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A sign in the form of a large arrow with the words Common Sense in white on a red background, the arrow on a post against a blue background.

COMMON SENSE in 
Religion and Life

"Common sense” is “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/common%20sense It is an attribute of human intelligence, as is also the conscience. Developing normally, without contaminants that alter their rightly educated pristine nature, both can contribute powerfully to one’s ability to correctly discern between what is clear or distorted, correct or erroneous, real or fictitious, good or bad, truth or lie, authentic or false.

A photograph of a statue of an Indian goddess illustrates the worship of idols, illustration for the subject Common Sense in Religion and Life.

For example, consider the statue at the right. It could be copper, silver, marble, some metal, ceramic, alabaster, wood, hard plastic, or any other material substance. Common Sense, free of preconceptions, superstitious fears, or a strong fascination with
phantasies and the occult, says:

“That statue does not have any life whatsoever. It is a human creation. It does not
breathe. Cannot talk or walk. Does not think. Does not possess any power at all.
If you knock it over, it will not be able to stand up on its own. If it is made of fragile material, it will break into pieces and never be able to reincorporate itself.”

Suppose the owner of the statue, or anyone referring to it, says: “This statue is sacred
and very powerful. Give her an offering, kneel before her, and, trusting, ask her for anything you really want. You will be blessed. Sooner or later, your petition will be
granted. Just believe and you will see.”

Below. A statue of the god Elegua. "In Africa, he is known as Èṣù-Ẹlẹ́gbára in the Yoruba religion and is closely associated with Eshu. Ẹlẹ́gbára means the 'master of force' in the Yoruba language." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegua

A statue of the African god Elegua dressed in a lion cloth, standing, with a sword in his right hand and a sacred cylinder in the left, chains around his neck and one hanging down his chest.

Common Sense, sane and intelligent, exempt from the power of dangerous suggestion, making use of its faculty to reason naturally and normally, with “sound and prudent judgment based on simple perception,” responds within the chambers of your mind and spirit: “That is illogical: the statue continues 

                to be lifeless and powerless innate material substance, no  matter what
             anyone thinks, says or does.”

In truth, it is not necessary for any other person to tell you that, for Common Sense has simply declared the obvious and indisputable. The statue has no live brain, no beating heart, no blood, and no “spirit” within or around it. It is simply inert matter. Pronouncements, blessings, and beliefs of priests, theologians, teachers, shamans, and their followers to the contrary. Throughout the Bible, God himself backs up Common Sense, repeatedly and roundly condemning attributing powers to, prostration before, and worship of “idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.” Revelation 9:20

Common Sense, sane and reasonable, makes another obvious deduction, to wit: “Any
      religion the life and worship of which revolves around material images is lacking in         credibility, for it is founded on unrealities, fictions, and superstitions.” Of course, this greatly offends the practitioners of such religions in whom traditions and cultures,

inculcated since infancy, have impeded the normal growth of Common Sense, leaving it atrophied and mute. The remedy is to revive it and pay attention to it.

A photograph up close of scores of Pentecostals, mostly women, with arms held high and mouths open in typical charismatic praise worship.

Another example. You observe a group of worshipers who are vociferating unintelligible expressions, praying aloud, groaning, and moaning, all of them at the same time, with frenetic gestures and dancing. Common Sense, sane and normal, says: “This looks completely abnormal. Confusion, disorder, shouting. Noisy, ecstatic worship totally unintelligible. Those people are acting as if they were crazy.”

Even though, in the context of this example,
Common Sense in many observers might not
have any Bible knowledge, his judgment is sound, right on the mark. They “are out of” their “mind.” That is exactly the judgment “outsiders and unbelievers” would likely make who observe such phenomena in religious people, whatever their affiliation, today just as in the first century. 1 Corinthians 14:23

Common Sense, free of human indoctrination, dictates that a human being should always speak “words easy to be understood,” for if he does not, he will be “speaking into the air.” That, if he cannot, he should “keep silence.” That when people come together, they should speak “in turn,” “one by one.” That “all things” should “be done for edification,” “decently and in order.” As a matter of fact, that is exactly what God teaches in chapter 14 of the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, for he is not “the author of confusion” but of peace, order, and Common Sense in all matters and actions.

Another example. Common Sense, objective and upright, not cast aside or killed by humanism, sensualism, and Darwinian atheism, nor by militants with sexual and social agendas, judges that a human being who is born with masculine, biological sexual organs should, naturally, grow up and mature as a male human being, projecting himself as such, and not denying or altering his biological, DNA, sexual identity. That a human being born with feminine,

An image of the red symbol and the blue symbol for female and male respectively.

biological sexual organs should do the same with regard to her sexual identity. That any inclination by the male human to conceive of himself as a female, and any inclination by the female human to conceive of herself as male, should be strongly and continually resisted in mind, soul, heart, and spirit until the natural biological, DNA identity is firmly fixed. In both cases, without resorting to invasive physical interventions.

Just as, in the same way, tendencies and temptations to sexual promiscuity, adultery, pornography, alcoholism, drug addiction, gluttony, swearing, blaspheming, racism, rage, dishonesty, lying, abusive treatment, violence, crime, etc., have to be vigorously combatted on every level until eliminated.

A powerful desire to be a disciplined, healthy person, fortified even more by wanting, with all one’s heart, to live in harmony with the divine will for the human race and be saved eternally, is vital for triumphing over every propensity to immoral, destructive, criminal conduct.

“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NRSVA

Another example. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.” Acts 2:38; 22:16. Common Sense, with simple, uncomplicated perception, understands and sets it down that baptism is

A photograph of a large, square yellow sign set at a 90% angle, with a black border and the words in large black letters Yield to the Power of Common Sense, against an abstract dark bluish background.

necessary for one’s sins to be forgiven. 

And that is indubitably so, for all the relevant texts of the New Testament on the divine purpose of baptism do not leave room for doubt, invalid counterarguments of fallible theologians, nor just pure sophisms. Mark 16:15-16; Romans 6:3-7; Galatians 3:27; 1 Peter 3:21, etc. Notwithstanding, more or less 97% of Evangelicals and Pentecostals categorically deny, some with angry fanatism, that the divine purpose of baptism is “for the forgiveness of sins.” They read the exact words of Acts 2:38, and in the next breath say: “Baptism IS ABSOLUTELY and CATEGLORICALLY NOT FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.” Before such a bold rejection of such a clear biblical truth, Common Sense is left speechless, stricken by such bald spiritual recklessness.

Respected reader, if you are among that 97%, I beseech you to please allow Common Sense to come back to life in your mind and heart, leading you to accept the reality of “Repent, and be baptized... so that your sins may be forgiven,” taking steps to be biblically baptized as soon as possible and to be added to the church that practices valid baptism, honoring God’s clearly stated purpose for it.

Text and Document Composition by the author Homer Dewayne Shappley. All rights reserved. The only restrictions on the use of this document are the sale of it in any format and proper identification of its origin.

All rights reserved by the author.

Questions or doubts? I would be happy to hear from you.  hshappley@yahoo.com 

Category. Light for the Mind and Spirit.

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