Living With One's Conscience

A good conscience is a wonderful thing to have. Without it, there is no peace -- only anxiety, turmoil, and restlessness. Anyone who has ever violated their conscience knows the truthfulness of this statement.

A bad conscience pricks us continually without let-up. It is the perfect tormentor. Day and night, we suffer from its attacks. Wherever we go, it travels with us. We cannot lose it. It is determined to give us no rest or relief.

Rest can only be had at what is generally felt to be a hard price to pay. That price is the shame and humiliation of admitting (confessing) our sin and making whatever restitution, if any, that can be made for it. It is awfully hard to put oneself through that, but that is exactly the price the conscience requires of us before it will let us go free.

I know of a man who went before the church confessing his unfaithfulness. Afterwards, he spoke of what a burden was lifted from his shoulders. The conscience was now clear, and life could move forward with the inner turmoil now gone and peace restored. That is a common reaction from those who finally decide to quit fighting the conscience they have violated and pay the price conscience demands.

The apostle Paul said, "I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day." (Acts 23:1 NAS) He made this statement the day after his arrest in Jerusalem. How many of us can say what Paul said? Can you? Can I? My guess is that very few can.

Peter, who denied Christ, could not say it. David, who committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, could not say it. Aaron, in making the golden calf, could not say it.

Paul's statement that he had lived in all good conscience before God simply meant that he had never knowingly done anything that, at the time he was doing it, he knew to be in violation of God's law, knew it to be sin while he was doing it. To live then in good conscience before God is to live in such a way as not to knowingly do anything that is in violation of God's will.

There is certainly such a thing as sinning without violating one's conscience, a thing we have to be aware of. Paul is the perfect example. He said, in Acts 22:4, "I persecuted this Way to the death" (NAS), the way being Christianity. Then he says in Acts 26:10, "not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them." (NAS) This was great sin, absolutely, but it was not a violation of his conscience, for at that time he believed with all his heart it was the right thing to do according to his religion, a Jew of the Pharisee sect. (Acts 26:5)

There is probably nothing in a person's life harder to change than their religion, a thing Paul ended up doing. There is so much emotion involved in it, often much family history, friendships, and so on, so that it is very hard to be fair, that is, objective, with the scriptures, so we end up reading them the way we desire them to read versus what they actually say. We need to study the scriptures objectively, but our human emotions will not allow it. Our faith is the correct one just because it has to be that way; there are no other possibilities, at least none we are willing to consider.

Another factor that makes it very difficult for a person to change their religion is that of human pride. How hard it is for any of us to be man enough, as they say, to say we are wrong? We will not even allow the thought. As soon as even a tiny doubt enters our mind, we cast it out as far from us as possible. The degree of humility that is required to admit one has been wrong is very great. It is too much for many to even entertain the thought. The stakes are too high, or so it seems.

But I am drifting away from the subject at hand, so back to it—the conscience. Paul was not the only man in the Bible whose good conscience did not keep him from serious sin. One of the most tragic cases in the Bible was that of the prophet described as "a man of God" (1 Kings 13:1) who was sent by God to Jeroboam to prophecy against the altar on which Jeroboam was planning to make sacrifices to the two golden calves he had made. On his return trip back home, the prophet was met by "an old prophet" whom the Bible says "lied to him" (I Kings 13:18), claiming an angel had spoken to him, countermanding God's original command.

That original command to the younger (we assume) prophet had been, "'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.'" (1 Kings 13:17 NAS) When the younger prophet, again we assume he was younger, believed what the old prophet told him about an angel countermanding the original command, the assumption being that God himself had sent the angel, he went back with the old prophet and did the very things God had told him not to do. As a result, he was met by a lion on the way back home and lost his life. He disobeyed God's command in all good conscience, believing he was doing God's will.

There are a couple of lessons we ought to learn from this account. First, as it relates to the conscience, this younger (?) prophet sinned in all good conscience. The conscience cannot be our guide. We must strive to have a good conscience for "whatever is not from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23 NKJV), but a good conscience proves nothing about the righteousness of the beliefs one holds to. The Islamic terrorists of our own day have a good conscience. Having a good conscience is no guarantee that you are right in either your thinking or your actions.

Secondly, I believe the young (?) prophet wanted to do what was right and thought he was. His conscience was clean in returning with the old prophet. He wasn't expecting to be lied to by a man of God, by a genuine prophet. One's good conscience and doing what one believes to be right is no guarantee of God's approval. God is a God of truth. He is not a God of lies or of falsehood, no matter who the speaker is (not all who teach error are deliberate liars). This prophet, who sinned and met his death, believed a religious man's lie.

We now live in a time when we are not dependent on what religious men teach us for the simple reason that just about everyone, at least in America, has ready access to God's word, where God speaks directly to us on the printed page. There is no reason we should be led astray by "religious men."

It is obvious, to those who think about it, that few preachers teach the whole truth. Yes, they may teach some truth, most of them probably do, but also sadly, error as well. How many different denominations are there in the world today, all teaching (preaching) something different? I recently heard there are 45,000 denominations, but I have no way of confirming that number. The world is full of these "old prophets," so to speak, who lead people astray.

I do not say they are liars, like the old prophet, but a mistaken preacher can kill you just as quickly as an old prophet if you allow it. Would you not agree also that most teachers of error have a clear conscience, not realizing their error? I will grant them that much sincerity.

We ought to demand of preachers more and more book, chapter, and verse preaching. Just tell us, preferably, far preferably, even to the extent of quoting directly, what the Bible says. Many preachers seem to assume we want to hear what they have to say. Why would we? Why, when we go to services to worship and to hear what God has to say, would we want to hear a man just giving his ideas and opinions?

We must have a clear conscience toward God, but that conscience must be educated in truth, as we have already shown. John says, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God." (1 John 3:21 NAS) That then is our goal, a conscience properly trained, with accurate knowledge, clear of conscience wrongdoing. When we have that, we have inner peace.

However, as was first pointed out in this piece, most of us are not in Paul's camp. We cannot say we have never violated our conscience; quite the contrary. In fact, the very nature of temptation and sin leads men into the violation of their conscience and into sin. James says, "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." (James 1:14-15 NAS)

We generally know when we are sinning. We know when we have been tempted. We know when we are giving in to it. We know that while we are doing it, it is wrong. Can a conscience violated, which is another way of saying a heart that has become impure, be restored to cleanliness again? If not, why did Jesus die? Did he die just for those sinners who were like Paul, or did he die for sinners of every stripe?

When David had sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, the prophet Nathan came to him and confronted him. David knew his sin (2 Sam. 12), so it took but little to convince him of his evil. Psalm 51 is a record of David's reaction when confronted by his sin. Could he ever be restored? Could his conscience ever be made clean again?

Let us listen to a little of what he had to say in prayer to God. "Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me." (Psalms 51:1-3 NAS) Then verse 7, "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (NAS) And, finally, verse 10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalms 51:10 NAS)

Do you think God did that? Ask yourself why God wanted this passage recorded in holy writ? Why did he want it worded the way it was? For whose benefit was it written?

I think Paul answered that question in Rom. 15:4, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (NAS) Do you not believe along with me that Psalms 51 and the things written therein were for you and me? Do the things written there not give us encouragement?

Can you be forgiven and once again live with a clear conscience? What do you believe the Bible teaches? What do you believe God did with David? Did he forgive him and restore within him a clean heart as David had asked? Do you think David will be in heaven?

What does God require of us when we have violated our conscience and sinned as did David? David says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." (Psalms 51:17 NAS)

The teaching of the Bible is not that we can totally forget the past. Paul always remembered what he had done in persecuting the saints unto the death, but he also said unto us, "one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13b-14 NAS)

Memory will not be erased, but we can put the past behind us and move ahead with confidence that God will forgive us. We can once again walk with a good conscience.

For one like Saul, who became Paul the apostle, one who was not a Christian, we can do as he did. He came to faith in Christ, repented of his sins, and was baptized into Christ for the remission of sins. (Acts 22:16, Acts 2:38) His conscience was now trained correctly, and he could henceforth walk by faith rather than by the traditions of the Pharisees. Had he not obeyed the gospel, he would have violated his conscience, for he now knew the truth.

I am convinced thousands and thousands are walking around even today who know they ought to obey the gospel, for their conscience tells them so. Their conscience is not clear. They are paying a price even now for their disobedience, for the conscience will not be quiet. They are not like Paul, but they could be. It is only a matter of the will, so simple but so hard for so many.

But there are others, Christians already, who have violated their conscience. Like David, who was once a faithful child of God under the Law of Moses, they have violated their conscience by sin. God will have them back and restore to them a clean heart and a clear conscience as they walk on down the road of life, but first, they must make the same decision David made. David wanted to come back. He repented. He prayed to God. He ceased to sin and walked in righteousness. That is what it will take.

A good, clean, clear conscience is a wonderful thing to have. Inner peace is better than inner war. God has left us the choice as to which we have. We get to decide. We can have whichever we prefer. It is our choice.  

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The Conscience as a Witness

A person can run from many things but one thing that cannot be run from is one’s own conscience. Wherever a person goes their conscience follows as closely as their shadow. It is a constant companion. It is an individual’s witness to himself and to God of his character as it relates to his willingness or unwillingness to abide in what he considers to be that which is right and good.

The conscience cannot be a person’s perfect guide, for it, like man's intellect, must be properly trained to be useful. Throughout history men have committed atrocities in all good conscience against others. Men have burned other men at the stake, slit the throats of others, sacrificed their children as burnt offerings, committed genocide, all in good conscience because the conscience was misinformed and untaught in righteousness.

Just because one has been taught from childhood that a thing is right, and has accepted it as fact, does not mean there is truth in the doctrine one was taught and came to believe. A conscience can be trained in sin and error just as easily as in righteousness, for the conscience itself is unable to determine truth from error. It acts like a computer in the sense that it can do no more nor less than what it has been programmed to do. It judges based on its training.

Sometimes, consciences need to be reprogrammed. If a person is in religious error, say as an example a militant Islamist who believes murder and terrorism is God's will, his conscience needs to be retrained and educated in righteousness.

The only trustworthy guide man has to live by is not his conscience but God's word. The Psalmist said, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (Psalm 119:105 NKJV) Man is to walk in (live by) God's word. Jeremiah, under inspiration, wrote, "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." (Jer. 10:23 NKJV) If it were in man to direct his own steps then conscience might well be a suitable guide, but that is not what the scriptures teach.

Mankind’s guide needs to be what the word of God says, for only God knows what is perfect in goodness, holiness, and righteousness. Jesus said to the devil, but it applies to all, for it remains true, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" (Matt. 4:4 NKJV) This was originally written in Deut. 8:3, by Moses, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and remains an eternal truth as long as the earth shall stand.

If it is said men have used scripture, God’s word, to commit atrocities, it is not scripture that led them to that. For example, where in your New Testament do you read of a commandment to burn men at the stake for heresy as was done in the Middle Ages? Christianity properly taught teaches love your neighbor as yourself. It never condones the mistreatment of another.

No, we cannot ignore our conscience. I do not argue that we can, for we cannot. I only argue that our conscience must be trained by the word of God as found in the New Testament, God's law for man today, and that we may need to retrain our conscience to bring it into accord with that word.

Saul, who was to become the apostle Paul, had to retrain his conscience when he met up with Jesus on the road to Damascus. His conversion experience (read about it in Acts 9, 22, and 26) immediately convinced him that the things he used to believe and by which his conscience had been guided were error and so he turned from them. Many today need to turn from their religious error which their conscience condones because it has been improperly trained.

The key to such a change is to be fully persuaded. One can change without violating one's conscience when fully persuaded like Paul was. No one can advocate violating one's conscience when not fully persuaded for that in itself would be sin. "Whatever is not from faith is sin." (Rom. 14:23 NKJV) We need to read and study God's word with an open mind and heart and be willing to accept whatever we find written there, even if it goes against what we have believed previously.

The conscience gives witness to the kind of heart we have and God reads man's heart (Acts 15:8, Jer. 17:10). It is only the pure in heart who will see God (Matt. 5:8). The conscience is a part of the heart (a part, not all). In John 8, we have Jesus being confronted by those who have brought a woman to him caught in the act of adultery. They are trying Jesus, attempting to put him in a tight spot, but he turns the table on them and says to them that whoever is among you without sin cast the first stone at her (John 8:7). The Bible then says, "Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one." (John 8:9 NKJV) What was convicting them? Their conscience, yes, but the conscience was the heart. Their hearts were pricking them.

We find the same thing on the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached the first gospel sermon and the first converts under the Christian dispensation were made. Peter preached to them in a way to convince them that not only was Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, but that they were guilty of putting him to death (Acts 2:23,36). The Bible says when they heard this, "they were cut to the heart." (Acts 2:37 NKJV) Their conscience was made to feel the guilt of sin. Until a man's conscience is greatly bothered by sin, and he must be made to feel sin's guilt for that to happen, he will not and cannot repent and be saved.

A guilty conscience is a blessing if a man will allow it and will heed its call and repent. The conscience is a witness to a man about the state of his heart. Thank God if you have a conscience that is not so hardened by sin that it does not bother you when you do wrong. Thank God it still works and is not seared.

The Bible tells us that the conscience can become seared. It speaks of those who speak lies in hypocrisy "having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” (1 Tim. 4:2 NKJV) If one continues to ignore their conscience, overriding its decision and doing what their conscience is telling them is wrong, eventually the conscience will cease to have any control over them. Sinning becomes easier and easier until finally it no longer bothers one at all. The conscience has been seared.

I do not want to be misunderstood. It is never too late to repent and turn one’s life around, even if one has been caught up in a sin that seems to have enslaved him or her. What is being said is that it becomes easier and easier to continue in sin the more and the longer one continues to ignore and/or override a properly trained conscience. The ultimate end if one continues on down that road is no conscience at all. That is a scary, scary thought. As long as your conscience is bothering you, there is hope of repentance. The great fear is that of coming to the point where the conscience no longer pricks one at all.

The conscience is indeed a witness of the heart, and it will either accuse us or else excuse us. In Rom. 2:15, Paul speaks of the Gentiles who did not have the Law of Moses during that Old Testament dispensation of time and says in part of them, "who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them." (NKJV) The conscience gives rise to those thoughts for good or ill, depending on how we have reacted to what we deemed to be right, thus bringing either peace of mind or the burden of guilt.

Our conscience tells us about the state of our heart. When I see myself in my heart (my conscience making that possible), going off in the wrong direction, I need to act on that and turn again to righteousness. Conscience talks to us and, if properly trained, prompts us to turn around and return to God.

In Rom. 9:1, Paul spoke of his conscience "bearing me witness" meaning, in his case, his conscience was confirming the truthfulness of what he was writing. When we live the truth and tell the truth, our conscience becomes a character witness on our behalf. Men may not be able to read our conscience, but God can, and we know our conscience and thus are given confidence by its approval.

In 2 Cor. 1:12, Paul speaks of the "testimony of our conscience" thus the conscience bears testimony. When it bears good testimony to us, we have peace and confidence, hope and faith.

I want to close with one last verse, 1 Peter 2:19, "For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully." (NKJV) Our hearts ought to be so tender towards God that we are willing to endure all wrong to maintain a good witness of our conscience before God.

Not everything can be bought with gold. Some things, in fact, many things, are of more value than gold. Things like a good name, good character, a good hope, love, faith, forgiveness, and a good conscience toward God. You can take these things with you when you die. These are the things that matter.  

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