Pentecost

Tale of two towers

Babel and Church

manmade and Godmade

confusion and understanding

In the story of old, man wished to replace God

set about building their tower

God comes down, as He always does, that is reality confronts them

they lose all shared meaning

can’t cooperate because don’t mean the same thing as each other

because abandoned meaning of reality for their own meaning

At Pentecost, the birthday of the Church of God

men who followed God

set about building their community under God

God comes down in a miraculous way, reality imbues them

gain complete shared meaning, so shared all humanity can understand them no matter their language

abandoned their own meaning for reality

one chose lang man lang of heaven

collapses before off the ground, other raises up heavens today.

These two towers are story of our lives

we either try to make our own meaning or accept reality’s

To fully sin is to choose ones own language.

To not sin is to choose the language of reality.

Why

language is to share meaning

by sign, word, or act point to some meaning

but if something is meaningless, can’t be shared meaningfully

To sin is to knowingly Exchange Truth with something not truth

meaningless, contradictory

arbitrary

people could pick anything since not based in truth

typically goes with personal appetites and desires

in which case everyone is competing, not sharing

all sharing is only apparent as long you you oth seem to get your personal gods.

no real shared meaning in life, competing incoherent babling

the tower of babel and confusion of meaning is the result of deliberate sin

its like a piece of scribbled post modern art or ink blot test

has no shared meaning, just whatever we (replacing God, objective truth, with ourselves) impose on it

what we read into it

Thank goodness

as Gospel, God explicitly gives the apostles power

confession language

verbally rejecting the subjective standard and replacing it with God

returning to a shared meaning with God and the Church

replacing personal meaningless babel with coherent language of God

Tower of man with tower of God

Good confession:

all mortal sin since baptism havent confessed

full consent deliberate, and what would be serious wrong (catechism for help there on chapters of 10 commandments)

most difficult and hidden most important

number

things that make much more serious or less serious

Do not fear!

Unite, unite under the shared language of God, Truth and Goodness itself

Notes:

2 Towers

How speech works

cut off from body

cut off from communication

confession

Me:

One God, division of labors

The body of Christ as the Church

Confession?

Babel vs Pentecost

reversing the scattering of nations

Commentators:

Pitre

celebrated coming down of law too in fire

new law

breathing on is symbolic giving of spirit

Augustine:

breathing symbol not actual spirit itself

shows the filioque (from Son too)

connects to babel

parts body commanded by 1 spirit

Cyril of Alexandria

Holy spirit unites parts to whole

“Birthday of the Church”