I haven't heard the expression in a while but I grew up hearing it and using it quite a bit: "That's just plumb wrong!" It refers to the use of a plumb line that suspends a "bob" from a down along a wall to determine if it is exactly vertical. Why bother? Why not just "eyeball" the wall and decide for yourself if it is vertically straight? Why must we go back to a standard of orthodoxy set so long ago?
Why? Because exactly straight is objective, not subjective. Straight is straight and level is level. The standard is used because it is actual and factual, not relative to individual interpretation or personal preference. If builders eyeballed walls, we'd have a lot of off-plumb and unsafe buildings because the naked eye is subject to individual interpretation, which is often off-plumb.
The apostle John wrote, "the one who does what is right is righteous (1 Jn 3:4) and "the one who does what is wrong is not a child of God" (v. 10). He is plainly saying that there is a plumb right and a plumb wrong in God's sight. God, despite how much we might want to waffle on right and wrong, "does not change like the shifting shadows" (Js 1:17).
Despite our fickle cultural mores, there is and always will be an actual right and wrong, good and evil, true and false. It is not up to us to determine those values but rather to discover them by searching the Word of God, seeking His Spirit, observing His Creation, and using the truth therein as a plumb line. Jus' Say'n.
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