Sunday School lesson about the Tower of Babel

Tower of pride!

I had the blessing of teaching a Sunday School lesson about the Tower of Babel, but I must admit, I was foolish to think that this lesson would be “simple” to prepare and deliver. I figured that most of the students in my class ( grade three) must have heard this story at least once, if not more, before. But I was wrong!

Lesson plan and introduction to the topic:

I started the lesson with a little game of “broken telephone” just to illustrate how communication can be difficult sometimes and, after a few rounds full of giggles, one student automatically made the link between the game and the lesson.

So far, the lesson was progressing like a dream. The students were engaged and alert, the summary of the story was given, all was well in the land of Sunday School. And then…

The question that made a thousand teachers sweat before:

Why, why would God do that????

Discussion about Pride:

“Why was God angry with the people? They were not doing anything wrong?” asked one of my bright angels.

I admit I used to struggle with this question as well because, taken out of context, it seems “odd” that God would care about an architectural wonder in the making. One must dig deeper into the story, like God dug deeper into the hearts and intentions of the builders.

The builders had grown proud.

We often hear that Pride is the mother of all sin because Pride lulls humans into a sense of independence….from God. Self-Reliance replaces relying on God. Love of God is replaced by the love of one’s own intellect and might which would, eventually, lead to separation from God. So, what God did at Babel was an intervention – God wanted to save the people from themselves, from their pride. When this realization is understood, God’s action makes perfect sense and should lead us to a greater appreciation of His love.

In a nutshell, a Sunday School Lesson about the Tower of Babel can be summarized in this sentence:

Because God loved them, He destroyed the tower!

In Christ,

Mireille

Other articles you might enjoy: Preaching by example

Additional Coptic resources on this topic: The most devastating sin to the soul is PRIDE

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