What is the Value of a Clear Conscience?

(The Conscience, Part 3)

You may be familiar with the old west humor where the gunslinger bellies up to the saloon bar after a gunfight and growls loudly, “Well, he needed a good killin’.” It is a somewhat humorous way of justifying the death of the other gunman lying in the street.

Whatever you may think of my silly illustration, focus on the word ‘justify.’ To justify something is to make it ‘right.’ Now, look a little closer. Why would anyone need to make something right?

I’m sure you see it. More accurately, justification is making something that is perceived to be wrong to appear to be right. The gunslinger justified murder by claiming that the other man needed (deserved) death.

It is likely that we have all tried to justify something, though not as serious as murder!

Have you ever lied, but felt like it was the right thing to do in your specific circumstances? You don’t generally lie. But on that occasion, it seemed necessary.

You might have justified your lie by telling yourself that it was for a good reason. If you had told the truth, a friend would have suffered in some way. Or, perhaps your lie saved you a significant amount of money. After all, that organization is well off (or corrupt or undeserving or abusive…) and they would never miss the small amount that you kept from them.

Whenever we justify a wrong we must understand that it is still wrong. The proof of our wrongdoing is our perceived need to justify ourselves. In other words, if it was not perceived to be wrong, then why would we feel the need to explain (justify) ourselves?

Why do you think it is so important for people to justify themselves?

The human conscience is a built in judge and jury that deals with moral issues. Whenever the conscience disapproves of an action it assigns guilt. In the case of lying, the conscience knows that lying is wrong. So, it acts as a jury and renders a ’guilty’ verdict. (We try to avoid guilt.)

Solomon made this observation:

People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.
--Proverbs 6:30–31 (ESV)

The simple point is that people may be understanding or even find it easy to justify a moral wrong, but it is still wrong.

Justification is made to soothe the guilty conscience. It does not take away the wrong, but it explains the wrong so that can be said, “My conscience is clear.” The guilt has been removed by justification, but in reality, only the guilt feelings are removed. Yet, as with the hungry thief, true guilt remains. So, self-justification masks guilt by renaming wrong as right. For that reason, a clear conscience is worthless.

Some modern translations of the Bible refer to a clear conscience. However, in every one of those cases the Greek text describes the conscience as: good, clean, pure, blameless or perfect (complete), never clear.

A clear conscience is an unreliable moral judge. It could result from following a good conscience or justifying an evil conscience.

God is not interested in you having a clear conscience without first obtaining a clean conscience. He does not want you to justify your guilty conscience, but follow a pure conscience. 

Is your conscience clear or is it clean?

Mark Stinnett

October 28, 2019

How Important is Your Conscience?

(The Conscience, Part 2)

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, 
  whose sin is covered. 
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, 
  and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 
For when I kept silent, 
  my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; 
  my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 
I acknowledged my sin to you, 
  and I did not cover my iniquity; 
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” 
  and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 
—Psalm 32:1–5 (ESV)

King David had sinned and his conscience had convicted him of sin and caused guilt feelings. That is very thing the conscience is supposed to do; our built-in judge and jury of morality.

Vitally Important
The conscience is a vitally important aspect of our humanity. The presence of the conscience is one way in which man is distinguished from animals and all other things on the earth.

Animals operate solely by their instinctive nature. Dogs, for example, behave in a way that is unique to dogs. Trainers and breeders depend on the consistency of the nature of dogs in general, but also the uniqueness of the different breeds of dogs. They capitalize on the fact that dogs cannot choose to change their nature.

Because animals operate solely by instinct, we do not accuse them of sin. So, if a dog digs up your tulip bulbs, you might become angry and even discipline the dog, but the dog feels no guilt and you do not read scripture to the dog to point out his moral obligation.

So it is with all other kinds of animals. The simple reason is that animals do not possess a conscience and are not subject to a moral standard. Unlike mankind, they were not made in the image of God and are not expected to operate beyond their instinctive nature.

In great contrast, mankind was created in God’s image and can actually choose to rise above his instinctive fleshly nature to embrace the nature of God, or godliness (i.e. God-like-ness).

Powerful
The human conscience is also a powerful aspect of our humanity. King David’s guilty conscience caused physical and emotional misery. Yet, He found relief when he confessed his sin to God. Guilt is meant to drive us to God.

God designed man this way so that he would choose to embrace the nature of God. After all, good and evil are defined by the nature of God.

Now, there are three ways to find peace from the misery of a guilty conscience.

First, the conscience can be seared. The way people sear their conscience is to play the hypocrite. In other words, simply continue to do wrong in spite of the guilt feelings produced by the conscience. Over time, the conscience loses its moral sensitivity and no longer identify right as right and wrong as wrong. The Apostle Paul described the seared conscience in 1 Timothy 4.

Second, the guilty conscience can be justified. The person knows that his action was morally wrong, but he believes that he had good reason to do the wrong. He ‘justifies’ his action making it seem right. The end result is a clear conscience which is basically indifferent to right and wrong.

King David dealt with his guilty conscience the right way by confessing his sin to God. Even though he had violated his conscience, the powerful guilt feelings led him to confess his sin. The result was a cleansing of his conscience beginning with God’s forgiveness.

A seared conscience will sin again.
A clear conscience is morally indifferent and will sin again.
A clean/pure conscience possesses true peace and will guard you against sin.

Mark Stinnett
October 20, 2019

What is the Conscience?

(The Conscience, Part 1)

Every person has, at one time or another, violated his/her conscience. In other words, he/she has thought something, said something or done something believed to be morally wrong.

The conscience is that mysterious part of the human being that evaluates moral right and wrong. Regardless of how the conscience has been trained, it functions as an internal judge and jury. When choices are made that are perceived to be right, the conscience approves. Yet, when choices are made that are perceived to be wrong, the conscience disapproves. The conscience judges choices, but also thoughts, speech and behavior associated with choices.

It is important to understand that the conscience is concerned with morality. So, if a person shoplifts, his conscience acts as a witness and renders a verdict: “Shoplifting is morally wrong; you are guilty.” In contrast, if a store worker shelves an item incorrectly, it is a mistake, but not a moral wrong. So, his mind may acknowledge the mistake and even regret the mistake, but the conscience does not activate a sense of moral guilt.

The Bible tells us about a good conscience and a bad conscience.

A good conscience works correctly. It identifies good things as good and bad things as bad. It judges decisions and behaviors properly. In the Bible a good conscience is also called a clean, pure or blameless conscience.

In contrast, a bad conscience does not work properly. A bad conscience might consider something that is morally wrong and identify it as good or right. In a similar way a bad conscience might consider something that is morally good or right and identify it as wrong. A bad conscience is also called an evil conscience.

As an example of a bad conscience…

I had a friend in junior high who invited me to go to the elementary wing of our school during lunchtime so we could ‘push the little kids around.’ My friend said it would be fun. My friend’s conscience was bad; it approved of bullying. (I went a different way that day. )

A stark description of an evil/bad conscience is found in the Bible in Proverbs 1:8-19.

So, what about a ‘clear’ conscience? In reality, a clear conscience is most often a bad conscience because it is morally indifferent. When a clear conscience responds to something that is morally wrong, it does not call it wrong (or right).

The clear conscience is worthless in guarding the soul. The voice of the clear conscience says, “I don’t see anything wrong with that” or “I didn’t violate my conscience; I feel no guilt.”

For example: A boys punches another boy in the nose. He then justifies himself saying, “He deserved it.” There is a subtle admission that it was not right to fight, but that he felt justified by the circumstances. So, he feels no guilt; his conscience is ‘clear.’

The conscience operates at two key moments:

• Before you decide/speak/act its role is to evaluate by giving you approval to continue or by warning you to stop. It guards your soul against sin.
• After you speak/act its role is to evaluate by approving or causing guilt feelings.

A good conscience is good because it conforms to the standard that is defined by the character of God which has been revealed in Scripture. The Bible teaches us to follow our conscience. 

Make sure yours is a good conscience.

Mark Stinnett
October 13, 2019

Love Is Really Unfair

Have you ever thought about how unfair love is?

We all want to be loved. We might not expect everyone to love us, but we would really like someone to love us.

Love is one of those words that means so many things to so many people that its meaning gets blurred: 

     I love chocolate; 

     I love my dog; 

     I love my wife.

Yet, the way we use the word tells us what we really mean. I’m thinking about the “I love my wife” kind of love. 

True love requires sacrifice, and that is costly. 

Sacrifice is not about doing what you are supposed to do as a father or mother or child or Christian. Rather, sacrifice is giving up something that you value highly for something of greater importance. 

Parents may sacrifice their personal desires and dreams for their children. That’s love. 

People may sacrifice financially for a worthy cause by cutting out spending in an important area of life. That’s love. 

Children may sacrifice their time for an activity or event that is meaningful to their parents. They give their time as their own choice and with a good attitude, not by force. That’s love. 

True love forgives, and that is costly. 

Forgiveness accepts the pain caused by another without holding them accountable. 

A wife humiliates her husband by telling something personal that becomes public. He patiently accepts the shame and later embraces her without making her suffer. That’s love. 

A friend borrows a tool but returns it broken. Without an angry word you quietly replace it at your own expense and still consider him your friend with no hard feelings. That’s love. 

It’s the people at work/school. They don’t understand my religious convictions, so they say things and even pull pranks. I’m the but of their jokes. I just go my way and let it go. It drags me down, but I know that they don’t understand. I don’t hold it against them. That’s love.

Do you think you deserve to be loved?

Deserve means that you are worthy, fit or suitable for receiving a reward. Parents are supposed to love their kids. Husbands and wives are supposed to love each other. Christians are supposed to love one another. 

Are any of us deserving...really deserving?

Love sacrifices.
Love forgives.

A baby is born and the parents are immediately filled with love for that child. It doesn’t make sense. That child has made no contributions to the family, provided nothing of value, deserves nothing. Yes there is affection, strong affection, but there is also sacrificial love and, in the future, undeserved forgiveness.

I can read all the definitions of love, approximate its meaning with illustrations, and even study it as a Bible topic. Yet, the words of Jesus still mystify me. I understand the words, but I don’t think that I can ever completely grasp...

For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son….

Love is so unfair...He sacrificed His Son...for me.
Love is so unfair...He has forgiven...me.
Love is so unfair...He has given life...to me.

A person begins to sound all high and mighty when he says that things are unfair. But do you know what is unfair? 

Love is really unfair!

Mark Stinnett

October 6, 2019