In a recent article, I noted UMC Bishop Mel Talbert’s appeal to conscience as a justification for violating the rules of the UMC Book of Discipline which he had agreed to live by. This conscience claim is not one that Christians take lightly, for, following St. Paul the Apostle, we understand that the moral conscience is at the heart of every person enabling him to know God and enjoining him to do good and avoid evil. We have also learned from the Apostle that, if the light of conscience is ignored, man’s heart becomes darkened and his wisdom turns to foolishness. We therefore understand that the moral law, founded on the eternal law of God, illumines the human conscience by giving it a point of reflection and orientation. Appeals to conscience, therefore, may be judged both by reason and – more fundamentally – revelation; for the Christian, a valid claim to conscience must reflect the teaching of Scripture as illuminated by the Holy Spirit’s guidance of the Church.
St. Paul’s picture of the human conscience takes a dark turn, however. Man, rejecting truths that can be clearly seen and understood, inexcusably disobeys conscience darkening his heart and turning his mind from wisdom to foolishness. This disorder of heart and intellect leads to sinful and inhuman actions amongst which St. Paul lists idolatry, pride, envy, murder, deceit, adultery, fornication, and homosexual activity. These sins do not negate the witness of conscience, but rather point to the disorders within the person that lead him to reject its guidance. The catechism of the Roman Catholic Church examines the causes of this disorder: “Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one’s passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church’s authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.”
Christians understand, therefore, that persons must be properly formed in order to live reasonably in accord with the dictates of conscience. This principle is understood outside the Christian model as well; it is the foundation of classical liberal education that man must be trained to curb his passions, appetites, and subjective judgments and pursue the universal good. Proper education aims at instilling virtue which enables each person to live his humanity (in the image of God himself) to the fullest and makes him free. As the catechism notes,
The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. From the earliest years, it awakens the child to the knowledge and practice of the interior law recognized by conscience. Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride, resentment arising from guilt, and feelings of complacency, born of human weakness and faults. The education of the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart.
As St. Paul teaches, the surest guide man has for his formation is the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation and the revelation of the righteousness of God. As the catechism explains, “In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path, we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord’s Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church.”
Later in his epistle to the Church at Rome, St. Paul illustrates this education and formation as a sacrifice of the whole person to God. This is the way of humility, not thinking of oneself more highly than one ought to think. Our enemy tempted our parents Adam and Eve with the knowledge of good and evil, promising them that they would be like God, able to establish their individual systems of right and wrong; this was a deadly deception. Only God can be like God and all reality rests in him. As St. Paul explains, therefore, conscience seeks not to establish its own truth, but to discern “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Truth is found not in the ever-changing opinions of the world surrounding us, but in the self-revelation of the Creator.
This Creator made man in his image. This means that man, properly and freely functioning as he is designed, resembles his Creator and lives by the same laws. Because man is broken by and enslaved to sin, he is not in that state of freedom and even when regenerated by Christ must renew his mind and mortify his body in order to conform to the image of God. Through conformity to God, he re-establishes his freedom and becomes attuned again to the true dictates of conscience. This is the beginning of wisdom. As the catechism teaches, “When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking.”
When Bishop Talbert or others begin asking with the Serpent “Yea, hath God said?” they ignore the dictates of conscience and St. Paul’s call to humility. Instead they insist that God conform himself to their appetites, desires, and fears. Rather than becoming like God as they were deceptively promised, they merely become enslaved to those passions. This leads to an inability – intentional or not – to see and live by the truth. Their claims to be living by their conscience, therefore, must be rejected as the blatant attempts at self-justification that they are. Within the Church, claims of conscience cannot rest merely on subjective emotion or rationale – they must conform to the Word of God. To do otherwise is to choose darkness over light and trade wisdom for foolishness.
Comment by 0pus35 on May 20, 2015 at 2:16 pm
Excellent. Yes, the serpent’s question is at the root of all leftism: It is assumed that God’s rules exist only to deprive human beings of pleasure. A leftist couldn’t possibly grasp Jesus’ words “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
Comment by halehawk on May 21, 2015 at 10:10 am
And those on the right cannot understand the commandment, “Sell what you have, give to the poor, and follow me.” or the notion that we should not gather up grain into barns.
Comment by 0pus35 on May 21, 2015 at 1:04 pm
Funny, I don’t know anyone on the left who has ever obeyed that verse either. Since you like to quote Jesus (without obeying the words yourself), here’s another great verse: “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye” (Mt 7:5).
“Sell what you have” was spoken to ONE individual in a particular circumstance. It’s clear in the Gospels that Jesus did not tell all his followers to do this. I do see the verse conveniently used by the religious left as an excuse for electing politicians who love predatory taxation. If you think you can convince conservatives to support socialism by quoting Jesus out of context, you are in the wrong arena. If leftists are so generous (they aren’t, based on their private giving – B. Obama being Exhibit A), let them dig into their own pockets. Spending other people’s money is not a Christian virtue. In fact, it’s called “theft” and is prohibited (see Exodus 20).
Comment by Trevor Thomas on May 22, 2015 at 8:47 am
In other words, “It is no act of charity to be generous with someone else’s money.”
Liberals love to quote Scripture when they think it might
help them further their Big Government social agenda. (In other words, many liberals have made a god of Big Government.) They also love to talk about compassion and morality but would prefer it if you left Scripture out of it. Perhaps if more liberals were for posting the Ten Commandments in every public school and post office in the U.S., more Americans would feel comfortable putting health care in the hands of the federal government.
Perhaps if more liberals were willing to allow their morality and compassion to move them to protect the most defenseless among us—the unborn—more Americans would take them seriously when they talk in terms of “moral visions,” “compassion,” or “caring for the poor.”
Comment by Trevor Thomas on May 20, 2015 at 9:04 pm
Rather than becoming like God as they were deceptively promised, they merely become enslaved to those passions.
In other words, Whose Slave Are You?
Comment by John S. on May 21, 2015 at 8:30 am
Of course if people were to claim conscience for violating the BOD by withholding apportionments and defunding the Bishops, Boards and Societies that would be treated as treason worse that that of Judas.