BABEL

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." (Gen. 11:14)

OVER THE LAST DECADE OR SO, an interesting distinction has entered everyday English language, a distinction between the word religious and the word spiritual.  You might, for example, ask someone if he or she is religious, and the person will reply that he or she is not religious but spiritual.  Most times what is meant by this is that the person believes very much in the importance of spiritual things but nevertheless wants nothing to do with religion, meaning by this organized religion.  More and more people have come to associate churches with all kinds of unpleasant behavior and all kinds of dubious practices.  They would prefer to seek a path to their Creator without all the ugliness that they perceive to be an intrinsic part of organized religion.

At the very least, any reasoning person must needs admit that these people have a point.  Throughout history organized religion has been associated in very many ways with what is unspiritual.  All too often religions have been involved in persecution, in unjustified wars, in the accumulation of wealth, and in the subjugation of others.  Certainly there have been many dark times in the history of Christianity.  Think of the Crusades in which, in the name of taking control of Jerusalem, the armies of Christen­dom slaughtered count­less men, women and children.  Think of the Spanish Inquisition and the atrocious tortures committed in the name of Christ.  Think of all the cruel wars launched in the name of religion.

The problems with organized religion are not simply historical, though.  We can all think of cases in which scandalous behavior is either promoted or permitted by churches, churches which seem more concerned with their own welfare than with the interests and the welfare of innocent human beings.

This antipathy towards organized religion is strengthened, sad to say, by the experiences that individual people have when they involve themselves in a congrega­tion.  All too often it happens that a congregation, instead of focusing on spiritual matters, gets involved in all kinds of internal disputes, often about very petty matters, and ugly controlling behavior seems to dominate the life of a church.  Now of course not all churches are like this.  It is, though, a very frequent occurrence, leading very many people to turn their backs on religion as they call it, and to follow their own individual spiritual paths.

So-called New Church congregations are by no means immune to such disor­ders.  New Church societies can also become organizations to be avoided by those who care about what is good and kind and spiritual.  What we do have in the New Church, though, are teachings which can help us understand the underlying reasons behind why it is that organized religion throughout history has all too often become a tool of the devil instead of a handmaid of the Lord.  The teachings of the New Church explain the spiritual roots of this problem, and show that it is a problem that has existed since very ancient times.

Our text this morning  treats of what it is that so often causes organized religion to turn away from what is truly spiritual.  The story of the Tower of Babel appears at the beginning of the 11th chapter of the Book of Genesis, very early in the written Word.  It was written at a time when people would describe spiritual events by making up stories to describe them.  In other words, there was no actual physical Tower of Babel, but still the story describes symbolically something that really did happen in the days of the Ancient Church.  It describes how a church, long, long ago, turned away from the Lord and away from what was spiritual.

Some people might argue that it is inevitable that churches, being composed of people, people who have evils, are going to have all kinds of problems.  The Ancient Church, though, was to begin with a truly spiritual church, and this despite the fact that it was a church founded by the Lord after the Flood, after evil had already destroyed the Most Ancient Church.  In other words, people in the Ancient Church were far from perfect, but to begin with their church functioned the way a church should function, being governed by what was spiritual, by what was of charity.  The story of the Tower of Babel begins with everybody speaking the same language.  "And the whole earth was of one lip, and their words were one."  "Lip" stands for doctrine in general, and "words," we are told, stand for particular points of doctrine.  And at the beginning of what the Writings call the first Ancient Church, there really was only one doctrine.  People everywhere in that church had different points of view and different emphases, but they were still united in their purpose, in their understanding and their desire to do the will of the Lord.  The state of that church is described so very beautifully in the Arcana Coelestia:

" . . . in the first Ancient Church . . . .although there were as many kinds of worship-some being internal and some external-as in general there were nations, and as many specifically as there were families in the nations, and as many in particular as there were people of the church, yet they all had one lip and were one in words; that is, they all had one doctrine, both in general and in particular. The doctrine is one when all are in mutual love, or in charity. Mutual love and charity cause them all to be a one, although they are diverse, for they make a one out of the varieties. All people how many soever they may be, even myriads of myriads, if they are in charity or mutual love, have one end, namely, the common good, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself.

Some people interpret this and similar teachings to mean that the truth and doctrine are unimportant as long as people have charity.  It is actually quite the oppo­site.  For the people of the first Ancient Church truth was very, very important indeed.  Because evil had arisen upon the earth, they were not born into love of the Lord and love towards others.  Nevertheless they could be in charity, and by charity was meant doing that good which is taught by the Lord's truth.  They loved and they cared about the truth because the truth taught them how to do the Lord's will.  But they did not fight or argue about the truth: they did not care who was right; they cared about what was right, that is, about what the Lord wanted of them.  These were people who are far from perfect.  These are people who sometimes did what was wrong.  Nevertheless, the church that had been established amongst them was a healthy church, a spiritual church, a living church, because they put first things first.  They put the Lord and the life of charity that the Lord had commanded at the head of His church.  When they did do what was wrong, they would then allow the teachings of the Lord's Word to lead them back towards what was good.

What happened to that church?  What was it that eventually went wrong, allowing evil influences to take over the Lord's church ?  We are told in the book of Genesis that people "journeyed from the East" and began to live in a valley in the land of Shinar.  "The East" stands here for charity and what is meant is that people began to turn away from charity, that is, turn away from being led to good by the Lord's truth.  The valley or plain in which they now lived was below the mountains and for that reason stood for the decline of their worship from what was holy to what was profane.

Now it is interesting that the Arcana speaks of worship that is profane.  We tend to think of worship as being, by definition, a good thing.  Of course if worship is the worship of the Lord, which it is meant to be, then worship is good and holy and useful.  But there are other kinds of worship.  The fact of the matter is that people can worship themselves, and do this under the guise of worshiping the Lord.  When people turn away from charity and turn away from the Lord, and become immersed completely in their own feelings, their own wants and their own agendas, when they think only of themselves, one might think that they would turn away from the practice of worship.  This, though, does not always happen.  The things of worship, the things of religion, have power to influence people and even to control them.  In other words, holy things can be used by selfish people for selfish purposes.  When this happens it can seem as if they still love the things of religion.  They can seem to be very devoted to the church.  But, when people use worship for selfish reasons, then no matter how holy their worship might appear, it is not really the worship of the Lord but the worship of self.  This is the worship that is meant by Babel, and it is profane, a profanity represented in the very materials used to build the tower.

In some ways the building of that tower might appear to be a caricature of stupidity.  How could anybody get to heaven by building a tower?  It says in the story, though, that the reason they built the city and the tower was so that they might make a name for themselves.  They were reaching up to the things of heaven, but it was so that they might have influence over others here on earth.  They used the holy things of the church to dominate over others.  And when this kind of attitude dominates a church then it becomes riddled with selfishness and narcissism.  The tower, their attempt at building a church, was made from bricks, bricks burnt in the fire.  Bricks, unlike stones, are man-made.  And when people are in the love of self they tend to think of the church as their church, rather than the Lord's church.  It is their church because they are the ones who built it, paid for it, worked on it, or whatever.  The Tower of Babel was built from bricks burnt in the fire, the fire of self-interest, the fire of self love, the fire of having one's own way, and those who built it did so that they might make a name for them­selves, not that they might truly worship the Lord.  And the bricks were held together by tar, the black tar of a love that burns only for oneself.

And so it was that that first Ancient Church fell.  Genesis describes how the Lord came down to see the city and tower, and judged them.  Because they were misusing spiritual truth, this spiritual truth was taken away from them.  Even though they contin­ued to speak as if they really did understand the truth, deep within themselves it was completely dark.  They were unable to see anything spiritual.  To misuse what is spiritual this way is to destroy within oneself all vision of the truth.  Their beliefs came to make no sense, and they were no longer able to work together as one.  Specifically, in the first Ancient Church, their worship descended into idolatry, worshiping things made of stone and metal.  To worship in this way was patently ridiculous, but in essence was no less ridiculous than those who think that they can use the church of the Lord for their own selfish purposes.  Neither was it any longer one church, because each group of people had their own idols, and no one group really loved any other group.

This was the worship called Babel in the 11th chapter of Genesis.  Babel comes from a Hebrew word meaning confusion.  And this worship, which first arose in the days of the first Ancient Church, has plagued the Lord's church on earth ever since.  Time and time again people have confused or mixed up the worship of the Lord with the worship of self.

Later on in the Old Testament, this profane worship is represented by Babylon, which is the same word as Babel in the Hebrew language.  When the people of Judea turned away from the Lord, caring only for themselves, they were eventually carried away captive into Babylon.  That Babylon stood for the worship of self, can be seen from the fact that their king, Darius, commanded that he be worshiped as a god.  That it stood for the profanation of holy things can be seen in how the king of Babylon and his nobles used vessels from the temple in Jerusalem to drink wine and to praise their idols.

Now in our second lesson this morning, Babylon was given another name.  It was called Lucifer.  At least this is how is it translated in the English: Lucifer, the bearer of light.  However, the Hebrew word translated as Lucifer is actually Heylal, which means the "Morning Star."  "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Isa. 14:12).  Lucifer is a name mentioned only once in the Scriptures, in the 14th chapter of Isaiah.  Lucifer is not really an angel who fell from heaven, as many think, but is simply a name given to Babylon, for it says:  "you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon" (Isa. 14:4).  And the reason that Babylon is called Lucifer or Morning Star, is because that worship represented by Babel begins at first with a seeming zeal for spiritual truth and light.  We are told in the Arcana, "Babylon in the beginning is the church that is in zeal for the Lord, for the good of love, and for the truths of faith, although inwardly in the zeal of its pastors lies hidden the fire of dominat­ing by means of the holy things of the church over all whom they can subdue to themselves."  In other words, when people first start to use religion for selfish pur­poses, they have a certain zeal for the Lord and for the truths of faith.  They seem to themselves and to others to be filled with light, to be Lucifer or the Morning Star.  Yet this church, because it is centered upon the love of self, falls from heaven.  Of Lucifer it is said, "you shall be brought down to hell, to the lowest depths of the pit."

Later in the Word, in the Book of Revelation, Babylon is called something else.  It is called "the mother of whoredoms and abominations."  Towards the end of the Book of Revelation there is a long and graphic description of the judgment upon that whore called Babylon, and it is said in the Writings that by this is meant a judgment upon the way in which the Catholic Church claimed for itself dominion over people's souls.  To use the church as a means of dominating over others is Babel, or Babylon, and it is something that has existed from ancient times right up to the present.  Time and time and time again people, selfish people, have used the Lord's church for their own purposes, and in so doing have twisted and falsified and profaned what is holy.  It is then no wonder that organized religion is shunned by many people, people who want no part in what they see to be wicked behavior.

But what of the new Church?  People who call themselves New Church are by no means immune to such behavior.  They, just like others, can be selfish, and can think of the church as their church, and can seek to get their own way in everything.  The organized New Church just like the first Ancient Church, can descend into what is hellish.  But the people of the New Church have something that no previous church possessed.  The New Church has been given a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Human.  They can see and understand and turn to Him, not as some abstract unintelligible mystery, but as a real and living present Divine Person, who is with us and who is amongst us and who knows how we treat one another and how we talk about one another.  The Writings say that we are to call him Lord (AC 14).  The Latin word is Dominus.  The word Dominus means Master.  In fact it means more than Master:  it means Owner.  This New Church is not our church but the Lord's!  It belongs to Him.  Indeed, we also belong to Him because He is our Dominus or Owner.  And if we always remember this truth, and hold up this truth, and follow this truth about the Lord, it can make a tremendous difference in our own lives, and in the life of the church.

If we truly recognize the Lord as the Lord or Dominus of our lives, it will not suddenly rid us of all our evils, but it will mean that we know who to turn to do lead us gradually from those evils.  And if we recognize the Lord as the Owner of His church, it will not prevent individual people from acting as if the church belonged to them.  What it will do, though, is remind others that the church is not to be governed by the feelings of one or two people, but by the Lord Himself teaching and guiding the conscience of the congregation as a whole.

What the Lord has given us is truly amazing.  He has taught us clearly about Himself.  He has shown Himself to us, given us a full vision of Himself, so that He can be with the people of His church in a way that was never possible before.  The New Church is to be the Lord’s alone.

"Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God" (Rev. 21:3).

Amen.

Lessons:        Gen.11:1-9

Isa.14:3-15

AC 1304, 1307, 1308

Genesis 11:1-9 1Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one an­other’s speech.” 8So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Isaiah 14:3-15 3It shall come to pass in the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bond­age in which you were made to serve, 4that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, The golden£ city ceased! 5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of the rulers; 6He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, He who ruled the nations in anger, Is persecuted and no one hinders. 7The whole earth is at rest and quiet; They break forth into singing. 8Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you, And the cedars of Lebanon, Saying, ‘Since you were cut down, No woodsman has come up against us.’ 9“Hell from beneath is excited about you, To meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, All the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones All the kings of the nations. 10They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? 11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.’ 12“How you are fallen from heaven, O £Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

AC 1304. Let us build us a city and a tower. That this signifies that they framed a doctrine and a worship, may be seen from the signification of "a city," and from that of "a tower," concerning which presently. The church is of such a nature that when charity toward the neighbor departs, and the love of self succeeds in its place, the doctrine of faith is of no account except insofar as it can be turned into the worship of self; and nothing whatever is ac­counted holy in worship unless it is for the sake of self, and thus unless it is self-worship. All love of self is attended with this; for he who loves himself more than others, not only hates all who are not subservient to him, and shows them no favor except when they have become subservient, but also, insofar as he is not under restraint, he rushes on even until he exalts himself above God. That this is the nature of the love of self when the reins are given to it, has been shown me to the life. This is what is signified by "a city and a tower." The love of self and every derivative cupidity is of all things the most filthy and the most profane, and is the veri­est infernalism; and from this anyone may conclude what the quality of that worship must be which contains within it an infernal­ism so absolute.

AC 1307. And its head in heaven. That this signifies even to their having dominion over the things that are in heaven, follows from what has been said. For "to have the head in heaven" is to exalt self even that far, as is evident from the description of Babel in other places in the Word; and from what has already been said about "lifting up the head" (n. 257). The love of self is that which is least of all in accord with the heavenly life; for all evils come from it, not only hatreds, but also revenges, cruelties, and adulteries; and still less does it accord when it enters into worship, and profanes it. And therefore the hells consist of such persons, who the more they would lift up their heads into heaven, the deeper they press themselves down, and the more frightful are the penal­ties into which they precipitate themselves.

AC 1308. And let us make us a name. That this signifies that thereby they might have a reputation for power, may be seen from the signification of "making oneself a name." For they knew that everyone desires to be in some worship; for this is common to all, and exists among all nations. For everyone who beholds the universe, and still more who considers the order of the universe, acknowledges some supreme being or entity [summum ens], and as he desires his own prosperity, he pays adoration to that entity. Moreover there is something within, which dictates this, for such a dictate flows in from the Lord through the angels who are with every man.   The man who is not like this, and who does not acknowledge a God, is under the dominion of infernal spirits. Knowing this, they who build Babylonish towers make themselves a name by means of doctrinal and holy things, for otherwise they could not be worshiped, which is signified in what next follows by their otherwise being scattered over the faces of the whole earth, that is, they would not be acknowledged. And from this it follows that the higher such men can lift up the head to heaven, the more they make themselves a name. Their dominion is greatest over those who have some conscience; for these they lead whither­soever they will; but as to those who have not conscience, they rule all such by means of various external bonds.

Sermon Date: May 23, 2004