and dialects of English, it can be very confusing, for everyone involved.
Interestingly, I find the British to be quite difficult to understand, at times, even more so than coworkers in countries where English is not common, because the British use expressions which are unfamiliar to my ears. I’m sure that they experience this in dealing with me, as well. There are many English speaking countries, but we don’t all speak the same language. 🙂
As to the increase in confusion, I see this, but wonder if the redistribution of population may serve some purpose for God, if these are indeed the End Times.
Heaven help you if the Brits are baiting you with Cockney rhyming slang.
Fortunately, no Cockney, but some of the accents I hear from the Brits are as inscrutable as any I’ve ever heard, and that’s saying something. For whatever the reason, I’ve had the experience of working with people from a lot of different places: Arabs, Asian Indians, a fellow from Bangladesh, Native Americans, Germans, New Yorkers, a fellow from Iran who was a teen visiting the US when the revolution happened and who bootstrapped himself into a successful life without any help from his family, and I even worked with a guy from New Jersey at one time. My point is, every one of these people had distinct accents, but some of the British accents I’ve heard are all but impossible for me to decode.
In all fairness, most of the Brits I work with are great guys, and most of their accents are pleasant to the ear. I’ve heard that British English, as it would have been spoken in the 17th or 18th century would have sounded similar what we might have heard in the southern Appalachian area. I chuckle at the thought of a British Monarch sounding like Gomer Pyle, but I guess that anything is possible. 🙂
British TV shows set in Bristol–you need subtitles.
For sure. Try calling someone Glasgow or Ireland, some time. My employer has a big presence in both places, as well as Britain proper. I’m not complaining about the people, most of them are pretty decent folk, but I need both ears, my full attention and maybe the help of a Support Animal to understand their speech. 🙂
There was a very funny “Rebus” episode in which the Scottish character has to give a talk to English students and they don’t understand a single word he says.
I’m pretty sure that episode was based upon my life. 🙂
R.J. Rushdoony predicted the dream of the Humanist to establish a one world government would fail by collapsing on its own lies. Liars are not very reliable people to work with or to make agreements with.
It’s so very hard to trust people who always lie–even when there’s no need for it.
I hope that this proves to be true.
In my first Air Force assignment, as a squadron commander, I had no trouble understanding all the different regional accents and dialects except one. I had one troop from rural Georgia, and I could hardly understand a word she said. Fortunately, my First Sergeant was an old-timer who’d heard the accent many times before and was able to interpret for me.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard that accent.
I used to think that Gomer Pyle was an extreme exaggeration, but I’ve heard that this is actually pretty accurate for some of the southeast.
Accents fascinate me. My earliest years were spent in Minnesota, and while Minnesotans of the time considered their speech unaccented, after having lived in other parts of the US, I hear a Minnesot’ accent, plain as day.
I spent my teens in Colorado, and everyone there sounded southern to my ear, but I picked up some of the speech patterns, over the years. I’ve spent most of my adult life in either Colorado, or Arizona, and have acquired what I would think of as a Western accent, think Rex Allen or maybe Roy Rogers. It’s not really a southern accent, but there is a hint of a drawl. I’ve had people tell me that my speech reminded them of Rex Allen.
Interestingly, Baxter Black lived nearby, and he’s another example of the Western US speech pattern I reference. I don’t know that I ever spoke to him, but if I drove to a nearby town, it wasn’t unusual to see him in the local coffee shop. Our paths also intersected, back in Colorado, where he was the local veterinarian in the town where my sister once lived.
If I visit Minnesota, by Northern accent re-emerges strongly. Even so much as a phone call to certain Minnesotan friends will bring that accent out. I find it numerous that when I moved to Colorado, from Minnesota, I was the kid with the accent. Then, as a young adult, I moved back to Minnesota for a while, and I was the guy with the Southern accent. As a young adult, living back in Colorado, I was chatting with someone, and out of the blue, she asked where in Minnesota I had been born, having spotted my deeply buried Minnesotan accent.
At the end of it all, I have the Unknowable accent, and I’m the only person that does. 🙂
My mother and most of her family dropped their R’s–it was a Jersey City thing.
Philadelphia has some interesting speech nuances, too.