Are Cities Secular or Spiritual?

(NIV) 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.”

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

6 The 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.

7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

Genesis 11:4-7

The four phrases in this verse are very interesting:

Let us build a city..

Why build a city??

What is the purpose of a city?

• Is it so you can produce food? No.

• Is it so you can tend the land and be good steward as God asks of us? No.

• Is it so we can defend ourselves from our enemies? It use to be for that reason but is no longer.

Why then?

The answer is found in the following phrases of this verse.

1) To build a tower to the heavens....

What is so special about a tower? Is it not to show off our personal pride and achievements?

Even today, we admire, take pictures of, and stand in awe of tall, majestic buildings. But there is another component to this.

All high places such as towers and mountains were places of worship to different gods.

The city tower would have been a place to worship man’s achievements, not God. It is like a slap in God’s face.

2) Let us make a name for ourselves...

This phrase makes it clear what the intent of building the tower of Babel was meant to be.

• Self grandissement.

• Self achievement.

  But it could not have been done without the help of those in close proximity like those living in a city.

• Is that not why most towers are built in city centres?

• Is that not why we have Trump Towers, Burij Khalif, Shanghai Tower, World Lotto Tower, One World Trade Center?

• Where is God in all of this?

3) Lest we be scattered upon the face of the earth...

Why do we fear being scattered?

Is it because we need socialization or is it because we want comfort and luxury?

Or is it because we can spread gossip and instill our own ways more easily?

Let me explain.

• Where does the half truth of “women’s rights” to abortion and birth control come from? Those who live in the country or those who live in the city?

• Where does the activism of gender fluidity come from? The country or the city?

• To whom do elected politicians listen? Those in the country or those in the city?

  If we are truthful to ourselves, deviance from God’s principles come from the city. Man needs the city to support their perverted ideas, support their seared conscience, and promote that which is “right for them”.

  And, as this phrase says, man fears being scattered because if he is, he will have to listen to his conscience more often, he will have to rely on God more, and he will have to face his own pride more.

  In other words, stop making “a name for themselves”.

The building of the Tower of Babel continues to this day.

And God will continue destroying it because it is built on half truths, human pride, and human grandissement....

That is the goal of humanism and secularism.