Conscience

cavell · #1 26th October 2009, 04:06 PM

"I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men - Acts 24: 6

Paul the Apostle in speaking of his conscience, says, first of all, that he has to exercise it in order to keep it in condition; and secondly, that it is to be without offence i.e. it is neither to stumble itself, nor to make other people stumble because of it.

But a thing which needs exercise to keep it in condition, a thing which can stumble, or can make other people stumble, is obviously not infallable! I think we shall not be far wrong if we say of it, that while it is a thing by which we judge ourselves and are judged, we shall nevertheless have to admit that it is a fluctuating factor.

So, the problem of conscience is not absolutely clear. Unaided it is a goad, but aided it is a guide. I thinks its tendancy is infallibly correct when it says 'Do right at any cost', but its direction is not infallibly correct and we need something to show us what is right after conscience has said 'Do right at any cost'

It is like the sighting of a rifle. If a rifle had only one sight, you would not hit the target very often. The rifle has two sights, and if both come level to your eye, there is every chance of you hitting the mark.

Now you have conscience as one sight. What do you need at the other end? You need the revelation of God, as you have it here in the bible, his written word; and as these two are brought into line and relation you will find the life which begins to aproximate to the will of God.