In some cases even the Devil cannot modify common sense.  For example, if you want to lose weight, then you need to reduce your calorie intake.  However, in regard to many issues in the public square today, truth is no longer a matter of common sense.  Truth is a matter of authority.  It’s a matter of presuppositions.  Presuppositions depend upon a man’s religion.

I hear it all the time.  “It’s just common sense.”  I hear it on talk radio, on Fox News, and even in the church.  We Americans have become well-acquainted with the phrase, and it is usually said as the final word on most controversial subjects. Scottish Common Sense Realism was a philosophy that was prominent in the 18^th century.  Thomas Jefferson was associated with these views. Common Sense was the title of the pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to fight a war of independence with Great Britain.

However, maybe the age has come to give up this phrase.  It may be time to ditch it.  Anymore, when I hear the phrase “it only makes common sense,” it just hits me like someone throwing a pie in my face. Christians should realize today that, so very often, common sense is neither common nor does it make any sense.

What many Christians have failed to see is that logic is ultimately dependent upon presuppositions.  Presuppositions are assumptions we hold before we begin to use the rules of logic.  Presuppositions tell me what your world and life view is.  Presuppositions tell me what your religion is. They tell me what values or beliefs you hold that you will not give up, regardless!

Common sense may have been useful in the past when our society was greatly influenced by Christian principles.  I think this is one reason why both Jefferson and Paine both had such a major influence in early America.  However, those days are gone.  It’s time to rethink what is meant by common sense.

For example, it is argued that if two single people love each other then they should be allowed to get married.  This is a very logical statement.  It has made sense to me as a Christian all of my life.  Love leads to marriage.  However, America has changed religions and the old words now have new meanings that align with the new religion.  The meaning of words has been changed to protect the guilty.  Love now may mean lust, and in many states marriage can be between two people of the same gender.  The Bible condemns both lust and sodomy.  This idea of people in love getting married may no longer make sense.

In a recent speech in Rhode Island, President Obama implied that it is only common sense that mothers leave their children in day care and go to work in order to bring more money into the household.  This is nonsense for many Christian mothers I know.  It is a condescending remark that wounds the heart of all mothers who choose to stay at home to raise their children, forego extra income, and be what they believe God wants them to be.

Yes, in some cases even the Devil cannot modify common sense.  For example, if you want to lose weight, then you need to reduce your calorie intake.  However, in regard to many issues in the public square today, truth is no longer a matter of common sense.  Truth is a matter of authority.  It’s a matter of presuppositions.  Presuppositions depend upon a man’s religion.  Beware when you hear people talking about common sense. One man’s common sense may be another man’s nonsense!

Larry E. Ball is a Honorably Retired Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee.