of years.
Christians have long traditionally held that the conscience is like an inner witness or court in which we stand either guilty or innocent; morally blameworthy or praiseworthy.
Naturalists and materialists deny the immaterial nature of the conscience and instead attempt to explain it away with purely physical descriptive terms.
In the view of the naturalist, the conscience is little more than
In the view of the naturalist, the conscience is little more than
a chemical illusion created by our brain(s); a vestigial byproduct of blind evolutionary forces.
What is the Conscience?
Let's make a brief attempt to put into writing what we know about the conscience
from Scripture and from our own personal experience. The conscience is a component of our spiritual nature.This much should be apparent to us.
I have memories from a very early age on
of feeling a strong sense of 'conviction' or 'guilt'
upon doing something which was wrong.
Sometimes this was in spite of not having been explicitly told that a particular
action was right or wrong.
Conviction then, is the personal sensation of apprehending the 'rightness' or 'wrongness' of something through the witness of our conscience.
Sometimes this was in spite of not having been explicitly told that a particular
action was right or wrong.
Conviction then, is the personal sensation of apprehending the 'rightness' or 'wrongness' of something through the witness of our conscience.
It is very
difficult to deny the testimony of our own conscience since, just like our
awareness of our own physical states and sensations, the knowledge of our conscience
is a priori.
awareness of our own physical states and sensations, the knowledge of our conscience
is a priori.
We arrive at knowledge of the condition of our own conscience prior to any recourse to intellectual discourse or logic. We don't reason our way to a conclusion; we just know.
The Phenomenon of Guilt-Causing Stop Signs
According to Scripture:
The
conscience stands in direct relation to God. (Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16; Rom 2:15; 1 Tim 1:19; 1 Tim 3:9; 2 Tim 1:3; Heb 10:2; 1 Pet 2:19)
We know this is true also from such verses as Prov 14:31 and Prov 17:5 where a clear relationship is defined between a person's actions and their relation to God.
The
word used in the Hebrew is châraph which literally means to expose,
shame, defame or blaspheme. How are we shaming God by our despicable treatment of the poor or the helpless?
We shame God because our actions are a direct violation of God's goodness and nature.
We shame God because our actions are a direct violation of God's goodness and nature.
Our actions do not merely violate the victim of the crime; they also violate God.
In this way, our actions or lack thereof stand in direct relation to God's attributes.
And we are made intuitively aware of this relation by the power of our conscience.
And we are made intuitively aware of this relation by the power of our conscience.
When one runs a stop light, one does not feel guilt toward the stop light.
To do so would be foolishness, as it is just an object indicating what we ought to do.
One does not feel guilt for disobeying an object. One feels guilt directed towards a personal causative agent.
I feel guilt toward a person if I harm them wrongly. I feel guilt for taking something that does not belong to me. In this manner then, feelings of guilt brought upon us by our conscience make sense only in relation to a moral Lawgiver; God.
Paul writes that the invisible attributes of God were made known to men since the creation of the world. How? Because that which is known about God is made evident within them. (Rom 1:18-20)
Apprehending Moral Qualities
The conscience informs us of the moral qualities of actions.
(2 Cor 1:12; 2 Cor 4:2; 2 Cor 5:11; Heb 10:2)
Clearly, the conscience enables us to apprehend the moral
qualities of the world surrounding us. But what we need to recognize is
this.
According to the Christian position moral qualities only exist because of God Himself.
We must understand that without God there would not only be nothing,
there would also be no moral quality to anything at all!
According to the Christian position moral qualities only exist because of God Himself.
We must understand that without God there would not only be nothing,
there would also be no moral quality to anything at all!
It is only in relation to God's divine nature that an action (or lack thereof)
can be viewed as good or evil.
Based upon the Divine Paradigm Theory outlined earlier in our chapter regarding God's attributes, these qualities themselves stem from God's existence. Without Him they would not be at all.
can be viewed as good or evil.
Based upon the Divine Paradigm Theory outlined earlier in our chapter regarding God's attributes, these qualities themselves stem from God's existence. Without Him they would not be at all.
So the critical fact that we uncover here is that our conscience (at least at some fundamental level)
reveals God's nature to us.
reveals God's nature to us.
Instrument of the Holy Spirit
The conscience can serve as an instrument of the Holy Spirit.
(Rom 9:1; John 16:7-11; in relation to John 14:26)
It
seems from Scripture that our conscience can be in direct contact with
the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit can speak to us
through our conscience.
Anyone who has come under profound conviction during a moment such as when someone was witnessing to them about the Gospel should know that even unsaved individuals can experience the sensation that comes from the Holy Spirit witnessing to the truth.
Anyone who has come under profound conviction during a moment such as when someone was witnessing to them about the Gospel should know that even unsaved individuals can experience the sensation that comes from the Holy Spirit witnessing to the truth.
I will share
another example from my personal life.
When I was a boy, I was saved. But over the course of many long years I fell into
When I was a boy, I was saved. But over the course of many long years I fell into
habitual
sin; I backslid. One day I was driving home and prayed a simple prayer to God for help.
My life was falling to pieces and I saw no possible way to repair the damage that had been done.
An immediate feeling of God's presence washed over me and with it came a strong sense
of conviction.
My life was falling to pieces and I saw no possible way to repair the damage that had been done.
An immediate feeling of God's presence washed over me and with it came a strong sense
of conviction.
When I got home, I walked into the bedroom in the trailer where my wife and I were then living, picked up a Bible, dusty from lack of use, and began to read the Gospel of Matthew.
The feeling of conviction remained with me and continued to grow stronger as I neared the end of the book. Finally I put the Bible down and wept before the Lord.
|I turned my life back over to Him that day and He has been working on me ever since.
Shortly after this conversion experience, within a month or so, I once again came under
conviction yet again.
This time the direction was that I needed to be baptized. So I followed through with it.
conviction yet again.
This time the direction was that I needed to be baptized. So I followed through with it.
Now my goal is not to provide any substantiating evidence or lack thereof through relating my personal experiences.
In giving examples from my own life, I am providing experiences which any Christian should be able to relate to. These sensations provide evidence that the Holy Spirit is indeed able to work powerfully through our conscience to influence us in the direction of the truth.
I believe that our conscience can be influenced by the Spirit for more ends than merely
the original experience of salvation or being influenced toward that end.
It is my belief that our conscience can also be worked on by the Spirit to guide us
to do things we are meant to do according to God's will.
This quiet voice is easy to resist, however. And with habitual rebellion
against it, the conscience becomes damaged.
'Searing' Your Conscience
The conscience can be damaged by repeated offense. (1 Cor 8:7; 1 Cor 8:12; 1 Tim 4:2; Tit 1:15)
Once
again, speaking from personal experience, I remember as a child having
such a strong sense of 'wrongness' or 'rightness' about things.
But as I grew older and began to manifest and enforce my own stubborn nature and will over the quiet inner voice of my conscience.
But as I grew older and began to manifest and enforce my own stubborn nature and will over the quiet inner voice of my conscience.
Eventually
that inner voice got quieter and quieter, until one day I could no
longer
hear it at all. I had effectively 'killed' my conscience.
Killing your conscience leads to worry-free experience of guilty pleasure,
but it is a terrible place to be in your life.
Just like a leper who has been deadened to sensation, we can
continue to engage in terrible selfishness that is damaging us and hurting us
on the inside without noticing the immediate effects.
We can get to the point where we literally don't even care about the effects
of our decisions and actions on other people around us.
This is what sin and deadening our conscience can do. The wages of sin is death.
It can also be a terrifying condition, just like becoming so accustomed to lying
to yourself that you begin to actually believe your own lies.
A person in this condition is so damaged in their conscience and in their spirit
that they cannot even distinguish basic truths any longer.
hear it at all. I had effectively 'killed' my conscience.
Killing your conscience leads to worry-free experience of guilty pleasure,
but it is a terrible place to be in your life.
Just like a leper who has been deadened to sensation, we can
continue to engage in terrible selfishness that is damaging us and hurting us
on the inside without noticing the immediate effects.
We can get to the point where we literally don't even care about the effects
of our decisions and actions on other people around us.
This is what sin and deadening our conscience can do. The wages of sin is death.
It can also be a terrifying condition, just like becoming so accustomed to lying
to yourself that you begin to actually believe your own lies.
A person in this condition is so damaged in their conscience and in their spirit
that they cannot even distinguish basic truths any longer.
Restoration of the Conscience
There's good news, though.
The conscience can be restored by the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. (Heb 9:14; Heb 10:22; 1 Pet 3:21; Tit 3:5; Psa 51:10; Ezek 36:25-27)
After my conversion, I began to notice within a relatively short period of time that things which hadn't bothered me in years now
caused me to feel sensations of guilt.
According to the Scripture, when we come to salvation we are cleansed and regenerated by
According to the Scripture, when we come to salvation we are cleansed and regenerated by
the blood of Jesus and by the work of the Holy Spirit.
As we draw near to the Lord, and daily walk with Him, He begins a (sometimes) long and difficult process of purifying us from the stains of our previous life to that point.
This often takes a lifetime and really depends on our cooperation with His will.
But
I firmly believe that as we allow Him to do this work within us, we
become increasingly more sensitive in our conscience to things which
are wrong.As we draw near to the Lord, and daily walk with Him, He begins a (sometimes) long and difficult process of purifying us from the stains of our previous life to that point.
This often takes a lifetime and really depends on our cooperation with His will.
Conclusion
I'm going to wrap up this chapter here.
A further study on the conscience and its connections all throughout Scripture would
be a huge undertaking and one which I definitely do not have time to encompass
here. I trust that the groundwork has been laid for what follows.
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