Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tower of Babel

I don't know too much about Christianity. I'm familiar with the popular stories of Adam and Eve and Noah and the Whale  Flood, and I've heard of the Tower of Babel. I've always been confused by it, though. If God was so disgusted by the corruption and bickering of humanity...if he wanted everyone to just get along and cooperate...then why did he scatter the people of the city all over the face of the Earth and thwart their plans to construct a stairway to heaven? 
It never made sense to me, so I decided I would read a Christian summary of the story and see how Christians perceived this story. I learned that they frequently saw the story as a lesson on pride. God saw that the people constructing the building weren't trying to fulfill some moral obligation. Instead, they were trying to gain power and a name for themselves....thereby actually leading people AWAY from God. 
After reading that version, and typing here now, I have to admit that I'm a bit reluctant about which interpretation I'll adopt for myself. Growing up, I never had a strong religious influence from my parents. I've accepted that I'm currently agnostic when it comes to religion, (even though lots of people see Agnosticism as a cop-out, I really did put lots of thought into that declaration, i promise!) still, I find it very interesting that the way you perceive this story can greatly skew your opinion on God's character AND the people's character. 
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If I had the opportunity (more like the time and effort), I would definitely try to solidify my bilingualism in Korean. Currently, I can understand perfectly, I can speak it moderately, and I can read it poorly. It's weird, I have a full understanding of the Korean alphabet and the (two!) number systems, which means that I can actively READ the words on paper. However, I can't actually UNDERSTAND what i'm saying...freaky, right? Like if you were to give me a college level neuroscience textbook to read out loud in Korean, I could do it with ease. I would just have NOOOO IDEA what i'm saying. And not because it's neuroscience, but because I can't put the sounds and the meaning together.
So basically to answer the question, I would try and improve my reading comprehension skills in Korean. I'd love to explore Korean Literature in the future...it must be good. Otherwise, why would my mom spend so much time weeping over her Korean novels with dogs on the cover?



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