1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 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.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel — Genesis 11
11 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. — Genesis 11 - King James Version
↪Arcane Sandwich
Yoru questions seem pretty easy to answer.
Why does the government have to favor Catholicism? — Arcane Sandwich
History and culture. Once a system of values is established it sticks. It becomes culture. Look at all the people on this site who are convinced that the religion of their family and culture is true. — Tom Storm
A state becomes Biblical if the dominant culture says it is. You have not addressed this:
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus is recorded as saying - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. — Tom Storm
since 70-90% of Argentinians are Catholics the ideas brought over by the Spanish and the missionaries stuck in the minds of the people. Why do you think this is? Is it just European brainwashing or is there something else at play? — BitconnectCarlos
So what? Christianity is not a map, it is based on spreading the message to all nations. The goal is for the entire world to become Christian. Hence missionaries and conversions. — Tom Storm
Well as an atheist I would largely agree with this. But a country becomes Christian by conversions and by cultural practices. It is not a geographic matter, it's built out of axioms not mountains and floodplains. I think that's the nub of our differences.
Jesus specifically asks his followers to take his message and establish his word in all nations. — Tom Storm
The question here is probably should one particular interpretation of one bronze age myth be used by a country to enforce values on its citizens? — Tom Storm
It matters in international politics — Arcane Sandwich
Step this out in dot points by way of an example. I am assuming you mean Israel? — Tom Storm
Why does it matter what countries are mentioned in the Bible? — Tom Storm
This works as long as there is a clear distinction between a fact and an interpretation. If interpretations are taken as facts ("There are no facts, there are only interpretations"), then one can say that "Argentina is Babylon from the Bible. Therefore, Argentina is in the Bible!" — Zebeden
↪Arcane Sandwich
I don't understand your point. Is is about refuting one of Nietzsche's points or something to do with the meaning of Christianity for other lands. Or both? — Tom Storm
Are there not many brute facts that undermine FN's observation? — Tom Storm
Pretty sure that he would have accepted as a brute fact that if we were to kill a writer he would write no more books. — Tom Storm
One can still interpret that his/her country somehow appears in the Bible. Not straightforward, obviously, as there is no direct mention of Argentina. Yet, he/she can argue that Argentina is mentioned in the Bible metaphorically. — Zebeden
For example, maybe someone believes that his/her country is Babylon from the Book of Revelation. — Zebeden
Did you know that the Mormon religion, founded in the United States, actually believes that Jesus Christ visited America on a spiritual plane? — Wayfarer
According to the Book of Mormon, Jesus appeared to a group of Nephites in the Americas in 33 AD. That the Nephites were descendants of ancient Israelites who traveled to the Americas around 600 BC.
That Jesus visited the Americas to establish his church, as he did in Jerusalem. That when Jesus returns to Earth, he will first go to Jerusalem and then to Missouri. So the Mormons kind of retro-fit America into the Biblical myth. — Wayfarer
There was also a myth that Jesus visited England, subject of the poem, and later the hymn Jerusalem, Oh Did Those Feet In Ancient Times. (Rather a stirring hymn, too.) — Wayfarer
Does it matter, in any meaningful way, for ordinary citizens, that none of the aforementioned countries are not in the Bible? — Arcane Sandwich
It never seemed to matter to me, although clearly it does to others. I suppose it depends on whether you believe the facts related in the Biblical texts are significant due to matters of geography and history, or whether the symbolic and spiritual truths they are intended to convey are meaningful outside that context. — Wayfarer
GPT-4o awards itself a well-deserved party popper emoji :party: ! — Pierre-Normand
Homeschooling and private education as a whole has blown up since the Pandemic though, so that is part of it. — Count Timothy von Icarus
Invincible ignorance is not a virtue of any sort — BC
and might be a sin IF it is deliberate and maintained over time — BC
especially in the face of suspected evil — BC
I admit it freely.which one doesn't want to admit. — BC
Or, what do you suppose evil is? — tim wood
That does not make them evil. — Arcane Sandwich
Why not? — tim wood
There's not a lot one can do for invincibly ignorant people. — BC
Like I said, sometimes we forget our connection to reality, just as we sometimes forget our connection to Nature.
And to Culture, I would add. — Arcane Sandwich