Should Christians be United?

QUESTION: If God wants all His people to be one (John 17:11), why did He confuse the peoples language and scatter them from the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11)?

ANSWER FROM:
Pastor Ken Burisek,
The Ole Country Church, Medford, Wisconsin
Email:
kburisek @wildblue.net

The first thing we need to look at here is the circumstances surrounding these very different verses. Oneness and unity within the body of Christ is a goodpositive thing and is commanded in Scripture, whereas oneness in the world can be a bad thingig negative if it is off track from Gods truths. There are many references to unity among Gods people in the Bible, such as we can see in Acts 4:32: And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common, and in Acts 2:46, And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, and Phillippians 2:2: Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

However, in Acts 18:12 we also see an example of unity but not according to Gods truths: And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat.

Here we see an example where an angry crowd came against Paul in one acco ...