author of confusion

[janeelaine]

so just thought of another question. its said in the bible that the devil is the author of confusion.

so then when GOD "confuses" the people at the tower of babel, well He seems like the "author" in that scenario...

sure the devil instigated the problem God was addressing, but it literally said God "confused" the languages of humanity.

not speaking any doubts of my faith... just wondering how we reconcile these 2 things. both parties "confusing" people. any idears? thanks

 

[Greg]

It's a good question.

God confused the tongues of people for His own reasons, but not necessarily the people themselves. He has a perfect plan and timeline and I think needed to put the brakes on human achievement and the associated evil that would arise before its time if everyone stayed united. So He split them up into nations and has so far prevented a common whole world government. We can see that restraint being loosened today.

The enemy confuses us personally about many things, with a goal of separating us from God forever.

There is also a time coming when God will wash His hands of those who have rejected Him and send strong delusion. The fact that He hasn't done so yet shows both His love and His mercy to give every chance for those who will to come to Him.

 

[Almost Heaven]

In the original text the word used was confound not confuse. Ironically the word Babel translated means confuse.

Genesis 11:5-9 The LORD judged the people by confounding their language. This was the beginning of the many different languages which we have in the world today. Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11) was the reverse of Babel in the sense that every man heard the wonderful works of God in his own language. Babel means confusion, the inevitable result of any union that leaves God out or is not according to God.

 

[Ronnie]

The adversary confuses for confusion sake, God confuses to stop the works of Satan.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Psalm 2:4

 

[Kaatje]

The difference is, that when God confuses, it is a blessing.
God knew that if He didn't confound the language of men "nothing would be unachievable for them".
We see in our days the return to one language and from it will come the New World Order with A/C.

When the devil confuses, it is always with the objective to pull us away from God.

In 1 Cor. 14.33 we read:
For‭ God‭ is‭‭ not‭ ‭the author‭ of confusion‭, but‭ of peace‭, as‭ in‭ all‭ churches‭ of the saints‭.‭

Here you see "confusion" against "peace".
Satan wants to destroy our peace by means of confusion.
And that is the exact opposite of what God wants for us.

 

[1LoverofGod]

With the two comparisons you address regarding confusion it's important to read the context of the use of those terms.
In the case of the Tower of Babel God did confuse the languages for the purpose of dismantling what those people were doing which was to reach the heavens because Nimrod wanted to be God.
So in this case God has a righteous purpose for confusing the peoples languages.
In the other use referring to the devil being the author of confusion, the context is referring to the use of the gift of tongues and Paul explains how an interpreter is necessary if someone speaks in tongues in church services because if an unbeliever enters the church to them tongues would sound like a lot of noise and mean nothing to them and lead to confusion in the church. So, if tongues is used there has to be an interpreter to keep order in the church.
In this context this kind of confusion is not of God and is why Paul says the devil is the author of confusion.
Read the entire context:
1 Corinthians 14:13-33

Context matters when we use scripture.

 

[Ronnie]

The difference is, that when God confuses, it is a blessing.
God knew that if He didn't confound the language of men "nothing would be unachievable for them".
We see in our days the return to one language and from it will come the New World Order with A/C.

When the devil confuses, it is always with the objective to pull us away from God.

In 1 Cor. 14.33 we read:
For‭ God‭ is‭‭ not‭ ‭the author‭ of confusion‭, but‭ of peace‭, as‭ in‭ all‭ churches‭ of the saints‭.‭

Here you see "confusion" against "peace".
Satan wants to destroy our peace by means of confusion.
And that is the exact opposite of what God wants for us.

Good, Kaatje!

 

[Margery]

The people building Babel chose to do wrong. They were actually disobeying a command to spread out and repopulate the earth.

Instead they chose to stay together, build a tower and the purpose of those ancient towers was clear to the ancient cultures even if it's not specified in the Bible. Each of these ziggarut or pyramidal object was an artificial tower to reach into "the heavens" and contact the spirit realm (in other words fallen angels who are behind the ancient "gods")

Another purpose that is in Rabbinical literature (ancient Jewish history texts) brings out the idea that they were bound and determined that they would NOT drown in a flood ever again- because they knew they were doing wrong and they were acting against God to thwart Him from bringing about mass destruction again. By the time this generation was building Babel, they were already distant from the Flood enough to think that they could build something that would escape God's wrath.

So when God confounded their plans by making them unable to understand each other (giving languages and separating the people) He was forcing them to do what He had commanded. Go out and repopulate the earth. Now that they couldn't understand each other, the nation groups began to drift apart and the languages/nations were separating across the earth.

This gives them time to migrate to various parts of the world that would soon become separate- certain accounts of the native Indians of N.America talk about the Beringia Bridge that allowed them to migrate across Siberia to Alaska. Some groups went east, some went south. The Haida Gwaii of my BC west coast have a long oral history of that migration and there is another group too. But that is a rabbit trail.

I agree that confused is a confusing term. Confounded is better.

It was God who was forcing them to behave. Their confusion was the end result of their choice to disobey God in the first place.