Week 1

 Genesis 11:1-9. A Tower to Reach Heaven

 Genesis 11:1-9, Helaman 6:28, and Ether 1:3-4,

• What was the stated purpose of building a tower?

According to Genesis 11:4 the purpose of building the tower was reach unto heaven and to make a name for themselves.
• Why do you think this angered the Lord?

To me the reference to make themselves a name would suggest to me that they seek to honor themselves through there own works rather than honoring God and taking upon them his name and countenance, and doing his work and will to glorify his name rather than their own.

• What did God do to scatter the people?

God used confounding the language of the people so that they could no longer communicate with each other.

• Read Ether 1:33-43 and summarize in writing how the Jaredites from the Book of Mormon fit into this story.

The Brother of Jared went before the Lord at the time of the confounding of the languages of the people and pleaded in behalf of his family and friends that their language would not be confounded, so that they may understand each other. God was merciful to them and didn't confound their language but did scatter them. However, was a huge blessing as he lead them to a promised land far better than the one they were in.

As is typical with Satan’s tactics, he will take a truth and twist it into a counterfeit. Note that the people building the tower of Babel tried to make a name for themselves, while the followers of the Lord willingly take His name upon them. Read Acts 4:12; Mosiah 3:17, 5:7-15; and Doctrine and Covenants 18:21-25, and write two to three paragraphs about how we can receive “a name” (Genesis 11:4) that will truly help us reach heaven.

When we think of a name, the first thing that comes to mind to me is my family name. We are taught to honor our family name and not to do anything to dishonor it. Society takes a lot of stock in a our name, often our character can be associated with our name hopefully in a positive way. I hope that I may live in a way that I may pass on my name and heritage to my children.

However, there is a name I have taken that is far more important than my own name, and that is the name of Christ. I took his name upon me by covenant at baptism. The people at the time of the tower of Babel wanted to make themselves a name by building a tower to heaven. By not humbling themselves and relying upon Christ name they were scattered and confounded. The scriptures are very clear that there is only one way to heaven and that is through the name of Christ. When we take upon us his name we are born again and become his sons and daughters and thereby become heirs to salvation, his salvation.