Book 1 of Musings Common Sense
Neither religious law nor civil law should be allowed to take precedence over conscience and common sense. But they often do!
Sometimes we have to take a step back and ask, "Is this sensible?" Common sense is one of the best gifts God has given us.
What is common sense? I am not certain. It is a kind of judgment as to what is reasonable and appropriate.
Sometimes our government doesn't use common sense. We say this or that is a politically correct statement, meaning the powers that be have agreed this is the way we should talk.
An example is the word "chairperson." When we say chairman we know the chairman could be a woman as well as a man. A salesperson. Yikes!
A corollary of this is using the pronoun "she" to refer to God.
Referring to Christmas as the "winter holiday," as though Americans acted in a holy manner and worshiped God because the school break was termed the Christmas holiday.
Many of the athletic teams are called by Indian names. Numerous cities in the United States have Catholic names, like Santa Cruz or San Francisco. Are these all to be changed?
I am sure there are many people who would like to have them changed, as though the change would somehow separate the church from the state.
To object to prayer in a public place is nonsense, especially now that our nation is facing powerful enemies. An atheist can use the time of prayer to consider his duty to behave in a constructive manner.
What is needed is common sense. Common sense keeps us from going to extremes.
Another realm in which America has lost her senses is that of individual rights. Everyone knows that when you give someone their rights you probably took away someone else's rights.
When the judge shows mercy to a child molester and lets him go, because of some technicality of the law, he preserved the legal rights of the molester. But he removed the rights of the parents of the next child to be molested.
When there is a dangerous terrorist, he should be treated as such. When his "rights" are stressed it easily can happen that he is released prematurely, thus endangering perhaps a million Americans. Our nation loses common sense when it sacrifices the rights of society in order to uphold the rights of an individual, or to uphold freedom of speech, or to emphasize the separation of church and state to the point of absurdity.
Christians live in Israel, India, Saudi Arabia, and other religious nations and usually do not suffer undue hardship, even while listening to the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer, unless they do something to violate the religious code of the country. In no case would a Christian be permitted to force the government to remove evidences of the national religions.
There is no reason an atheist cannot survive in America if his or her child says "under God" during the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. To honor the atheist's request is to injure the rights of the majority of children in the classroom. It is a violation of common sense.
Turning now to Christian lack of common sense, there are people who believe babies will be thrown into the Lake of Fire because they haven't "accepted Christ."
There are many Christians who believe people who have never heard of Christ will be thrown into the Lake of Fire because they haven't "accepted Christ." "There is no other name by which we can be saved" - this sort of thing.
There are Christians who believe the final judgment is not a genuine trial but a farce. All shall be thrown into the Lake of Fire whether or not they have ever heard the Gospel; or how righteously they have behaved; or how young they are. I do not know what such theologians do with the passages of the Bible that state God is true and righteous in his judgments.
The Pharisees did not use any kind of common sense when they murdered Christ. All Jesus did was heal people and cast out demons. In fact, He healed some people on the Sabbath. This, of course, is a good reason to put a man to death. Right? Pilate was troubled because there was no reason to harm Jesus. This is what religion can do to you if you are not careful.
God uses common sense. We do not always understand His ways of working, but that is because His thinking and wisdom are so high above ours. But when we know all the facts, we see that what He did was wise and for the best.
For example God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in a state of nakedness. To be naked is a shame. God knew they were in a shameful condition. When they received the spirit of judgment, the knowledge of good and evil, they realized they were in a shameful condition.
Make some sense out of this. Make some sense out of the fact that in the last days God is going to permit Antichrist to overcome the saints. Make some sense out of God permitting such suffering in the world when He has the power to remove all of it.
People foolishly charge God with injustice and cruelty. They do not have faith in His goodness and wisdom.
God permits Satan to perform his evil works because God has a higher purpose. It is to create rulers who have grown in righteousness and have proved their faithfulness and obedience. They are being prepared to rule over the works of God's hands. It is necessary they be exposed to evil so they can have an opportunity to overcome evil through Christ.
Common sense accepts this.
God could have clothed Adam and Eve from the beginning. He ended up clothing them anyway. Why did He do this? God was waiting to see what they would do when they were tested. God could have kept Satan from entering the garden. But God's way was to prepare a Lamb from the beginning of the world.
The fall of Adam and Eve began the long history of redemption that is necessary if God is to be able to drive rebellion from His creation and create sons and rulers, as well as a body for Christ and a wife for the Lamb.
Common sense agrees with this.
But common sense does not agree with permitting one individual to drive prayer from a public school when the great majority of people in the town want their children to pray during the time they are compelled by law to attend school.
Common sense does not agree with calling God "her" when the Bible states that Adam was made in the image of God and Eve was formed from Adam.
Everyone knows that God is neither male nor female, in the ordinary usage of the terms. Also, Jesus Christ, the Image of God, was a man, not a woman. So straining over the pronouns in the Scriptures is not sensible.
It is not sensible to attempt to remove signs of the Christian religion from America. Go to some other country, like Saudi Arabia, or India, or Israel, and attempt to remove the signs of their religion, and see how far you get.
And as far as throwing babies, or people who never have heard of Jesus, into the Lake of Fire because they haven't accepted Christ, reveals some kind of religious dementia. It is a disorder of the brain.
I realize there are mysteries in the Christian religion, and we are not to remove the things Christ has commanded in order to curry favor with the local community. I am afraid the demands of discipleship are often compromised lest we offend the unsaved. This is totally wrong and a betrayal of our charge to bear witness of Christ.
Perhaps our nation loses its perspective when it worships freedom of speech to the point that reasonable moral limitations are abandoned. Let the children watch pornography at the library. Why not? We must never abridge their freedom of speech. Let them listen to rap music that glorifies murder, disobedience to authority, and lust. Then we wonder that they shoot people, get hooked on drugs, and contract AIDS.
Our nation sometimes acts in a manner that defies common sense. Let us make sure that we as Christians do not join the parade by exhibiting religious dementia.
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. (Proverbs 4:6-8)