Will You Help Us Defend the Truth of God’s Word?

I’m sure, like me, you are very excited about the Ark Encounter project, with a full-size Ark as the central attraction! The more I ponder what we are convinced the Lord has led us to build, the more I believe this is a much-needed outreach. It can have such a tremendous impact in challenging people to think about the Bible and its message of salvation, based in true history.

It really hit me this past November that not only is the building of Noah’s Ark a way to challenge people to accept the truth of God’s Word, but how important the other exhibits of the Ark Encounter will be—such as the Tower of Babel.

I happened to be skipping through the TV channels (surfing with a remote control is a male thing I am told!) and heard commentator Glenn Beck discussing the Genesis 11 account of the Tower of Babel with a rabbi.

My ears pricked up because of this topic from Genesis. But I was so dismayed to hear comments like these from Mr. Beck and the rabbi:

• “And then the mortar that holds it [the Tower] together is the stuff, the material. Not the—not their common experiences of spiritualist or even history . . . . And I urge people to read the story and to listen to us, not as if we’re describing some long forgotten historic event . . . .” [Me: in other words, the Tower of Babel wasn’t a historical event?]
• “But the bricks represent people.” [So, the bricks weren’t real bricks but supposedly symbolized people?]
• “. . . the mortar is very related—same word really as the word materialism . . . . The mortar that will hold those bricks together is materialism.” [So, the mortar represented materialism?]
• “After the Great Flood, everybody on Earth was getting together and then, all of a sudden, somebody had a different idea: Hey, how about we all speak one language and we'll build a tower to reach the sky?” [In other words, people spoke different languages before the Tower of Babel, and then they were led to speak one?]
• “Rabbi, the very first time socialism or communism or new world order was tried was the Tower of Babel, right?” [So, Babel is really about socialism?]
• Beck: “They think they are doing good and that’s why God didn’t punish them. He blessed them by making them stones again, right?” Rabbi Lapin: “Correct.” [Therefore, God didn’t judge the people at the Tower of Babel? He actually blessed them by making them individuals again (represented by the different languages)?]

My heart sank as I heard this from such a well-known broadcaster. Even though he says he respects the Bible, Beck’s comments were an outright attack on the history of this Babel event recorded in the book of Genesis. The Bible makes it clear: people rebelled against God as they built this Tower. They had disobeyed God’s directive. God judged them by causing them to speak different languages.

The Tower of Babel enables us to understand why there are different people groups (not races) in the world.

The Tower of Babel enables us to understand why there are different people groups (not races) in the world. It helps us show that all humans are descendants of Adam—all are related. Therefore, all are sinners and in need of the gospel. The Son of God stepped into history to become our relative—the “God-man,” the perfect man—to die on a cross and pay the penalty for our sin. Thus, He offers a free gift of salvation.

The Tower of Babel wasn’t a fable written as a metaphor for socialism! The bricks were bricks, and the mortar was mortar.

What I watched made me realize how we need to be doing all we can to help people understand that the history in the Bible is true. As I teach children in my talks, “the Bible is the history book of the universe.” Whether Democrat or Republican, CNN or Fox News, we need to compare the comments of public figures to God’s Word.

I just can’t wait to see the Ark Encounter project up and running. Millions can come and be challenged concerning the truth of the account of Noah’s Ark and the Flood—and the truth concerning the actual event of the Tower of Babel and what it means to our world today.

I pray that you will stand with us and support Answers in Genesis prayerfully and financially as we reach out in so many ways to challenge the church and our nation to return to the authority of the Word of God. And consider helping us build the massive Ark by donating a peg, plank, or beam—and the remarkable Tower of Babel attraction on the same property!