Nice thread OP I would just like to add something about mathematics.

Consciousness is self-aware mathematics. Humanity is walking, talking, feeling, aspiring mathematics. God is the perfect culmination of mathematics. The universe is rational, ordered, and comprehensible only because it is mathematical. Without mathematics, existence would be impossible as anything other than immortal chaos and randomness, devoid of life and any possibility of anything meaningful ever happening. Mathematics is the first language of God. It is also the first language of all human beings, but it is carried in us unconsciously rather than consciously.

Completely stupid sports people who can't add two and two can nevertheless instinctively solve the most difficult mathematical problems. A dumb golfer who can strike a ball hundreds of yards in a high wind and make it land inches from a tiny hole hasn't achieved that feat by some random mechanism. His brain has unconsciously factored in the distance from the hole, the type of club needed, the weather conditions, wind speed, wind direction, force to be exerted on ball, desired trajectory etc. He does it all intuitively. If he got out a piece of paper and tried to perform an explicit mathematical calculation, he wouldn't have a clue where to begin. Yet he does the calculation effortlessly in his subconscious. If he didn't, he could never be a successful golfer. When he plays golf, the golfer is a mathematical wonder machine, performing prodigious calculations in the blink of an eye. Baseball players, hitting a ball or catching it, are the same. Football players, basketball players, ice hockey players…all of them are masters of instinctive mathematics, judging speeds, angles, forces, and trajectories with supreme ease. Inside us all, no matter how much we might consciously detest and fear mathematics, is a mathematical genius. If we could bring that unconscious genius into consciousness, humanity would bound forward with God-sized steps.

Now a little about the use of Common Sense:
Once someone acknowledges that common sense is wrong then it follows that they are placing themselves at the mercy of experts, of the geniuses of the human race who have developed abstract and bewilderingly complicated techniques for understanding the truth of existence. If advanced mathematics is the language of Nature rather than common sense opinion then most people are screwed, right?

What's the point of hanging on to simplistic and false opinions? To comfort yourself? To pander to your vanity? Deep down, most people realize they don't have a clue about the mysteries of life. Some have a spiritual yearning that brings them to sites like this one, and they are to be applauded, yet the vast majority arrogantly dismiss anything they don't understand and bury their heads in the sand. They lap up the religions of faith because these don't demand anything difficult of them.

What is a believer? He is someone who thinks that he is a good person and that he is certainly going to heaven. Well, that's not a hard position to hold, is it? If you ask such a person about quantum mechanics, relativity theory, advanced mathematics, advanced philosophy, advanced theology, he won't have a clue what you're talking about, but what does he care? He's a believer. He's saved. God loves him. End of story.

I'm glad for your diligence OP in matters of this sort. There can never be enough of those who seek the truth