Guilt, shame and conscience (II) Shipwrecked faith

According to Scripture our consciences can be weak or defiled. They can be seared and they can be evil. They can be cleansed, they can be pure (1 Corinthians 8:7; I Timothy 4:2 Hebrews 9:14; 10:22; 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:3). A good conscience can be rejected. The importance of not doing this is brought out in 1 Timothy 1:19, where Paul speaking of a good conscience says “which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.” We reject our conscience, when we do something we ourselves think is wrong. Likely the first time we do this, our consciences will accuse and bother us. What seems to happen, is that the more we do it, the less our consciences kick in. And if we do this often enough this is how our conscience becomes seared. The picture of course, is of the insensitivity of the scar left by a branding iron after it has healed.

On the other hand our consciences can be weak. There were some in Corinth who believed that eating meat offered to idols was wrong. In this context Paul instructs us that weak consciences should not be ridden over roughshod. He also instructs us in how to walk in love with respect to those who believe these things (1 Corinthians 8:1-13). The various states of conscience described above can apply to whole cultures, or portions thereof. It should be clear that many of the Nazi concentration camp guards had seared consciences, as after a particularly horrendous day at the camps, they would cheerfully go to confession. It seems to me that the conscience can, at the same time, be both seared and weak. You don’t have to look far to see examples of this in our North American culture. In saying this, I am of course begging the question of what is actually right and wrong. It is my intention to deal with this in the next post in this series.

It is far easier to see the faults in others of course, than to see them in ourselves, and in our own subcultures. And the warning not to judge lest we be judged, comes to mind (Matthew 7:1). But since our consciences can be so easily be modified, what are we to do? The writer to the Hebrews links those who are mature with those “who because of the use are having the senses exercised, unto the discernment both of good and of evil” (Hebrews 5:14). Put simply, we suppress the truth by unrighteousness (Romans 1:18), and our consciences are defiled and even seared in the same way. On the other hand our senses, and in particular our consciences, are refined as we are cleansed from sin (1 John 1:9) and as we practice righteousness (by reason of use).

Father, it is distressing to be judged by somebody else’s sensibilities. And this is happening to believers in spades in today’s environment. The pressure to conform is enormous. It’s complicated, because some of it is right, even though a great deal of it is wrong! In light of Jeremiah 17:9 there have to be places where we are still deceived, so I ask You this morning Lord to them reveal them to us, we exercise our senses, test all things and hold on to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Thank you for your promise that when continue in obedience to Your Word, we will never fall (2 Peter 1:10). In Jesus Name Amen