A Clear Conscience
By Wayne Christensen
In his book, The Vanishing Conscience, John MacArthur relayed the following story: “In 1984 an Avianca Airlines jet crashed in Spain. Investigators studying the accident made an eerie discovery. The ‘black box’ cockpit recorders revealed that several minutes before impact a shrill, computer-synthesized voice from the plane’s automatic warning system told the crew repeatedly in English, ‘Pull up! Pull up!’
“The pilot, evidently thinking that the system was malfunctioning, snapped, ‘Shut up, Gringo!’ and switched the system off. Minutes later the plane plowed into the side of a mountain. Everyone on board died.” (p. 36).
John MacArthur commented, “When I saw the tragic story on the news shortly after it happened, it struck me as a perfect parable of the way modern people treat the warning messages of their conscience” (Ibid.). I concur, and would add that it is also an apt parable of the price people pay when they violate their conscience by silencing it.
Unlike animals, all human beings have a conscience. “When Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them” (Rom. 2:14-15).
The conscience bears witness concerning all we think, say or do. Thus, there is no “secret sin.” Of course, nothing is hidden from God’s sight, whether internal thoughts or external acts, but the same is also true of the conscience. Nothing gets past the conscience. It holds us accountable to behave according to the highest standard it perceives. So, our conscience does one of two things: it either accuses us for violating it, bringing such feelings as guilt, shame or fear. Or, it defends us for following it, bringing feelings of peace, joy and confidence.
We need to be cautious at this point, because the conscience is not infallible. We can feel peace when we should be overcome with guilt. Conversely, we might feel shame when we should be at peace. For the conscience to function properly it needs to be thoroughly educated by the Word of God, so that it responds to the principles of Scripture and not those of our society. Paul talks about those without good biblical knowledge having a conscience controlled by the customs of the day. The end result: “their conscience is weak, it is defiled” (1 Cor. 8:8). The effectiveness of the conscience is based upon how informed it is and how clean it is. Both are crucial.
Too many of us play games with our consciences. We are like the conscience-stricken taxpayer, who wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service: “Dear Sir: I have had great difficulty sleeping. Here is $250.00, which I owe in back taxes.”
At the bottom of the letter was a P.S. that read: “If I am still unable to sleep, I’ll send in the rest.”
Such games can be deadly. Every time we go against our conscience we dull its effectiveness. Over time, it is clear, convicting voice can be significantly tempered. When you hear of a Christian leader committing adultery or of a politician embezzling funds you have to wonder, “Don’t they have a conscience?” Yes, they do, but they responded to its warnings by shouting, “Shut up, Gringo!” and essential turned it off.
If your conscience is weak, and it doesn’t allow you to do what the Bible does, “don’t violate it; to do so is to train yourself to override conviction, and that will lead to overriding true conviction about real sin. Moreover, violating the conscience is a sin in itself (Rom. 14:23). Instead, immerse your conscience in God’s Word so it can begin to function with reliable data” (Ibid., p. 49). Additionally, we must be sensitive to the conviction of others, because it is also a sin to cause another believer to violate their conscience (1 Cor. 8:9-13).
Let us follow Paul’s example: “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man” (Acts 24:16). A clear conscience before God is essential to being a bold Christian. When Martin Luther was asked to repudiate his writings at the Diet of Worms, he responded (with death as a possible punishment for his answer), “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes or councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.” (Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, p. 144).