# How Do Creationists Explain the Tower Of Babel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 18, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865 "2011-02-18T23:22:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/41 "2011-02-21T03:59:40Z")
to further deflect the discussion Nimrod was a mighty king of that time who is sometimes credited with starting the tower. no man can bend the bow of nimrod, we are told (see oddyseus), but somehow in my lifetime nimrod has come to be synonymous with incompetent fool. also i reckon the whole point of the babel story is that god felt threatened by a humanity working together speaking a single langauge, so taking care of that was his main effort and knocking down the tower was just Him being a prick. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/42 "2011-02-21T13:21:18Z")
Wasn’t the sky just a metal dome a few miles up and thus literally reachable? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/43 "2011-02-21T14:52:44Z")
It used to be before God got scared and removed it from beyond the earth. He was afraid that man would steal his best Tuna. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/44 "2011-02-21T16:14:24Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Very confusing. Have you ever tried to learn English? Pfft. I’ve successfully taught it to _infants_; it can’t be that hard. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/45 "2011-02-21T17:01:06Z")
Do you have a cite that you were able to teach it to a child? I mean, the obvious evidence seems to indicate that it’s not possible…after all, we haven’t built any space ships to take people to Mars, after all… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/46 "2011-02-21T19:23:11Z")
Well, it’s obvious nothing like that will happen again, because we all speak different languages now, and it’s simply impossible to understand each other. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/47 "2011-02-21T23:37:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Well, it’s obvious nothing like that will happen again, because we all speak different languages now, and it’s simply impossible to understand each other. What? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/48 "2011-02-21T23:43:44Z")
> [@slowlearner](#): > > to further deflect the discussion Nimrod was a mighty king of that time who is sometimes credited with starting the tower. no man can bend the bow of nimrod, we are told (see oddyseus), but somehow in my lifetime nimrod has come to be synonymous with incompetent fool. It’s because of Bugs Bunny. He used to call Elmer Fudd “nimrod” sarcastically, because Nimrod was known as a great hunter. Over the next few decades, people started picking up the term primarily from the cartoons, instead of the Bible, and assumed from the context that it was just another generic term of abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/49 "2011-02-21T23:45:14Z")
In regards to the Babel story, is it mean to have taken place before or after the flood? If it was antediluvean, maybe God was worried everyone would drown when they got to the top of the tower. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/50 "2011-02-21T23:45:33Z")
It sounds like a word for a penis. That’s what I assumed it was when I was 8. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/51 "2011-02-21T23:47:36Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > In regards to the Babel story, is it mean to have taken place before or after the flood? After. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/52 "2011-02-21T23:53:36Z")
Well, so much for that theory. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/53 "2011-02-22T01:08:42Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > After. > [@Miller](#): > > Well, so much for that theory. Think about it; if it had taken place before the Flood, the only survivors being Noah and his family would have all spoken the same language. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865/54 "2011-02-24T04:10:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > It’s because of Bugs Bunny. He used to call Elmer Fudd “nimrod” sarcastically, because Nimrod was known as a great hunter. Over the next few decades, people started picking up the term primarily from the cartoons, instead of the Bible, and assumed from the context that it was just another generic term of abuse. Is this correct or a wild-ass guess? I’ve always wondered how Nimrod came to mean idiot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-the-tower-of-babel/571865.md?page=2)