I recently read the couple verses just before the " fable of the tower of babel" in the NWT and it clearly states tbere were multiple languages before tbe confusion started in the "babel fairy tale" at least it reads that way to me
Major goof in the Sept 1 WT article on Babel and the origin of languages
by marmot 44 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Anony Mous
Lol, language developed 50,000-200,000 years ago, not 4,000 years ago. 5,000 years ago there were already several different written languages with complex rules (grammar) - Summerian, Egyptian, Elamite, Indus. The first written languages date from ~11,000 years ago. There are groups of humans that separated (see Australia) 40,000 years ago that took along language.
This article is pure young-earth creationist crap and has no grounding in any science.
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steve2
My history teacher said the pyramids were constructed specifically to withstand the threat of global floods. Cleopatra perched herself uncomfortably on the pointed top but could take the piercing discomfort for no more than 10 days and 10 nights when she succumbed to the watery depths lapping at her milky toes. Sad but instructive: She spurned Jehovah's loving provision and suffered the consequences.
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Goodstein
Just a minor note: Sumerian is a language isolate unrelated to Hebrew or other semetic languages, although Akkadian, another semetic language, has substantial influences from Sumerian in terms of vocabulary at least (similar to the relationship of Latin to English.)
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AnnOMaly
Me: I think that the WTS would explain that Hebrew and Sumerian are part of the same Semitic language group so there is no conflict.
Goodstein: Sumerian is a language isolate unrelated to Hebrew or other semetic languages
I didn't know that. I made an incorrect assumption. Thank you for pointing it out.
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AndDontCallMeShirley
AnnOMaly:I didn't know that. I made an incorrect assumption. Thank you for pointing it out.
Goodstein seems rather pedantic.
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AnnOMaly
Indeed he does!
(I'm not on my game on this thread. That's two I've missed.)
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FadeToBlack
If you are interested in Sumeria, take a look at the book: The Sumerians, Their History, Culture and Character by Samuel Noah Kramer. He includes an interesting aside regarding a possible connection between the name 'Shem' and Sumer by his teacher and colleague Arno Poebel published (and largely ignored) in the American Journal Of Semetic languages in 1941. It starts on page 297. He was curious given their pre-eminence and influence at the time, why there is no mention of them in the bible.
My own thought was that it was just more evidence that the Hebrew scriptures were written long after everyone had forgotten that the Sumerians even existed.
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FadeToBlack
And I don't see anything pedantic about what GoodStein pointed out. He was just stating the facts. Aren't we all interested in what is true and what is not?
Just added: my mistake to assume Goodstein is male.
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AndDontCallMeShirley
He was curious given their pre-eminence and influence at the time, why there is no mention of them in the bible.
It's really no different than WT claiming divine inspiration for the Book of Job, Re: Job describing the earth as a "circle", allegedly information that could only be known if revealed by god. If the Bible were honest, it would mention that the Greeks already figured out the earth is a sphere (yes, a sphere is not the same as a circle) well before Job was written and had calculated its circumference within a reasonable degree of what scientists have proven it to be.
But, if the Bible writers acknowledge these points their whole "inspired" foundation goes right out the window.