Identity in the Tower of Babel and Creation Stories
God recognizes that human beings are not specifically good the moment He creates them; for unlike His other creations, He does not pronounce them as such. But also unlike His other creations, they are the only ones created like something else, like God, in His image. If they are truly to exist and be good, they must become separate from God, as the other creations are separate and categorized. It takes some human action to get them out of the Garden of Eden--specifically, the woman and the man eating the fruit. Unfortunately, they can't do everything on their own. They need some interference from God, namely the flood, to distance themselves further from Him and to separate them individually, from each other. Though the people in the Babel story do not exercise it very well, the ability to name, to define, to separate, and to classify seems like a prodigious power, and even a privilege.
To become fully human men must distinguish themselves from God. When God sends the flood. He separates Himself from them by putting the world into their hands, as if to say, "There you go, you're grown up now, you take care of it." The gift of the Earth should be God's last active attempt at separation; from then on the humans should try to separate themselves from Him on their own. But like birds kicked out of the nest who try to climb back up the tree, they try to build the tower to heaven; and once again, God must intervene by creating even greater difference. This time He confuses their languages so they are not only different from God but also different from each other.
Both God and mortals understand the tremendous power of language and of naming. For example, at one point ". ....
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...er He changes their languages first, and they scatter themselves once they realize they can't understand one another. The former interpretation is probably more accurate, but both show how distance, both physical and figurative, creates difference. And in this case it is a difference that makes teamwork, and the tower which would bridge the gap between earth and heaven, as well as the gap between man and God, impossible. Therefore, by being different from each other, the scattered people of Babel grow even more different from God. Despite the problems that arise from difference (namely conflict), it is necessary for humans to be distinct from one another because they need to obtain identity, both as a race of beings and as individuals, separate and different not only from God, but from one another.
Work Cited
1 The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version.
"God saw that all he had created was very good. You are part of gods creation, and he is pleased with how he made you. If at times you feel worthless or of little value, remember that god made you for a good reason. You are valuable to him." ( Genesis 1:31) I believe that all things created are at first good. The Bible gives pages upon pages of quotes and stories on the battle of good versus evil, but in the story East of Eden we are given what might be the greatest question of it all, and that is if the main character Cathy a.k.a. Kate was born good or evil.
Euthanasia is a controversy that cannot be resolved from a single court ruling or a single person’s opinion. Many proposals have been suggested based on various studies and surveys. In “You Say Murder, I Say Euthanasia,” Clair Rayner describes a notable proposal regarding extreme euthanasia cases. The proposal, which has been put into the Science of Museum forum, recommends complex cases to be considered individually. In “Assisted Suicide Largely Shunned,” the anonymous author offers statistics that oppose the ethics of euthanasia.
Nolan, Jenny. "Legalized Euthanasia in the Netherlands Raises Serious Ethical Concerns." The Ethics of Euthanasia. Ed. Nancy Harris. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. 56-59. Print. Rpt. of "Dutch Legalize Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide." National Right to Life News 28 (2001): n. pag.
Modern quality management can be traced back to the early 1920s, when statistical theory was first applied to product quality control. This concept was further developed in Japan in the 1940s and 1950s, and was led by “quality gurus” such as Deming, Juran and Feigenbaum (Business Performance Improvement Resources). Total quality management is the management of initiatives and procedures aimed at achieving the delivery of quality products and services. There are many different aspects of TQM and a variety of principles included in the TQM process. One of the principles is the involvement of executive management to serve as the main driver to create the environment to ensure success. Another principle is training for employees on the methods and concepts of quality. Customer focus is a third principle to ensure that improvements in quality lead to increased customer satisfaction. A fourth principle focuses on making quality decisions based on measurements. This enables quantification to the quality process. The principle of metho...
The subject of Euthanasia is a heated battle, in which lines have been drawn between warring social, religious and political groups. Many people want this controversial institution erased from the volumes of lawful medicine, but others say that we should be able to choose our fates in extreme cases. Neither the lawmakers of the country nor the people have been able to find a solution to this debate without causing an intense opposition, and the possibility for an end to this war of ethics seems very far in the distance.
Nargus, Ebrahimi. "The Ethics of Euthanasia." Australian Medical Student Journal RSS. N.p., 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
When talking about euthanasia, we first have to discuss the question of who has the right to self, or in other word autonomy. Autonomy gave us the ability to do whatever we want with our body. When supporters ...
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According to a well-known biblical story, there was once a universal language that everyone spoke and could understand. One day, the people came together to build a city in honor of themselves. In that city, they decided they would construct a tower that would reach to Heaven. However, when God saw their arrogance, he decided to confuse them by making them speak in different languages. As a consequence, the people were forced to discontinue the tower and tore it down.
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