How to Talk About the Flood and Babel with your LDS Friends
Understanding the Bible’s theme of the human heart’s downward trajectory and God’s rescuing intervention.
Table of Contents
What do the Flood and Babel have in common?
The stories of Noah and the Tower of Babel are often treated like separate Bible accounts, one about a boat and animals, the other about languages. But Genesis places them back-to-back to show something sobering and clarifying.
Even after a fresh start, humanity keeps moving downward and away from God. That is why these stories are such meaningful conversation starters with your LDS friends.
The key theme to focus on is the human heart’s downward trajectory and God’s rescuing intervention. The Flood is not mainly a story about how to survive a storm. It is a story about what is wrong with the human heart. God judges real evil, preserves life by mercy, and then shows that the root problem in us remains. Genesis 8:21 is the hinge verse that explains why.
Even after the Flood, the “inclination” or “imagination” of the human heart is still bent toward evil. That diagnosis prepares the way for why we need more than a reset or direction. We need a Savior who alone can rescue us from what is wrong inside us.
How Your LDS Friends Might View Noah, the Flood, and Babel
Many Latter-day Saints read these stories through the lens of the LDS idea of agency, the God-given ability to choose between good and evil. Because agency is so central in LDS teaching, an LDS friend may interpret the Flood as a merciful intervention that stopped corruption from becoming so extreme that people could no longer make meaningful moral choices. In that framework, Noah is often viewed as a model of righteousness in a wicked world, and Babel as another moment where God steps in to redirect humanity’s collective choices.
Christians often use the phrase total depravity to summarize the Bible’s diagnosis of the human condition. Total depravity does not mean that every person is as evil as possible. It means sin has reached every part of us, including our desires and our will. Left to ourselves, we do not naturally move toward God. We move away from him.
This difference in starting point can shape the whole conversation. Rather than debating frameworks, you can invite your friend to test the agency-protection idea using Genesis itself. If the Flood protected the conditions needed for meaningful moral choice, what evidence do we see afterward that the human heart was actually changed?
What the Bible Emphasizes
The Flood Diagnoses the Human Heart
Genesis invites us to test any framework by paying attention to what God actually says about the human condition. Before the Flood, God didn’t merely describe a society with problems. He diagnoses the human heart.
“Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
Genesis 6:5
That is not a statement about a few unusually wicked people. It is a statement about the depth of sin in humanity. Violence and corruption on the outside are flowing from something diseased on the inside.
Then comes the Flood. God judges real evil, and he provides real refuge. He patiently warns, preserves Noah and his family, and gives humanity a fresh start. But the crucial moment comes after the waters recede. God gives another diagnosis, and it is stunningly honest.
“The inclination of the human heart is evil from youth.”
Genesis 8:21
Notice what that means. The fresh start did not fix the heart. The problem is not mainly environment. The problem is what is wrong inside us.
And Genesis immediately shows us evidence of that.
- Noah’s failure: the man who was spared is not presented as a flawless hero. He falls into shameful sin (Genesis 9:20–28).
- Relational ugliness in Noah’s line: instead of the harmony we might expect after a new beginning, we see dishonor, conflict, and curse (Genesis 9:22–27).
- Babel’s full rebellion: humanity unites, not to worship God, but to exalt itself. “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). And God must intervene again.
Put simply, if the Flood was intended to produce a morally renewed human family, Genesis would show a rising trajectory afterward. Instead, Genesis shows the opposite. Humanity cannot rescue itself, and even merciful restraint does not transform the heart.
Babel Exposes Self-Exaltation
Right after the Flood, God gives humanity a clear command: “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1; see also Genesis 9:7, NIV). Genesis 11 shows humanity pushing back against that word, almost immediately.
Listen to how the builders explain their plan: “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:4, NIV). Babel is not just about construction. It is about self-exaltation. They are trying to secure identity, significance, and safety on their own terms. God had said, “fill the earth,” and they respond, “otherwise we will be scattered.” They want a blessing, but they want it without trusting God’s Word.
That is why Babel echoes Eden. In Eden, humanity rejected God’s word and reached for life and wisdom on its own terms. At Babel, humanity rejects God’s direction again and tries to build a future on its own terms. The human heart has not changed. It still turns inward. It still wants control. It still prefers climbing to receiving.
Then Genesis adds a detail that reinforces the point: “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building” (Genesis 11:5, NIV). Humanity is trying to reach up, but even the greatest human project does not reach God. If we are going to be reconciled to God, we cannot climb our way up. God must come down.
These stories don’t just diagnose the human heart. They also prepare us for the kind of Savior we need. If sin is rooted deep inside us, we cannot fix ourselves. And if Babel shows that we cannot climb our way up to God, then reconciliation has to happen the other way around. God must come down. That is exactly what the rest of the Bible proclaims: that God comes to rescue and reconcile sinners who cannot rise on their own. The Old Testament keeps building anticipation for the One who would bring us back to God.
Conversation Starters
Use gentle, curious questions that draw your LDS friends into the story. Invite reflection rather than debate:
Questions About the Human Heart
- What stands out to you about God’s diagnosis in Genesis 6:5?
- Why do you think God repeats the heart diagnosis after the Flood in Genesis 8:21?
- What do these verses suggest about what humans need most?
Questions About Self-Exaltation
- What do you think the people meant by “make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4)?
- Why do you think they were so concerned about being “scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4)?
- How do you see the same impulse to “build our way up” show up today, even in spiritual or religious ways?
Questions That Point to Jesus
- In the Flood story, what actually kept Noah’s family safe: their effort, or God’s provided refuge?
- What do you think it means that “the Lord came down” (Genesis 11:5)? Why is this so important?
- If we can’t climb our way up to God, what would it look like for God to come down to rescue and reconcile us?
The Goal of the Conversation
You don’t need to win a debate about the Flood or Babel, and you don’t need to correct every detail of how your LDS friend incorrectly reads these stories. The goal is simpler and far more meaningful. Help your friend see what Genesis emphasizes. Sin is not a minor flaw but a deep heart condition. Even after a fresh start, humanity keeps moving downward and away from God. We cannot rescue ourselves, and we cannot build our way back into God’s presence. When your friend can see Genesis 8:21 for what it is, a clear diagnosis of what is wrong inside us, the door opens to the most important question of all. If we cannot go up, who can bring us back to God? That is where these stories are meant to lead. Not toward self-exaltation, but toward the One who came down to rescue and reconcile sinners.
Join Our Newsletter
Stay Current on How Best to Reach Mormons
Learn more about our ministry, the impact of your support and more in our bi-monthly newsletter, Building Bridges.