Seeing and hearing

I heard someone say it again the other day: Common sense isn’t very common these days.

I’ve written about that subject several times over the years, and it still strikes me as one of the most unfortunate circumstances in the modern world and one that is leading the masses in the wrong direction.

It’s not so much that almost everything is over-analyzed nowadays, although there’s no arguing that is surely the case.

And it’s not so much that almost everything is so complicated and confusing, although that, too, is happening for sure.

To me, it’s more a matter of how so many people simply ignore good old common sense in favor of all kinds of nonsensical explanations, declarations and proclamations. And it’s a matter of how all of the nonsense originates with these pompous, self-proclaimed “authorities” who will stop at nothing to build up and sell what they want to promote. Yep, the same people doing the most “correcting,” “educating” and “enlightening” are actually the ones most out of line with genuine, tangible truth.

And I get very irritated and disappointed at the way everything they proclaim is supposed to be taken seriously – or even blindly accepted – no matter how off-base it is. You see and hear it on national news broadcasts all the way down to letters to the editor in small town print publications; the lies and deception are everywhere, and in peoples’ defense, it can often be difficult to sift through it and find what’s valid and real.

And all the while, the folks who are most guilty of steering people off course act as if they’re the least. The same ones guiding the lemmings toward the cliff are the ones sounding off like they’re the only hope of staying on level ground.

The impending result of the fight between common sense and the movement to push it aside? Reduced opportunities and privileges, and lost freedoms.

Anyway, while I wish otherwise, I suspect it’s not going to change and the cliff will get increasingly closer because there are many, many people who aren’t able to discern between truth and deception. And although it’s arguably one of the biggest problems being faced by humanity at the present, it’s nothing new. As the Bible points out, seeing and hearing doesn’t guarantee recognition and discernment.

The Apostle Paul gives clear warning in Romans 11:8.

“As it is written: God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”

The same warning is issued in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 12:2.

“Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”

But then, people have long been easily manipulated and swayed by convincing and enticing “winds of doctrine.” Check out what Paul said in Ephesians 4:14.

“So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Welcome to early 2024.

Lord, forgive our rebelliousness and thank you for eyes that see and ears that hear.

Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.