What role does the conscience play in the life of a christian? Or should a spirit filled christian rely on his or her conscienc?

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2002

Answers

Sister Bean,

God gives us a conscience as a moral guide, and generally speaking we should follow it. Even the unsaved have this moral compass.

The problem is that in many cases our conscience is not completely under the control of the Holy Spirit. For this reason we have the Bible to guide our decisions. Often the answer to a moral question is right there in black and white in the Bible. If it's not specifically stated, there is probably a scriptural principle that can apply to a given situation.

What remains are those areas Christians debate all the time. In those cases it's good to seek a variety of Christian sources such as books, videos, tapes, and the counsel of strong believers to sound out a variety of opinions. This, coupled with prayer for wisdom will also show you the way to go on most issues.

The Word tells us to submit ourselves wholly to God, and to give Him complete control of every area of our lives including our conscience. I encourage you to pray out loud and ask the Holy Spirit daily to control your every thought, word, and deed, and to be your guide. Say "I surrender to you Holy Spirit" every morning and several times during the day. As you do this you'll find your conscience will more and more line up with the Bible automatically, and questions of conscience will become fewer and fewer. You'll know in your spirit what you should do with less and less wrestling.

One last word to the Body of Christ: In spite of doing all mentioned above we Christians will still have disagreements over minor matters of conscience. We need to allow sufficient liberty to allow the Holy Spirit to deal with each person at the stage of growth they are in. That means ceasing to try changing our brothers and sisters to fit our views on minor issues, and not causing weaker people to sin by violating their conscience.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2002

I cannot say that I am in full agreement with the above statement. Your conscience is never in action when you are doing "good". It only springs into action when you are busy doing things you are not supposed to do. Therefore I cannot understand the term of bringing your conscience under the control of the Spirit. Is the conscience not a "built-ib" warning sign that you are busy with the wrong things ?

Love

Clive

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2002