Not long ago, I had the opportunity to work with a couple carpenters. I wasn't actually working *with* them, they were going to hang a door and I was watching. See, I spent over 10 years doing drywall work and have hung hundreds (and hundreds and hundreds) of doors: Timelys, knockdowns, and hollow metal framed. But this was "carpenter" work, which I think I was not supposed to know much about, or maybe it was assumed a dry wall guy like me wouldn't know anything like that.

Anyway, I couldn't help but pop over to their side of the jobsite to see/hear/watch their struggle. I made a few suggestions which were ignored. After watching them for a bit trying to use a 3 foot level on a 7 foot door (and trying not to snicker) once I saw them even thinking about making a mistake by doing something wrong I had to kibitz enough to provide them with a plumb bob. A bob is a weight that hangs from a string, it looks a lot like a child's spinning top, but is made of brass. To use it, you stretch it out by attaching it at the top of something and it points dead straight down to a spot on the floor. It's excellent for leveling stuff like, oh, door frames. I carry one around in my bucket (probably just for looks?) I told them how to use it and they did. What was funny was that when I went back into the room I was spreading mud in, there was a lot of whispering and then I heard this challenge "I'm going to check this thing with the level!"

Now, I don't know about you all but everywhere I have ever been, in the mountains of Colorado or the beach in CA or here in Massachusetts gravity has always been the same. That is, when I drop something it falls DOWN. It doesn't fall sideways or at an angle or anything like that. Gravity is one of those funny things that always seems to work the same. God made gravity, and it sure does seem pretty consistent. Time doesn't change it (ie things fall down today just like they did yesterday and will tomorrow) nor does distance change it (things high up fall down just like things closer to the ground.) Sure, if something is light enough wind might blow it around but even the lightest things fall down. Gravity just works that way. My plumb bob, being heavy brass, resists wind and points straight down.

So let me ask you this: what if after putting the level up there the plumb bob and the level disagreed? Who would you believe?

Well, a level is man-made. How accurate it is depends on the workmanship of a human being. It can also be dropped, bent, heated, shaken, or a bunch of other things that might alter it. A plumb bob on the other hand, as I stated, works by simple gravity. God made gravity. So it seems clear that you would think if they disagreed that the level is what is out of whack. By the way, the level did NOT disagree and the guys did a good job putting the door in, all the way, and attached it firmly to the framing. A plumb bob is just much more accurate than a short bubble level (or even a long bubble level!) and is better suited to die task. (Besides, even GOD uses a plumb bob - check out the passages on the front today!)

Now, let's look at that in a spiritual sense. I suppose I do sit back and watch folks try to apply human wisdom to spiritual problems. Sometimes, when the human wisdom happens to match Godly wisdom, things work out ok. But when you see someone about to make a mistake, shouldn't we speak up? Not just saying "hey, that's wrong" but instead providing them with the right answer, perhaps a passage or example from the bible? They may not know you have any experience at all with the word, and don't need to. If you can clearly show them a better way to do something, with the desired outcome, many folks will give it a whirl.

But there's always that joker who still wants to check your Godly advice with human advice. And maybe it all works out. But if there's a conflict, do we throw out the bible and embrace the human teaching? People do this all the time, sometimes by being misled with false religions and sometimes out of stubbornness, with eyes wide open. Which way do you suppose is more accurate and better suited to any task, no matter what that might be? Do we want to hope we're "close enough" or be right on the mark?

Randy