Inquiry to the concept of ecumenism
Inquiry to the concept of ecumenism
Kamang Gangmei Jaojianlung
Since very young, I have been hearing about the story of the Tower of Babel. The story in the Genesis says:
Genesis 11:1-9 – "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. {Language: Heb. lip.} {Speech: Heb. words} 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. {from...: or, eastward} 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. {They said...: Heb. a man said to his neighbour} {burn...: Heb. burn them to a burning} 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. {Babel: that is, Confusion}"
Kamang Gangmei Jaojianlung
Since very young, I have been hearing about the story of the Tower of Babel. The story in the Genesis says:
Genesis 11:1-9 – "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. {Language: Heb. lip.} {Speech: Heb. words} 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. {from...: or, eastward} 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. {They said...: Heb. a man said to his neighbour} {burn...: Heb. burn them to a burning} 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. {Babel: that is, Confusion}"
Before I go further, I affirmed my belief that this story was absolutly true and it happened at some point of time in the human history and not just a story to make things easy. There was one language and one speech! And surprisingly, the people of the “whole earth” was there (may be not much those days and likely no population problem). We will not be far from truth if we say that we saw our great great great forefather were sipping tea/wine together; planning and drawing the tower plan with the limited tools they had. Indiano, Filipino, Koreano, Myanmaro, Americano etcetera etcetera were all there. Everyone was there, working together planning together. Is this the same picture the ecumenical movement is trying to draw? Now, it is not surprising to note that they were trying to make a name for themselves because many people are doing the same thing even today. It is also worth noting that one of their intentions of building the tower was, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth”. They were trying to build something that will keep them together from dispersing to all direction of the earth. Then the question is Is God hate unity or oneness? God forbid! We should live together as one family as one humankind. The problem with this plan is that they broke away from dependence on God. If we come together for good and for God, certainly God will allow it. But if such union or oneness will bring dishonor or will lead us to the thinking that we can do anything even without God’s help, then God will disperse the same way He did in the olden days.
There can be second Tower of Babel, if there is a second Adam. For whatever reason, God could not allow the building of the tower to continue, which I believe to be the symbol of oneness and power. But if we can ponder our thoughts and reason why God did not allowed, we might come up with an answer and rectify the past mistake. Certainly, the second tower of Babel should be better and superior.
Or if physical unity is not possible, we might have to explore from the spiritual aspects.
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