[257 words]
In 1628 the Swedish warship Vasa was set to take its maiden voyage. The ship was built upon completion was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However the maiden voyage didn’t go that well. Less than a mile offshore the ship encountered what was described as a slight breeze that capsized and sank it.
How could such a powerful war ship go to the depths so easily? It was generally consider to have been built asymmetrically. This caused the center of gravity to be off and therefore it took very little force to tip the ship. How could that happen?
Well, archaeologists have found four rulers used by the workers; two turned out to be based on Swedish feet with 12 inches, the other two used Amsterdam feet, with 11 inches. One group worked on one side of the ship with their ruler the other on the other side with their ruler. The finished ship may have looked impressive, but it sank the minute it was faced with difficulty.
The same thing I think is happening in our religious world today. People think we can have unity with different doctrine, different rules, and different measures. It might look impressive but that boat won’t float. There must be one standard, (1 Corinthians 1:10)
You can’t build a seaworthy ship with two different rulers. You can’t make a structurally sound house with two different blueprints. You can’t have a church that is truly His, if you ignore how He told us to build it.
Barry Haynes
Hope, AR
BulletinDigest.com