Not so long ago, the term “common sense” was understood as something universally self-evident. However, that no longer applies to much of our society. Sense is apparently no longer self-evident, good, or even common. Instead, the more fitting axiom seems to be the famous line from Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does.”

Consider the suspension of Canadian Bible College Bearcats head coach Taylor Claggett by the Pacific Western Athletic Association. Her offence? Trying to protect her female players from injury at the hands of a 6-foot-2-inch transgender player on the Vancouver Island University Mariners.

Does that seem unreasonable? Is it really common sense to allow biological males to compete against biological females? Who, in this case, is exercising true common sense—the suspended coach, who acted to protect her players, or the governing body that punished her for it?

Apparently, good sense isn’t so common when leaders in government and other institutions seemingly check their collective brains at the door of reality. Every day, we are confronted with absurd decisions heralded as progress. But are they?

If the majority of people believe these decisions are neither right nor good, why do they continue unchallenged?

The Sinister Silence of the Good

There is an old saying: Evil prospers when good people do nothing. The silence of the majority is, in effect, approval of destructive policies and ideas. Some of the biggest enablers of such self-evident foolishness are either fearful cowards or those too ashamed to admit they’ve been deceived. They are victims of what the Bible calls the adversary—the devil—who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

This is an age-old truth. The Hebrew Bible warns in Leviticus 5:1: “If you sin by not stepping up and offering yourself as a witness to something you’ve heard or seen in cases of wrongdoing, you’ll be held responsible.” (The Message)

When we remain silent in the face of overt, self-evident wrongdoing, everyone suffers—and we are held accountable. When what is right is redefined as wrong, and we say nothing, all good sense ceases to be common.

The prophet Isaiah warned of this nearly 2,700 years ago: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). Likewise, the apostle John wrote, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19).

The Remedy

When good sense is no longer common, it is because evil has become dominant—and evil thrives when people turn away from God. The only remedy is to return to the One who created all things good and entrusted us with the responsibility to keep it that way.