Common sense?

Kenyon and I often have conversations about other places and the people who live there. Sometimes he is surprised by the actions of people. He says, "why would they do that? That's just common sense."

To which I reply, "what is common to us is not common all over the world."

For instance, basic hygene like hand washing is not common around the world. Some of our basic understanding about the human body is not a common understanding, heck we get an education in anatonomy and biology just watching pharmaceutical commercials.

I am currently in one of the former soviet republic countries. There is a huge lack of civil society in this part of the world. By that I mean no sense of volunteerism, no feeling of responsibility for your neighbor, in fact a complete disregard for their needs. In my first visit here I was surprised to hear church leaders say they do not think it is the responsibility of the church to help anyone. They give sermons and people either come or they don't. Actions like volunteering are considered social action and it is a great debate about whether to engage or not.

What do you think? Do you think churches should engage in social action?

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