The Conscience and Its Soundness
Steps to God
I spoke to you in previous times about many steps on the path to God. Today I want to speak to you about the conscience, its level of soundness, and how that affects the spiritual life…
The Conscience and Its Soundness
The conscience is not the voice of God within a person, because the conscience can err and deviate, whereas the voice of God cannot err.
The conscience inside a person is like the mind and the spirit; the mind can err, and so can the spirit, and likewise the conscience.
There are many examples that show the possibility of the conscience erring and deviating:
The Lord Christ said to His disciples, “The hour comes when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God”! And there is no doubt that the consciences that think killing the apostles is a service to God are corrupt consciences.
Likewise, idol worshipers who thought killing Christians was purifying the earth from their unbelief—their consciences also were astray.
Another example is the people of the pre-Islamic era who fell into burying their daughters alive, and also those who distribute cigarettes at funerals to their guests, and their conscience troubles them if they do not offer them!! Likewise, those who use loudspeakers in a way that troubles people, harms the sick, distracts the student from studying, and disturbs the sleeper who needs rest…
The conscience is a judge that loves good, but it is not infallible. And the concept of good differs among many. The conscience also falls under many influences, foremost among them: knowledge.
Knowledge Influences the Conscience
Right knowledge enlightens the conscience with understanding, for how many err out of ignorance, and when they know, they refrain from the error.
Saul of Tarsus was one of the devout who erred out of ignorance…
Thus we hear him say: “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly.” But ignorance does not prevent sin from being sin.
And we pray in the Trisagion, asking God to forgive us our sins committed knowingly and unknowingly. And in the Old Testament, the one who committed a sin unintentionally (in ignorance): if they informed him of it, he would offer a sacrifice for his guilt so that he might be forgiven (Leviticus 4).
How deep is the saying of the Lord: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
For this reason the Lord sent prophets, apostles, teachers, priests, and guides to teach people His way, because their consciences were no longer sufficient to guide them, or because their consciences had led them astray.
Holy Scripture also is for the enlightenment of the conscience, and thus David said: “If Your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.”
And because a person’s conscience may not be sufficient for his spiritual guidance, God appointed confessors—spiritual fathers—because “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death”…
And the devil may try to intervene to guide a person into a wrong path, as he did with our mother Eve of old.
Thus, knowledge influences the conscience—whether good or bad.
Wrong knowledge can also lead the conscience. Were not the Epicurean philosophies based on pleasure leading the consciences of their followers? And likewise atheistic philosophies—did they not influence the consciences of those who adopted them, diverting them from the entire path of faith and affecting their conduct?
Those who confess their sins, their consciences were influenced by the sound faith they learned. And those who reject confession from Protestant sects were also influenced by the teachings they received against confession.
There are teachers who call their students to absolute seriousness and never laughing, because “by sorrow of the face the heart is made better.” And other teachers call their students to cheerfulness and a life of joy, because “there is a time for weeping and a time for laughing.” And according to the type of knowledge, the conscience is influenced…
Some say that birth control is wrong, so the conscience of one who practices it is troubled. Others say it is permissible, so the conscience is at rest…
For all this, there must be unity in teaching in the Church, so that the consciences of people are not confused by contradictory teachings.
Thus teaching in the Church was built on Tradition, to preserve the purity of teaching and its unity. Paul the Apostle said: “I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you” (1 Cor 11:23), and he said to his disciple Timothy: “And the things you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men” (2 Tim 2:2). Knowledge leads the conscience; therefore, it was required that a bishop be able to teach. And for the same reason the Lord Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, because their teaching misled the consciences of the people. And thus the Scripture spoke of “false teachers” and said to Israel: “Your guides mislead you”…
People’s consciences are influenced by knowledge of what is good and evil, and they are also influenced regarding faith by doctrinal information.
Knowledge may come through books, pamphlets, or meetings. Therefore, it is beneficial for a person to be careful about the books he reads and the types of meetings he attends…
The Conscience’s Influence by the Community
In the midst of a group, a person is affected by emotion and by the conscience of the group. He may commit something that, if alone, his conscience would rebuke him for.
For example, a young man might be driven amid a demonstration to shout and destroy. If he is arrested and thrown into prison, then while alone in the quiet of the cell, he thinks differently than he did while shouting among the group. Also, a young man might jest and play among a group of friends without his conscience awakening or rebuking him. But when alone, it rebukes him.
In the midst of the group, the crowds of the Jews cried out, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”, contrary to their consciences, or being carried along without awareness of the seriousness of what they were doing. Thus the Lord said on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” because their conscience was disabled by the whirlwind of the group.
In the midst of the group, rumors and provocations may lead the conscience. A person may believe what they say and act influenced by what he heard.
Mary Magdalene is a clear example of the influence of the group on the conscience.
She had seen Christ, held His feet, and worshiped Him (Matthew 28), and heard Him say: “Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.” Yet when she became immersed in the group and heard the rumors the priests spread about the stealing of the holy body, she went to Peter and John and said to them: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him,” and she said the same to the angel (John 20).
The conscience may be strengthened when influenced by a righteous group that leads it to good. But it may slacken and sleep in a corrupt group, or its principles may change, and it may judge matters differently. This is what we notice in some who leave their countries for long periods…
Thus we see that the consciences of hermits and anchorites differ greatly from the consciences of laypeople—in sensitivity, judgment, and enlightenment—and may even differ from the consciences of many monks living in communities…
Yet there are strong consciences that the current of society does not overpower; instead, they influence it. Such were the prophets and reformers.
They were not influenced by the corruption of their generation, but rather took its leadership and changed it for the better. But not every person is stronger than the group…
These strong ones are characterized by firmness, steadfastness, and nonconformity. They remind me of the six rocky islets that obstructed the Nile’s course, and no currents or waves of the Nile over thousands of years affected them…
The Conscience Is Influenced by Leaders
The conscience is also influenced by leaders, guides, teachers, famous figures, and fathers.
Often we find a person a mirror image of his spiritual or biological father—in his style, ideas, temperament, even his gestures. He adopts all his principles, and his conscience is influenced by them until they become part of his nature, especially for beginners who are still forming their ideals.
But I know a saintly man who stood against this trend…
It is Paul the Apostle, who stood against Peter the Apostle, one of the three considered pillars of the Church (Peter, James, and John), and one of those who laid hands on him and sent him for ministry (Acts 13:3). Yet when the apostle Peter acted in a way worthy of blame, Paul said: “I opposed him to his face, because he was to be blamed.” And he said to him: “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as Jews?!” (Galatians 2:14).
This is the conduct of a conscience with principles, grounded in its knowledge of truth and goodness, whose standards are not changed by the actions of important people…
The Conscience Is Influenced by Desires
Desires and emotions—whether love or hate—affect the conscience in its judgments and actions, for it is rare to find someone who judges a matter entirely apart from desires and emotions.
A person may fall into a problem he believes cannot be solved except by lying, so he calls lying intelligence or cleverness. And if he condemns his action, he greatly softens his judgment of himself and offers countless excuses, never judging himself as harshly as he judges others. Some even call certain lies “white lies” or call them jokes…
And a person may love someone and defend all his actions, no matter how wrong, without his conscience troubling him! Indeed, his conscience may trouble him if he does not defend him! He calls this false defense a form of loyalty or duty. He may even call others to follow his path, speaking with strong emotion and zeal in a way that halts the work of the conscience, forgetting the verse (Proverbs 17:15):
“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both an abomination to the Lord.”
He who justifies the guilty is against truth and justice. He cannot excuse this by saying it is compassion or mercy… for he can acknowledge that there is guilt, then ask for compassion and mercy for the guilty. But declaring the guilty innocent is corruption of the conscience…
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