Conscience

Conscience.  Conscience is a curious thing. Is it a principle, an ability, a mechanism? Different from consciousness, which is the mind’s self-awareness (e.g., “I think therefore I am” [René Descartes), a conscience is more like one’s inner lawyer constantly assessing before decisions and evaluating after actions for moral purity. When the conscience is clear, the result is relief. When the conscience is conflicted, the result is guilt. But relief and guilt sit on a sliding scale, capable of eliciting both true and false relief as well as true and false guilt.

A conscience can be awakened, aligned, and matured by knowing and submitting to the revealed word of God. However, a conscience can be corrupted, defiled, and seared by actively suppressing the truth. Conscience is a tool, therefore, whether for good or evil.

Every human has a conscience in the way that Solomon described it: “[God] has put eternity in man’s heart” (Eccles. 3:11a), with the important caveat, “yet … he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Eccles. 3:11b). Therefore, a conscience is placed by God in all humans but bent by sin in all humans. By itself, a conscience is an unreliable guide without the truth and power of God to guide and govern it. “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 2:14-16). Conscience is not the judge, but God is.

The unrighteous do whatever they can, whereas the righteous do whatever they must. But the unrighteous and the righteous may, internally, while acting in diametrically opposite ways still operate in accordance with their own consciences. Thus, a conscience alone is insufficient to navigate morality. For instance, it is unconscionable for some Palestinians to acknowledge the existence of Israel, not to mention concede to the reality that it is Israel that allows Palestinians to live in cultural enclaves, such as Gaza, inside Israel’s internationally recognized territory. [Last weekend’s invasion by Hamas into Israel was abominable in every way.] Likewise, it is unconscionable for the Jews to permit passively and interminably the rocket attacks, invasions, kidnappings, bombings, and murders of its citizens by Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria, etc., without swift military responses. [This week’s retaliation by Israel into Gaza is politically and morally legitimate.] Either way however, while the individual’s conscience internally legitimizes his or her action, it is the truth of God and not the human conscience that establishes right and wrong. Humans have a conscience but need the Spirit.