Quote from Forum Archives on July 31, 2005, 7:25 pm

Posted by: biblenotes <biblenotes@...>

An Undefiled Conscience

 

"...Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth."  Romans 14:22

 

 "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and CONSCIENCE is defiled."  Titus 1:15

 

 "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil CONSCIENCE, ..."  Hebrews 10:22

 

Is your conscience bothering you?  Does your conscience condemn or compliment you?  Do you have a good conscience or a bad one?  Is your conscience working properly?  Is it strong or weak; clean or defiled?  Are you listening to your conscience, smothering your conscience, or just ignoring it?

 

Someone might ask, "What is the conscience?".  Some answer by saying that it is the voice of God in our hearts; but, this is not entirely true, because God's voice cannot be corrupted, and the Bible teaches that the conscience can be.  No doubt, God does speak through our conscience; He uses it to help us.  The conscience is a part of our multi-faceted being.  It is not physical, but an aspect of our spiritual and mental existence.  While I do not claim to understand the conscience entirely, I believe the Bible gives us some understanding of what it is and how it works -- more the latter than the former.

 

God has given us a conscience to help us to know and to follow the right path, to do what is right, to shun what is wrong, to entertain the right attitudes and to nurture a healthy thought life.  In short, I gather that the conscience has a very important role in showing us our moral condition and in giving us a sense of right and wrong.  In the following words from the epistle to the Romans, we see that conscience is used by God in guiding souls who lack knowledge of the Scriptures:

 

"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)"   Romans 2:14-15

 

But, now we come to the main reason for this Bible Note.  We would do well to take care of our conscience and to follow it as long as it leads us closer to God and farther from sin.  We should be very careful not to damage our conscience or the consciences of others.

 

A Conscience in Good Working Order

 

The conscience is made in such a way that it may be educated and adjusted.  As long as it is properly educated and adjusted to work correctly, it can be a very helpful guide.  But, the conscience is part of our humanity and is subject to abuse and misinformation.  Therefore, conscience is not an infallible guide.  We should double check what our conscience says against what the Word of God teaches.

 

When in doubt do not disregard the voice of conscience.  The cause of much unhappiness and of many spiritually fatal mistakes is the attitude and decision that disregards conscience when doubtful issues arise.  As the first verse quoted in this email states, one will be happy or blessed of God by not bringing himself under unnecessary condemnation through participation in any doubtful activity.  For further consideration, I recommend reading the context in Romans chapter 14.

 

A Broken Conscience

 

A conscience can be broken, maladjusted, misinformed, seared as with a hot iron, defiled, or even evil.  Willful sin will pollute the conscience.  Constantly ignoring it will dull its effectiveness.  Morally and spiritually incompetent teachers can cause it to become unreliable.  However it happens, the conscience can become difficult or even downright dangerous as it relates to our eternal destiny.

 

Many good, sincere souls have been greatly trouble by the problem of over-conscientiousness.  This is the out of balance condition in which the conscience condemns a person for no good reason in addition to doing a great job of handling most of the usual right and wrong issues.  This difficulty of the conscience working overtime has led many dear souls to cast away their confidence unnecessarily.

 

Then there is the other direction the conscience may take, which is more likely the problem of the majority.  The conscience may become weak, ineffectual, or greatly damaged as in the searing of the conscience.  Many have consciences so conditioned and lulled to sleep, that many or even most of the sins they would commit do not cause their conscience to stir much if any at all.  This is a sad state.

 

There are multitudes who do not think twice about sins that used to greatly trouble their conscience.  I am so glad that I need not end on a negative, sour note.

 

The Repair of Conscience

Some of the Scripture verses in which I found the word conscience also gave a remedy for a messed up conscience.  He Who created the conscience can certainly restore it so that it works properly.  God is abundantly able to repair a broken conscience, to heal a sick conscience, and to cleanse a defiled conscience.

 

No one should ever presume upon God's mercy before making the decision to sin against Him and thus damage their conscience; but, whosoever will repent and trust in Him through Jesus Christ His Son will find that God can and will restore to him a good conscience, void of offense toward God and man.

 

Yours In Christ,
Martin Overfield

 

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