The Ken Johnson Group / August 1, 2005 Featured Article

The Death of Common Sense

Where Has All the Common Sense Gone?

by Ken Johnson

Do you remember the melody of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” do you remember that old folk song? Change the words to: “Where has all the common sense gone, long time passing.” It works well, try it.

The other day I was thinking about common sense and realized that there isn’t much around anymore. Later that same day I talked to my music education student about Mr. Common Sense. She said she tries to teach common sense to her students and has found most of her students didn’t even know what she was talking about.

Interestingly enough, while I was contemplating good old common sense the following death notice arrived in my e-mail box. I don’t have any idea who came up with it, but I want to acknowledge them and thank them for their work. This is how it goes:

R.I.P.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense.

Mr. Sense had been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how
old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red
tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valu(able) lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge). His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing
a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Mr. Sense declined even further when we required schools to get parental
consent to administer aspirin to a student; but could not inform the
parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments
became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize
that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit in her lap, and
was awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He
is survived by two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If
you still remember him, pass this on; if not, join the majority and do
nothing.

What do you think? Is this true in your neck of the woods? Do you know anyone that truly exhibits common sense? Think about it—I assume you will probably have a difficult time coming up with even a short list. However, it’s likely easy to create a list of people who don’t display common sense. What a sad commentary on our society. I can remember when I was young, (I am 63 now) my mother and many of her friends used common sense in almost everything they did from raising their children, to work, and to their personal lives. Am I saying that they always used common sense? No, but they showed the value of common sense. I don’t see this attribute in most of the people I work with or interact with today.

Two areas where a lot of common sense is needed are the church and education. These are also the two areas where I see the least common sense displayed. Here I’m speaking about the lack of common sense in the church.

A little common sense would make a difference in several areas.

First, change. This has caused the most insurmountable problems in our churches for centuries. Usually even minor changes have torn churches apart. Things like changing the order of worship, changing the format of the church bulletin, and using a lectern instead of the “regular” pulpit. These are minor changes, but I have seen churches literally torn asunder because of them. I recently talked to a parishioner who, when the pulpit wasn’t put back on the platform, because there was not enough time between services said: “How can we have worship without the pulpit in place?” I reminded him that the pulpit had nothing to do with worship it was just a piece of wooden furniture and we could worship with or without it. He didn’t buy my reasoning. Oh well. What have we come to when the pulpit is more important than the people? If we have such big struggles with just the minor things, you can see why major situations become impossible to conquer.

The second is abortion. This is something we will never have unanimous agreement on, but we need to make an attempt toward a common ground. We need to quit making Christians look like a bunch of fools. We are scaring people away from the Word because of how we treat each other and God will not judge us kindly on this matter. There are two distinct sides to this issue and right now common sense doesn’t have any place in the battle. How sad. Even though I would prefer a world without abortion there are times when an abortion is needed. Why can’t we look honestly at both sides and come up with a common sense position that will be acceptable to all people?

A third area is the area of leadership. Why do we have to continue the antiquated way in which we choose pastors? Granted, this is mostly a mainline church problem, but it is also occurring in most denominations. Independent churches are the only ones who don’t battle over this problem. Why are the only “real” leaders in most denominations “seminary trained” and “ordained?” If you do a little research, its apparent most growing churches don’t have such a hard line leadership requirement. Incidentally, if I’m not mistaken Jesus didn’t have a seminary degree. Let me know if I’m wrong.

Do boards with their own agenda really need to govern our churches? Sure sometimes pastors make wrong decisions so we need checks and balances, but in most mainline churches the governing board wields all the power and churches are languishing. When will we allow the pastor to lead the church and develop other leaders? When this finally happens I predict the church of Jesus Christ will begin to grow and flourish.

As you know there are many more areas of the church that need a little common sense I haven’t even gotten to first base. Let’s see what we can do to bring common sense back into our personal lives as well as the life of the church. We may all have to relearn what common sense is because we have not exercised it for so long, but I believe we can revive it. Common sense. Try it! You may like it, or at least learn to like it over a period of time.