Today's Tower of Babel
I felt a touch of history repeating itself today as I read in the news about the world's tallest building being opened today. It stands at 828 metres and has cost 1.5 billion dollars to build. So what makes us wish to build higher and higher. I guess there is a human desire to stretch the boundries of technology and to go one better than our neighbours.
The sad thing is that the whole Dubai economy has collapsed and one wonders if this building should be hailed as a great achievement or a sad reflection on an extravagent and greedy world that continues" to fiddle while Rome burns." Anyway the papers tell me that tower has been named Burj Khalifa after the president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of the neighbouring emirate of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.
In the Bible there is a story told about how the tower of Babel was built s an expression of mankind's egotism and confidence. Early mankind was reaching for the stars while at the same time killing his neighbours. Nothing much seems to have changed. What a diifferent place the world would be if we started promoting our energy to bring about peace and justice. I'm reminded of these words in the Book of James.
"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:13-17 I think this verse is a great reminder to us all of our human fraity and our dependence on God.
Posted By: Gordon Kennedy On: 5 Jan 2010 At: 9:41am
Thanks for this Albert.