Things Are Not Always What They Appear To Be
By Dan Betzer

Appearances aren't always as they seem. You see something that indicates this or that, but to quote the old song, "It ain't necessarily so."

Take the famed Parthenon in Athens, for example. I was there earlier this year and said to my host, "What a perfect building!" Well, it surely seems that way. How many structures around the world have been modeled after that exquisite architecture! But, the genius of the Parthenon is that it is not -- NOT -- perfect at all. It is the imperfection of the structure that makes it APPEAR perfect.

Let me explain: There are eight massive pillars in front and back of the building and 17 down each side. Those pillars are not standing straight but instead lean to the center, so that if they were extended to the sky, they would meet!

Further, the pillars are not straight-sided but rounded in the middle. That makes them APPEAR straight from a distance. The steps in front are not straight either but convex. Which makes them look -- you're right -- straight.

Well, so much for the perfection of mankind's most perfect building. The eye can be easily fooled, don't you know? Perhaps that's just one of the reasons Jesus has commanded His followers not to set themselves up as judge and jury. Oh, we Christians rather like to be the judge, but we're not good at it because our perception is faulty.

The Syrian general of antiquity, Naaman, had the perfect line: "Behold, I thought." I thought! But he thought wrong and it almost cost him his life. "Dip in the Jordan River? I think not!" he snarled. "My rivers at home are better." But they weren't.

Man, I thought those pillars on the Parthenon were perfect, but they weren't. So, I'm not going to make snap decisions on people ... not even when I think I know all the facts. I'll leave the judging to God.

cbn