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Stop the Madness

Whatever Happen! To Common Sense

By: Elmer Williams from the Book Whatever Happen To Common Sense

I’m still somewhat shocked at some of the irrational things that seemingly intelligent people believe. I can think of one particular incident where I was visiting a customer for the company I work for and three people were having a conversation about the color of a table while a fourth person listened. One person said the table was black, while another person said he believed it was white. The third person chimed in, saying they were both right if they believed it in their minds.

I thought these people were a bunch of morons. That was one of the most ridiculous things that I had ever heard. When I initially heard the conversation, I thought they were merely joking, but then they invited me into the mindless discussion. I looked at the table and said it might be black or off-black but that no one in their right mind could consider the table white.

Upon my statement, one man said that his truth was that the table was white, and if he believed the table was white then it was white. In other words, his truth was that the table was white. My truth is that he was color blind. This is classic postmodern thinking. The problem is that you can’t go around redefining words or changing colors.

Truth is truth, whether I believe it or not. The man and women commented that he was right because he believed it to be true. How elementary can you be? That would be the same as Ray Charles believing that he’s a race-car driver. Just because he believes he could win the Indy 500 doesn’t make it so.

I have three kids—fifteen, twelve, and nine—and sometimes they say the funniest things. My twelve year old son Josiah has autism, and when he was eight he thought that when he turned ten he’d be a grown-up because ten is his favorite number. Did you get that? Just because the number ten was his favorite number it would magically make him grown. He also likes the letter F so he believes he has a website called Josiahffffff. My nine-year-old Isaiah used to be crazy about Scooby-Doo and even started thinking he was Scooby-Doo. I once told him he couldn’t be Scooby because Scooby is a dog. He told me that “Scooby-Doo was not a dog, he was a Scooby.” In other words, in my son’s mind, Scooby wasn’t a dog or a person; he’s of the Scooby-Doo species.

When my fifteen-year-old Ariah was about three, I told her that Jesus was in her heart if she trusted him as lord and savior. She told me she wanted to see if he was in her heart and I explained that she would see him one day. She thought about it for a minute and said, “Daddy, can I take my heart out so I can see Jesus?” I began to laugh and she looked at me as if I were crazy.

Sometimes kids say the darnedest things. This is what these people made me think about when I was talking with them. I felt as if I were speaking to the Scooby-Doo species. I decided I was going to have a little fun. So I said to the one of the gentleman, “If you believe the wall is a door, does that make it a door?” He thought about it and said yes. So I replied, “When you get ready to leave the room, use your truth and go through the wall.” I also suggested that on his way home, if he encountered a red light, he shouldn’t stop on red but should let his truth drive him through the other vehicles.

I also suggested that if he got stopped by the police, I told him to say that the light was green according to his truth and to see how well that would go for him. My God, have we fallen so far on rational thinking that we have stooped to this extreme?

I like what R.C. Sproul says in his book If There’s a God, Why Are There Atheists: ([i]) “To be sure, the twentieth century has shown a tendency to ignore the law of contradiction as a necessary principle for coherent discourse.” He goes on to say that ([ii]) “In the intellectual community there is often a fascination with statements that are blatant violations of the law of contradiction. At first impact, such statements from supposedly intelligent professors often carry the aura of profundity and produce a sense of awe in the bewildered student.”

When you have people, who really believe their “truth” to be true, without good reason, they become very illogical in their reasoning. Some are even willing to drive completely off the cliff of rational reasoning into the valley of irrational. As the great twentieth-century philosopher Stevie Wonder stated in his hit songs “Superstition,” “When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain’t the way.”

I tried to continue an adult conversation, but it became evident that these people needed an adult to reason on their behalf. I proceeded to ask one of the men if a burglar broke into his home and he had the opportunity to shoot the man to protect his family, would he do it if the burglar said that his truth was to rob his home. The man said he would not shoot the robber; he would rationally speak to him because this was his truth.

I would never, ever want my daughter to marry a wimp like this. That’s not the worst story of them all, though. I asked the young lady there if she had any kids. She said yes, so I asked her a very shocking question: if a man violated one of her children and told her that his truth was to molest him or her, would she accept his truth?

She said something that literary sent chills up my spine. The young woman said that if this was his truth, then it was okay for this guy to violate her children. I’m sorry, not many things shock me, but this was absolutely jaw-dropping. I then understood what postmodern thinking had done to decay our society. I now see why so many child molesters get off with light sentences. This woman should have not been allowed to reproduce.

 I feel sorry for children growing up now. They have no real guidance, nor do they ever see great leadership unless they do a lot of reading.

I like what Os Guinness says in his book A Time for Truth. ([iii]) “Far from being a naive and reactionary notion, truth is one of the simplest, most precious gifts without which we would not be able to handle reality or negotiate life.” He goes on to say, ([iv]) “…truth is a vital requirement not only for individuals who would live a good life but for free societies that would remain free.” I wish our leaders and more citizens understood this.