The Standard By Bruce W. Robida

Photo: Mitutoyo America Corp

Are you familiar with the micrometer?  It is a precision measuring tool that is used in manufacturing and repairing a wide range of products that require meticulous tolerances.  Without the micrometer, machinery used in manufacturing would be sloppy and unproductive.  Aircraft and automobile engines would be impossible to produce, and parts manufactured in Germany would never fit with their counter-parts in America.

The micrometer allows people all around the world the ability to consistently create quality products and make repairs to those products using the same standards of measurement.

To ensure accuracy, micrometers must be calibrated at regular intervals.The person in the photo is using agage block, also know as a standard, to calibrate a micrometer. 

The standard used in calibrating measuring gages must possess an accuracy greater than a 4 to 1 ratio over the accuracy of a gage being calibrated. This common rule of thumb originated some 40 years ago from MIL-STD-45662A, which was first published in 1960. A gage block is used to calibrate an unknown micrometer. The “unknown” is the micrometer and the “known” is the gage block being used. This gage block must have a certificate of traceability to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

In other words, what is unknown (the micrometer) is calibrated to the standard of what is known (the gage block) for the sake of consistency.

The use of gage blocks is always the best, because no other standards are more accurate than the gage blocks, and they are the highest in the hierarchy of precision.

Definition:

Standard: An acknowledged measure of comparison for quantitative or qualitative value; a criterion.Standard, benchmark, criterion, gauge, measure, touchstone, yardstick: These nouns denote a point of reference against which individuals [or idea’s] are compared and evaluated.

Andrew Tanenbaum, professor at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, in his Computer Networks book, once said, "The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from", a reference to the fact that competing standards become a source of confusion, division, obsolescence, and duplication of effort instead of an enhancement to the usefulness of products.

Ten hot dogs in a package makes no sense when the buns come in a package of eight.  If there was astandard for the industry that said, all hot dog distributors will package their hot dogs in the same quantity as bun distributors, there would never be an excess of hot dogs compared to buns.  But there is no one to set or even enforce such a standard.  Both, hot dog and bun distributors would have to talk to each other and agree upon the standard, and then abide by their agreement, but no one will force them to.

Can you see where I’m going with this?  Every Christian institution, whether Catholic or Protestant, uses the Bible at some point to teach its members about God.  However, the Bible isn’t necessarily their primary source of material for teaching.  Many Christian leaders also teach from their traditions, or their own understanding (or misunderstanding) of what the Bible teaches.  Some Christian leaders also teach ideas that have no biblical basis what-so-ever, ideas that they have conjured up in their own minds, claiming to have received visions and knowledge that only they are privy to.  These so-called Christian leaders have no particular standard upon which they base their teachings. Certain Christian leaders teach based on their own standard, failing to teach from one particular standard because, like the hot dog and bun distributors, no one forces them to. 

Now compare the micrometer to the Christian leader.  The micrometer is only as accurate as the gage block that it has been measured against.  If the micrometer is calibrated using the gage block every time, it will consistently be accurate.  A Christian leader can be compared to the micrometer but the gage block that the Christian leader uses is called the Bible.  If the Christian leader uses the Bible as his gage block, he will consistently be accurate in his teaching.  Just as every micrometer around the world, when calibrated using the gage block should be consistent with each other, every Christian leader in the world, should also be consistent with each other (since they use the Bible as their gage block).

But now there’s a problem.  In the real world, the Bible is not used as a gage block by every Christian leader, because if it was, denominational divisions would not exist.  Christianity has been watered down because certain Christian leaders do not teach, using the standard that has been passed down to them, known as the Bible.  They say they use it, but when you compare some of what they teach to what the Bible actually says, you find that the teacher is the one that is in error.  The standard cannot change, it is set and all teaching must be measured against it.  How else could anyone know the accuracy of what is being taught?  Who is telling the truth, Billy Graham, or David Koresh? How can anyone objectively decide which preacher is to be believed?  Can all things that are taught by Christian leaders be true even when they contradict each other?  Which contradiction is to be believed then, and how does one derive at the proper conclusion? 

The answer is a simple one.  There must be a standard.  Truth is truth whether it is believed or not.  There cannot be opposing truths, it is just not logical. 

The Bible has been with us for thousands of years.  The Old Testament has been around for at least 4,000 years, and the New Testament has been with us for over 2,000 years.  The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm for us the accuracy of most of the versions that we use today.  While the Bible has been altered only in its language to accommodate modern times, in most versions, its meaning has never been altered.  The Bible has proven itself to be the most reliable history book in all of history.  In many archaeological discoveries, names, dates, places, and events that have been recorded in the Bible have been validated. On the other hand, there has never been an archaeological discovery that has contradicted biblical accounts.

I have been an aircraft mechanic since 1979.  Whenever I use a micrometer that is known to be calibrated, I can count on the fact that .0001 is the same today as it was back in 1979, even compared to many different micrometers.  Why can't I count on Christian leaders to be just as accurate in their teaching, since the Bible is the same today as it was thousands of years ago?  The Church has had that long to study and learn from its relatively few pages.  There is no excuse for deviating from the standard that God has provided.  Men who rely upon their own traditions, or their own understanding have said in effect, "My teaching is greater than God's."

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