What Is Common Sense?
We live in a world devoid of it.
You really cannot live in this world without it, but so many throw it by the wayside when it becomes inconvenient. So, what is common sense? According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, common sense is, “Sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.”
In the 17th and 18th centuries, some philosophers engaged in “severe skepticism.” They lived in a world of common sense but questioned the obvious truths in front of them. This led Scottish thinker Thomas Reid to formulate a school of philosophy known as “Scottish Common Sense.” He and other proponents of Scottish Common Sense stressed that the foundation of understanding the world comes through common sense. That is, every human has the natural ability through sense perception to understand common ideas as they observe the world around them.
Another thinker of this time also used the term “common sense,” but rather in relation to politics. In 1775, Thomas Paine wrote a document titled, Common Sense Pamphlet. In it, he wrote to the Thirteen American Colonies, listing why it made sense to declare independence from Great Britain. In our day-to-day experience, you hear people talk about common sense all the time. When someone doesn’t understand “the obvious,” you frequently hear something like, “Why don’t you understand? It’s common sense!” Common sense is friends with the truth since, in essence, it is understanding the world the way it really is.
Common Sense on Life
In 2025 America, we have to emphasize common sense because of the widespread war waged against it from the most powerful places. We live in a world that denies obvious realities. It’s controversial to declare that life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13-16). In fact, even many “common-sense Republican” politicians cannot get this simple truth correct. A while back, I heard a U.S. Senator state that this is “not a black-and-white issue.” But in the earliest weeks of pregnancy, remarkably, a child has a beating heart. So how is it possible not to refer to this individual as a person? Both Scripture and science plainly tell us that life begins at conception.
To deny this reality is to defy common sense.
Common Sense on Gender
Then we come to the transgender issue. How can someone with an XY chromosome suddenly become a female? An XY chromosome is always male, and this isn’t something that can be changed (Genesis 1:27). The reality that there is a difference between male and female can be clearly seen on a 20-week ultrasound. When children grow up, the difference between male and female is obvious. As a father of each, I know well. My daughter is drawn to femininity while my son is drawn to masculinity. They are two very different creatures. One is female and one is male, and they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) by God in all their differences. Yet in recent years, we have been lectured constantly by academics that people can choose their own gender and that to say otherwise is hateful and harmful. But to say that one gender can become another is to defy common sense (Thankfully, the Trump administration has already taken action on this issue).
Common Sense on Marriage
Then there is the issue of marriage. Through the ages, most men and women have been attracted to one another and desired someone from the opposite sex to spend life together and raise a family with. Why is this? Because God made it this way. As Scripture teaches, “…God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” It also says, “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Marriage is what makes society work. Husband and wife are united in marriage while they raise their children to function in society and contribute to it. The best parents will raise their children in the ways of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6). When this God-given institution is neglected and attacked, as we have seen in our day, society crumbles. If everyone married the same gender the human race would be doomed. God made it so that only a male and female can have a child (Genesis 1:27-28). The only way for humans to flourish is to follow God’s beautiful design. To say otherwise is to defy common sense.
Common Sense on the Covid-19 Vaccine
Then there is the issue of the COVID-19 vaccine, released to the public in late 2020 and is still with us today. God has made our bodies to fight viruses through our immune systems (Genesis 1:26, 31). To insist that those with natural immunity needed to get a vaccine as much as someone who had never had the virus was silly to say the least. It is common sense that God’s vaccine (natural immunity) is superior to man’s. But natural immunity was not even a consideration for the federal government during the Covid period. There must have been something else besides “science” motivating those who created and required the COVID-19 vaccine. Once the vaccine was released, it caused a multitude of problems. People would take the vaccine and then die shortly after while others experienced minor or sometimes serious health issues. To not acknowledge the faulty narrative and major problems with the COVID-19 vaccine is to defy common sense.
Common Sense and Donald Trump
Back in 2015, Donald Trump ran a campaign on common sense. American elites were shocked in November of 2016 when Trump won the election. What they didn’t understand is that the common man, who frankly knows the real world better than they do, was fed up with the nation’s radical leftward trajectory. That which goes against what the common man knows to be true and good was rejected. This past November he won again for the same reason. Common Americans want things like a secure border and to stop the destruction of transgenderism. They are tired of being called racists because of their skin color, and they are tired of socialism making the middle class poorer and poorer. They want a return to common sense. Newt Gingrich says it well concerning the Trump phenomenon, “Trump is the most effective anti-left politician of the modern era. It is not as if he is writing a William Buckley essay on conservatism. His reaction is common sense. Why would you do things that are silly?”
Common Sense and the Bible
But why should Christians care about common sense? It is important because the Bible is a book of common sense. The Bible tells us how the world really is, and those with their eyes enlightened by the Holy Spirit can see this in full (Ephesians 1:18). We live in a world that tells us there is a God (Genesis 1:1). To say otherwise is a complete neglect of common sense (Romans 1:18-23). We live in a world that is broken, and the Bible tells us why this is. A curse came on this earth when Adam and Even sinned (Genesis 3:17-18). The reason there is so much suffering is because of this curse. Adam and Eve’s sin is also the reason that humans are corrupt and by nature rebellious to God (Romans 5:12). Everyone can see that there is a problem with this world but only the Bible gives the full picture and offers the solution.
The most well-known verse in the Bible is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Everyone must admit that this world is broken, but that starts in our own hearts (Jeremiah 17:9). We all need a Savior, and that Saviour is Jesus (John 14:6). To think that man is good is to deny reality. Truly every human, from conception, desires to go their own way (Isaiah 53:6). Furthermore, to think that this world will keep going as it is defies common sense. This world is approaching its end. Scripture tells us that Christ will return soon (Revelation 22:12).
We live in a world full of lies (1 John 5:19), which is why common sense is lacking.
Common sense is a friend to truth, and as people of the truth, it is also our friend.
