Insights from the Word
  • Home
  • Articles
    • 2000 Articles 1-7 >
      • 1. The Perfect Storm
      • 2. Biographical Update
      • 3. Why so much Judgment?
      • 4. Glasses come in Pairs
      • 5. Why so much about Church?
      • 6. Reflections on an Election
      • 7. For Me to Live is Maintenance
    • 2001 Articles 8-22 >
      • 8. From Common Sense to nonsense
      • 9. Left Behind
      • 10. Owners or Guardians?
      • 11. From Honeymoon Harmony to Divorce
      • 12. For Goodness Sake
      • 13. A Perfect Prayer
      • 14. No is not a Negative
      • 15. What My Shoes have Taught Me
      • 16. For Mercy Sake
      • 17. The Attack on America
      • 18. The Motivation of a Sucide Terrorest
      • 19. The Message of the Terorist
      • 20. The Anthrax Scare
      • 21. Real Thanksgiving
      • 22. I have been Robbed!
    • 2002 Articles 23-39 >
      • 23. A Tribute to George
      • 24. Church Math
      • 25. Marriage Math
      • 26. How Sad
      • 27. The Anatomy of an Affair
      • 28. "I have a Problem."
      • 29. When
      • 30. Sport History
      • 31. Under God
      • 32. An "Honest" Thief
      • 33. Why does Life have to be so Difficult?
      • 34. A Tribute to Maria
      • 35. What Jesus' Words Have Taught Me
      • 36. Who Ministers to the Minister?
      • 37. The Whiner
      • 38. Reckoned Righteous by Works
      • 39. Are New Year's Resolutions Biblical?
    • 2003 Articles 40-53 >
      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
      • 41. Your Memorial Table
      • 42. George W. Bush Verses Saddam Hussein
      • 43. Learning to Listen
      • 44. The Problem with Gambling
      • 45. Memorial Day
      • 46. My Ecounter with an Orthhodox Jew
      • 47. Scott Free
      • 48. What My Auto Accident Taught Me
      • 49. The Decline in Family Living
      • 50. Give Me a Problem
      • 51. Decoding the Da Vinci Code
      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
    • 2004 Articles 54-67 >
      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
      • 55. What are Parents to Do?
      • 56. "The Passion of Christ"
      • 57. Martha Stewart's Greatest Lesson
      • 58. Same Sex Marriage
      • 59. A Tribute to a Servant
      • 60. Happy Marriages
      • 61. Independence
      • 62. Kerry's Logic
      • 63. The Olympic Spirit
      • 64. Playing Cards
      • 65. Cardinal Virtures
      • 66. Now that the Election is over
      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
    • 2005 Articles 68-79 >
      • 68. Real Spiritual Growth
      • 69. No Time to Think
      • 70. The Ten Commandments Controversy
      • 71. Do We Need a Pope?
      • 72. Everybody Loves Raymond
      • 73. Examples Worthy of Note
      • 74. How Two Different People Learned to Get Along
      • 75. "The God who Wasn't"
      • 76. Katrina and Now Rita!
      • 77. Would You Say "No" to $4 Million?
      • 78. "In God We Trust"
      • 79. The Redemption of Tookie Willaims
    • 2006 Articles 80-91 >
      • 80. Is Religion a Problem?
      • 81. The Rights of the Born
      • 82. Did You Hear What She Said about Muslims?
      • 83. Judas: Betrayer or Best Friend?
      • 84. Weekend or Week--Beginning?
      • 85. A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
      • 86. Your Relationship to the Word of God
      • 87. What an Opportunity!
      • 88. America's Four Gods
      • 89. How to Deal with Your Enemies
      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
    • 2007 Articles 92-104 >
      • 92. I can Afford it!
      • 93. The Gospel according to Patricia
      • 94. The Functional Church
      • 95. Who wants to Deal with a Taxman?
      • 96. Vital Virtures
      • 97. Have You Grown up Yet?
      • 98. A July 4th Reminder
      • 99. The Volume of Silence
      • 100. Biblical Illiteracy
      • 101. A Modest Political Propospal
      • 102. How to Handle Credit Cards
      • 103. When it is Tough to be Thankful
      • 104. Romney's Religion
    • 2008 Articles 105-114 >
      • 105. Continue
      • 106. A Tribute to Jack
      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
      • 108. Happy Birthday
      • 109. The Most Important Room in the House
      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
      • 111. Be Sensible
      • 112. To Be Like Christ
      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
    • 2009 Articles 115-126 >
      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
      • 119. 24-7-365
      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
      • 121. "Suggestions"
      • 122. Making a Mark
      • 123. God's Timing
      • 124. Jesus Wept
      • 125. Andrew
      • 126. The Cost of Service
    • 2010 Articles 127-138 >
      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
      • 133. A Hassle Reduction Strategy
      • 134. Gossip
      • 135. My Favorite Poem
      • 136. Let's Put the Cross in its Place
      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
      • 144. Socialism
      • 145. Union, Unity, and Uniformity
      • 146. Get in the Way
      • 147. "Let George do it."
    • 2012 Articles 148-160 >
      • 148. Truth or Consequences
      • 149. Don't Leave Home without it
      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
      • 154. Thomas Jefferson
      • 155. Taxes
      • 156. You Must be Present to Win
      • 157. A Grandfather's Wish
      • 158. Trials. Temptations, and Tests
      • 159. Is There a Santa Claus?
      • 160. A Tribute to Sumner Wemp
    • 2013 Articles 161-172 >
      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
      • 168. God's Answer to Atheism
      • 169. Obedience
      • 170. The Problem of Fellowship with God
      • 171. Character Development
      • 172. For Mercy's Sake
    • 2014 Articles 173-180 >
      • 173. Lies
      • 174. Endure to the End
      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
      • More articles will be added as they are written
  • Basic Courses
    • The Spiritual Life
    • The Family Life (The Ultimate in Marriage)
    • The Christian Life
    • Bible Overview (The Plane View of the Bible)
    • Bible Survey (The Bible: Book by Book)
    • Bible Doctrine (Relating Doctrine to Daily Life)
    • Bible Evangelism (Evangelism without Fear)
    • Bible Study (Oh to Know the Truth)
    • Bible Teaching (How to Prepare Effective Messaages)
    • Church History
  • Advanced Courses
    • The Formation of the Bible (the canon)
    • The Translation of the Bible
    • The Chronology of the Bible
    • The Historical Accuracy of the Bible
    • Jewish Prophecies of the Messiah
    • The Synoptic Problem
    • The Riddle of Revelation
  • Topical Studies
    • Struggling with Assurance
    • Eternal Security
    • Prayer
    • The Will of God
    • The 5 Principles
    • Are Believers under the Mosaic Law?
    • Why So Many Denominations?
    • Natural Disasters
    • The Explanation of Mass Murder
    • Do we need a Pope?
    • More Topical Studies coming
  • Theological Studies
    • Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?
    • Roman Catholicism
    • Calvinism
    • Lordship Salvation: Is it Biblical?
    • John MacArthur Jr.'s System of Salvation
    • The Miraculous Today
    • Should you seek the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
    • Speaking in Tongues
  • More
    • Free Commentaries >
      • Ruth
      • Proverbs
    • Free Books >
      • Optimum Health
    • Free Audio Messages
    • Books For Sale >
      • Evangelism: A Biblical Approach
      • Repentance: The Most Misunderstood Word in the Bible
      • Salvation Controversy
      • Joshua
      • Daniel
      • Amos
      • Jonah
      • Gospel of John
      • Galatians
      • Titus
    • About Mike
    • Contact Mike

             From Common Sense to Nonsense

  Common sense has never been universally common, but it sure seems less common now than at any time I can remember. As I survey the current scene, it appears to me that we have gone from common sense to nonsense.

Item: A six-year-old boy in Lexington, NC was suspended for a day, banned from attending an ice cream party, and sent home. His crime? Sexual harassment. He kissed a female classmate on the cheek.

Item: A six-year-old boy in California was red-carded for playing tag during recess. The explanation? Tag involves touching and that is clearly groping and foreplay.

Item: A sixty-two year old grandma in Cincinnati committed an act of random kindness by feeding money into parking meters to save a motorist she never met from getting a ticket. She was charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction of official business. She was arraigned and released on $1500 bail.

You have heard of these kinds of goings on. What is going on? We have lost our moral compass. True right and wrong are in line with God’s plumb line. Once right and wrong were set in stone. Even when the standard drifted into man-made mandates, right was still right, wrong was still wrong, and everyone knew where the line was.

Not any more. We have replaced right and wrong with legal and illegal, divine morality with political correctness. The consequences have been devastating.

In our desire to perform acceptably (and avoid litigation), we no longer have reasonable judgment by reasoning individuals. We pursue rules and correctness. We have abandoned personal responsibility and have become moral cowards. As someone has so well said, “It takes guts to make decisions that stray from the black and white of rigid written rules into the gray of judgment calls,” as seen in the above items. We’ve lost courage. We’re cowards who hide behind correctness, conformity, and comfort.

Without a moral compass, we don’t know where we are and we don’t know which way to turn. Recently, a lady whose compass needle is broken came to see me. She told me exactly what she intended to do and it was all wrong. Soo …. I gently, but firmly and plainly told her what was the Biblical thing to do. She looked puzzled, deeply disturbed, and finally said, “Now I’m totally confused.” I thought to myself, “How could you possibly be confused? I just told you precisely what God Himself, told you to do.” The truth was, she was really confused! When your compass is broken, you are confused.

We need a moral compass so we can be “sensible.” There is a Greek word in the New Testament that means “sane, sensible, self-controlled.” Elders must have it (cf. “sober-minded” in Tit. 1:8). Older men should have it (“temperate” in Tit. 2:2). Older women should use it (“admonish” in Tit. 2:4). Younger women (“discreet” in Tit. 2:5), younger men (“sober-minded” in Tit. 2:6), and everybody (“soberly” in Tit. 2:12) needs it!

                                            © G. Michael Cocoris, 1/27/2001

Proudly powered by Weebly