The Death of Common Sense

A man weightlifter is approved to compete in the Olympics as a woman.

Another man, who also “identifies” as a woman, proclaims a goal to win a medal – in order to burn the American flag from the podium.

Mothers are referred to by our government leaders as “birthing people.”

Elected representatives vote to defund the very people hired to protect everyone else – including them.

The same individuals who demand that we “follow the science” when it comes to COVID-19, refuse to follow the science and acknowledge that a 15-week-old preborn baby is human.

Even though there are countless bakeries willing to make cakes to celebrate anything and everything, antagonists and agitators repeatedly ask the same baker to bake a cake they know he won’t make because of his deeply held religious convictions.

The government pays some people more not to work than they were paid while working – and then wonders why those same people aren’t rushing back into the workforce.

Private schools are able to return to the classroom with minimal COVID-19 impact – yet public school unions continue to hold America’s parents and children hostage.

Did someone just press the crazy key?

Even a casual observer of today’s culture would have to acknowledge that common sense isn’t so common after all. The death of critical thinking is a very real phenomenon these days. “Group think” is all the rage – the worldly philosophies of a few shaping the opinions and actions of the masses.

Ask no questions – just blindly nod, get in line and follow like sheep.

Increasingly, many are afraid to speak up or out. They don’t want to lose their jobs, their pensions or the relative peace they enjoy, so they stuff it – and lose their joy instead.

Cancel culture is real. There are names and ruined lives to prove it. In fact, even asking a question can put a bullseye on your back.

A company called Kernel recently announced plans to develop a helmet using electronic impulses to read your mind.

Watch out.

It was George Orwell, writing in 1984, who noted, “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

When will enough be enough? Is there a tipping point? Will there be a backlash sufficient to change course?

Confusion has reigned since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, of course. We know from the Old Testament that when Israel rejected God’s authority, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

In the book of Proverbs, we’re reminded that “Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly” (16:22).

Today’s headlines are full of foolish folly. But we don’t have to pretend one way is as good as another. We speak up and we speak out when God’s laws and wisdom are contradicted, because our actions matter in the lives of others.

As believers, our eternal fate is secure, but that doesn’t mean we’re to sit idly by as the world burns. The flames may not consume our seat in Heaven, but they singe our loved ones here on earth and threaten to destroy the very people we’re called to evangelize.

The apostle Paul offers us a timeless example of how to engage a hostile crowd. At the time, he was confronting them on their idol worship. He was polite – but pointed. Speaking at the meeting of the Areopagus in Athens, he called them “ignorant” but went on to state his beliefs in the hope that God’s truth would convict them.

^“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,” Paul stated matter-of-factly. “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

We read that some repented and came to know the Lord. Others did not. But that’s always the case. We’re called to do the best we can with what God has given us and trust God for the outcome.

For Christians, the pursuit of common sense is really a search for wisdom – God’s point of view. “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you,” wrote Solomon. “Wisdom is supreme; therefore, get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:6-7).

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