Myth Blown Apart

Do you know much about history? Okay, here’s a question for you. How tall was Napoleon Bonaparte? If you said that he was very short, you are right. Sort of. After he died, his body was measured in French feet (pieds de roi) at 5’ 2”, but it was never correctly converted to the standard English measure. In English feet, he was 5’ 6 ½”. So, you were wrong. The belief that Napoleon was very short, was a myth. To a very short man, he was reasonably tall, but to a tall man, he was fairly short. It all depends on your perspective. These thoughts teach us two things. First, don’t believe everything you read in history books as being factual, including what I have just quoted. And second, “short” and “tall” are relative, just as the words “good” and “evil” are relative terms if you don’t have an absolute (unchanging) moral stand by which to measure them. God has given us an unchanging measuring standard in His moral Law. Our ability to interpret that Law (and thereby determine good and evil) is the measure of our Christian maturity (see Hebrews 5:14). Have you come to the point of knowing what is morally right and wrong? If you are not sure, begin with Matthew chapter 5 and read through to chapter 7. That will give you the right perspective.