Listening to NPR – military training for soldiers after the incidents in the Abu Gahrib prison “ if it feels wrong, or if you think it might be wrong it probably is wrong so don’t so it…”  Asking them to use their conscience? Is that reliable?

What is the conscience?

Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary: Conscience

The word is derived from the Latin conscientia, which is a compound of the preposition con and scio, meaning "to know together," "joint knowledge with others," "the knowledge we share with another." The Greek equivalent in the NT is syneidesis, a compound of syn, "together," and eidenai, "to know," that is, to know together with, to have common knowledge together with someone. It stems from the same root as consciousness, which means "awareness of." Conscience is an awareness restricted to the moral sphere. It is a moral awareness.

Rom. 2:14-16…informed by general revelation

2 Cor. 1:12-14…informed by revelation from the word of God and the Holy Spirit (a witness or record of your life).

Romans 13:5… acting in a certain way because "conscience" requires it

Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary: Conscience

The word "conscience" does not appear in the OT. However, the idea is well known and is often expressed by the term "heart". When Pharoah’s heart was hardened his conscience was steeled against the will of God. We read of David that his heart smote him. Jobs says: "My heart shall not reproach me". A tender heart is a sensitive conscience—an upright heart is a pure conscience—when David prayed “create in me a clean heart he was seeking to have his life and his conscience cleansed.

Who/what are we knowing together with?

Who’s voice is the conscience?

16. The voice of God—NO, because the conscience can be weak or misinformed
16. Function of the human mind—NO, because then it would be subject to the mind rather than joint knowing with others (something outside) as defined.
16. Internalized voice or recognized authority—We all have a conscience yet we all experience it in different ways…weak/strong…and with different standards…pure/defiled… our conscience is the result of a variety of influences vying for dominance, Friends, Family, Tradition, Culture, God, Satan, Genes, Hormones (ie the flesh). Your unique experience is determined by the degree to which you accept each of these influences as authoritative. A mixture of good and evil.

Can the conscience be trained?

Our conscience is shaped by the company we keep and the things we dwell upon. For Christians, the development of your conscience is a lifelong process of being shaped by the word of God, the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of believers.

Searing the conscience—suicide bomber? having abortion?

The conscience is your spiritual warning system. Repeatedly overriding it will deaden it Romans 1:32, Ephesians 4:17-19

In the past 20 years, we have heard a lot about repressed feelings being unhealthy and overcoming guilt. Sometimes this is true. Remember the conscience is built by a variety of sources, cultural, traditional, biological, scriptural… it’s a mixture of good and evil. But some of it is coming from God. Over-riding this is dangerous.

Our society does this by redefining the sin and classify it as something else… a biological disposition… an outmoded construct of patriarchal society… a normal healthy appetite… a necessary evil etc. The undermining of the conscience in our society has turned into a full frontal attack and is hardening people to the truth of the God.

Think of the conscience like a fingertip with its sensitive nerve endings and sense of touch and feel. Its sensitivity can be damaged by calluses that build up 1 Tim 4:1-2.

Describe searing—cuts of all the blood, nerves etc. No Feeling!

Story: Benny Goodman – cut all his calluses off -- start over

Cleansing the conscience

1 Peter 3:21

Hebrews 9:14

Hebrews 10:22… blood as a cleansing agent

Hebrews 10:16

Hebrews 10:17… the record is wiped clean

Does that mean your conscience s totally reliable after being redeemed and cleansed? No, but you do get a fresh start, a new sensitivity to the truth of God and His righteous requirements through the help of the Holy Spirit. Romans 2:29

The passages on the weak conscience show us that it is a process but also warn us that hardening or searing the conscience can happen in the Christian context as well. Weak believers are not to get in the habit of overruling their conscience because then they will/may lose out on all the promptings of the conscience which are a necessary part of sanctification. We are to defer to those of weaker conscience. To encourage them to wound (do damage) their conscience is to lead them into sin 1 Cor. 8:7, 10, 12. The goal is to educate the conscience

Christian conversion involves a reorientation of which authority(s) we acknowledge as legitimate. We look to God and nowhere else 1 Corinthians 4:3-5. Also, there is a change of sensitivity in our conscience. What was once dull or calloused becomes awakened and painfully aware of the contrast or conflict between our existing “work in progress” conscience and the standards of Christ Romans 3:20; also the failings of our own personal performance as discussed in Romans 7:19.

What about the purpose of the conscience?

Is it only there to make you feel bad? Or can you use it as a tool for building holy righteous character?... YES

Using the conscience to put hidden sin to death

Sin is not put to death when it is merely covered up -- New to the faith – you start dealing with the outwardly visible sins fornication, foul language, Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, and you get control over many of them – but sin still remains…

Sometimes this means we simple do it when no one is looking. But a properly instructed, sensitive conscience is always there. Make sure you listen to it. Yes, God is there too but He’s not forcing you to do anything. He gives you the tools but He wants you to do make the decisions and do the work. Phil 2:12, Proverbs 28:13

Sin is not put to death when it is only internalized – Pick up a rock or discarded board in the yard – bugs and mice scurry away into hiding places. Where does sin go? – Into the MIND. Matt 5:27-28. Sin is not put to death when it is exchanged for a different sin. Example exchanging adultery for covetousness (lust).

Sin is not put to death when it is merely repressed

You can drown out the voice of your conscience with alcohol or forget about your guilt with TV, music, excessive work, or other distractions. But sin is still waiting for you when come up for air. It doesn’t go away… it will keep coming back (crouching at the door)

At some point, you will have to address sin head-on (God lead Israel into situations where they would have to make some decisions Deut 8:2-3). Sin starts with twinges of temptation. When you first start thinking about it is the time to stop. Flirting with temptation is nothing but trouble. While the temptation is still just a thought (not yet an act) your conscience is at work, use it, listen to it, answer temptation with God’s word – Matt 4:4-10.

Use your informed conscience to expose sin for what is “This is evil, this is vile, this is against God Himself”. Pull it out and denounce it for what it is – deal with it. Expose it analyze it, and hate it.

A conscience that has been sensitized by thoughtful reflection on God’s word with the help of God’s Holy Spirit is essential for the battle we have with sin that happens up there between our ears.

Many grievous sins occur where no one is watching. The only defense, the only watchdog is your conscience and the Godly Sorrow and repentance it produces. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11

Conclusion:

Your conscience is an important part of what makes you a human. It is part of being self-aware. It causes you to judge yourself from a set of standards beyond yourself, creating a sense of guilt or approval.

Your conscience can be trained… for better or for worse. It can be trained to judge rightly by God’s word. It can also be trained to deceive that sin is not sin, trading good for evil.  It can be trained to let you feel good about a lot of things that are not good.

Guilt feels bad…everyone agrees on that. Because it feels so bad we are tempted to ignore it, hope it goes away, forget it, push it deep down or to talk ourselves into believing that our guilty conscience is WRONG.

But, to do away with the conscience is to do away with what makes us human and not animals… for Christians, it would be to ignore the very tool God has given us to build the mind of Christ in us so that we might be born into His family as sons and daughters.

Your conscience is there to warn you and help you deal with sin. You can ignore it or you can use your sense of guilt as a motivation to get right with God through confession, repentance, forgiveness, and restitution… and that’s the way to remove guilt – forever.

And that is the only way to truly feel good and enjoy a clear conscience.