In this theological lecture, Pope Shenouda III refutes the teaching of C.H. Mackintosh, a leading writer of the Plymouth Brethren, who claimed that conscience was born through the Fall — that Adam had no conscience before eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

His Holiness explains that this view contradicts both Scripture and logic, and presents ten key arguments:

1️⃣ Adam was created with conscience, because he was created in God’s image — endowed with mind, understanding, and discernment.

2️⃣ Adam knew good before the Fall — obedience to God’s command was good, disobedience was wrong.

3️⃣ Evil is merely the absence of good, not an independent reality.

4️⃣ If Adam had no conscience, God could not justly punish him, for only the rational and aware are responsible.

5️⃣ Fear after the Fall was not the birth of conscience but the result of guilt.

6️⃣ Conscience is not only about rejecting evil but also encouraging good — prayer, charity, obedience.

7️⃣ When Adam sinned, he did not gain knowledge; he lost divine wisdom and became ignorant of God and his own good.

8️⃣ If conscience came through sin, then in Heaven — where there is no sin — there would be no conscience. But conscience will remain, perfected and knowing only good.

Thus, the Pope concludes:

“The conscience was not born from sin; it was created by God within man to guide him before sin ever existed.”

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