Now that we have answered your question, please attempt to answer mine.
Is the Christian Bible LITERAL truth or do the early books, at least, contain myth and legend? Fundamentalism fails if the Bible is not literally true. So, you need to logically defend that.
Please, we try to answer your questions, take a shot at one of ours.
Is the Tower of Babel a myth? Can't prove it, but it sure smells like one. You can't get to Heaven by building a tower (The writer of the story seems to think it would be possible and God had to take action to prevent success.).
Which leads us to: Why did God bother to confound the languages? The project was doomed by Physics already in place. Thus, it is likely a myth of the form of, "How the Leopard Got its Spots."
The whole story rests on the false assumption that it would be possible to build a tower to Heaven and God had to take action to prevent success. Show us your argument for this alleged true story. We are waiting.
dewcoons2015-01-05T12:22:39Z
The Bible is a collection of many different types of literature, including historical texts, law books, poems, song lyrics, wise sayings, erotic literature, social commentary, biographies, letters and more.
I do not know of anyone who thinks that "poetry" or "wise sayings" are to be taken as "literal, historical facts". Neither type of literature is intended for that purpose. Both as used to teach philosophical ideas, not physical facts. (A different branch of science.)
If you read through the Bible, the authors often used parables and metaphors, comparing people to sheep in need of a shepherd, or the preaching of the gospel like planting seeds in a field. No one takes those are "literal". Not even the disciples of Jesus who commented about how he spoke in parables and metaphors. So we should expect that there are parts of the Bible that are parables and metaphors.
That brings us to the first 11 chapters of the books of Genesis. They contain the oldest stories of the Bible including creation, Adam and Eve, the fall of man, the Great Flood and Tower. Together they make us less then 0.5% of the entire text of the Bible. Let's take a moment to look at the Tower of Babel
You make the assumption that the builders were attempting to reach outer space. However in the Bible the word "heaven" is used in several different ways. It can refer to the sky in which birds fly and clouds float. We know that is it possible to build a structure high enough to reach that area. Look at how many birds are killed each year running into skyscrapers. And clouds can come all the way to the ground (called fog) so we can reach them. So to do build a tower to that "heaven" is not impossible. We have done it.
The word is also used to refer to the "heaven" in which the stars and other bodies are visible. You will find thousands of examples around the world of cultures building pyramids and other tall structures to get closer to the stars. Their goal being to get high enough that they can observe the entire night sky - horizon to horizon - and thus track the movement of the stars so that they could predict the future (astrology, etc;) using them. Those structures also served as a rallying point to unite people and keep them together (one of the stated goals of the Tower was to keep people from being spread out.).
If God objected to man making it to "the stars", then he would have prevented man from landing on the moon in 1969. Or launching rockets that have gone beyond the solar system. He has not. That is because the Tower was not an attempt to "reach the moon". It was an attempt to build a religious structure based on a non-theist religion that would have rallied the people (when he told them to spread out and fill the world) and stood in opposition to everything he was trying to accomplish. So he shut it down.
Based on what we know of history, there is nothing in that story that goes against history. Cultures have been building "towers" for centuries for just the purpose that the Bible accredits to Babel.
You can't make a blanket statement and apply it to everything. The Bible is as literally true as it was intended to be. For example, there are idioms, parables, and metaphors present. Some things may have been culturally understood differently. When in doubt, take it at it's word, but really you need Holy Spirit to help discern.
Genesis 11:4 KJV And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
From The Companion Bible King James Version column side notes by E. W. Bullinger, Genesis 11:"4 may reach. No Ellipsis here. Hebrew "and its top with the heavens", i.e. with the Zodiac depicted on it, as in ancient temples of Denderah and Esnah in Egypt."
Genesis 11:1 KJV And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
From the column side notes on Genesis 11:"1. earth = people of the earth. Figure of Speech Metonymy (of Subject). Appendix 6 http://levendwater.org/companion/append6.html "earth" put for inhabitants.
language. Hebrew "lip". Figure of Speech Metonymy (of cause), Appendix 6; http://levendwater.org/companion/append6.html lip put for language.
The chapter begins with man's attempt to unify mankind, and ends with God's new provision to unify all in blessing with Abraham's seed."
You can see the column side notes on pages 28-29 of 83 here http://www.heavendwellers.com/01%20Genesis%201-71%20Preface%20i%20to%20xii.pdf
The tower had the zodiac represented on its roof. God's Word is written in the stars, as several ancient language star names attest. They thought if they had the star map, they didn't need to rely on God. God's Truth stands even though satan has worked through some people to corrupt/twist The Truth of God's Word in the stars for personal use/forecasting that is not associated with God's purpose or will in His Word.
The Companion Bible King James Version - Appendix 12. "The Stars Also." (Genesis 1:16). http://levendwater.org/companion/append12.html
The Glory of The Stars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBWC1GBzslg
The Witness of The Stars pdf - http://levendwater.org/books/witness/the_witness_of_the_stars_bullinger.pdf
The sin of the people was twofold. First they did not disperse to replenish the world as God had commanded. Second was their hubris in attempting to build a tower to reach heaven, regardless of whether it was physically achievable.
Geological and fossil evidence supports the story of Noah's Flood and the story of Babel is consistent with linguistics. There is no reason to believe the Tower of Babel was fantasy.
God destroyed it because of the evil within their hearts, as they were sinful and prideful. Heaven is a spiritual place and there's no possible way that something man made would be able to reach it.