The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most popular tourist sites in the world. Over 5 million visitors trek there each year to behold this massive building project gone wrong. The tower was begun in 1173 but was not completed until 1372. It is as tall as a 15-story building and was built as the bell tower for the nearby cathedral.
Only five years into its construction, the tower began to lean. Due to the soft earth beneath, and its massive weight of 16,000 tons above, it started listing toward the south/southeast. Over the centuries, the tilt increased, reaching 5.5 degrees in 1990. To prevent collapse, 960 tons of lead were added as a counterweight, which straightened it to less than 4 degrees.
The cause of this goes deep into the soil, reminding us of something Jesus once said. He warned us not to build our lives on shifting sands of public opinion and current philosophies but to base our thoughts, actions, and eternities on His Word. Failing to do so, He warned, would result in eventual collapse as everything else moves and changes over time, undermining everything built above.
My son earned a doctorate in Geo-Technical Engineering and has worked extensively on foundation design to prevent situations like that of Pisa’s tower. Testing soil ahead of time, combined with corrective measures to make sure the earth and foundation can support the structure above, are crucial to ensuring that buildings remain solid.
Much current thought and prevailing public opinion is very much off-kilter compared to the perfectly plumb Word of God. Podcasters, broadcasters, entertainers, politicians, and others constantly build towers of relative morality that lean toward evil. Over time, behaviors and actions that were once rightly considered sinful have become acceptable and even celebrated. Unless the foundations are fortified with Biblical teachings or counterweights of Jesus’ truth are added, Western civilization will collapse, leaving millions of victims behind.
Although most ideas and policies of our nation’s founding were established on Judeo-Christian principles from the Bible, our so-called “progress” has strayed from these once-solid moorings to yield a structure that is leaning. As with Pisa’s Tower, people seem to prefer off-kilter for their morality and truth, and choose ideas that are crooked while rejecting the straight and true. Jesus’ unshakably solid level foundation is spurned in favor of what is warped and twisted.
Many individuals are living off-kilter lives and heading toward eventual collapse. If you step back and compare your faith and values to those of the perfectly plumb Jesus Christ and find your conduct off-kilter, confess any life-construction methods that neglected or rejected His standards. Then, by reading and applying Biblical principles, dig out the soft clay of worldliness and replace it with His unshakable truth. Apply godly counterweights to bring your life back in line with that of Jesus, for His is the only perfectly straight example. May we reject all that which is off-kilter and embrace the straightest of all.
George Bowers – CBC Ex. Board
