At best, the conscience is irrelevant.
“And looking intently at the council, Paul said, ‘Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.’”
Acts 23:1
Paul spent a great deal of time persecuting the Church before he was converted on the road to Damascus. Yet he still says that he lived in “good conscience up to this day”. How can a man who persecuted the Church make such a statement? Simple: because he legitimately thought he was doing what was right. Was he doing anything right? No, absolutely not. But he felt like he was doing right.
The Bible is very condensed compared to secular history. Of all the things that have happened in all of history and to the characters in the Bible, what we have recorded in Scripture is all we have. It is not that much compared to other recorded history. We do not have follow-up volumes to clear up difficult passages. We do not have extra information given to us.
Therefore, it must follow that everything in the Bible is there for a specific purpose.
There are no wasted lines in the Bible. The purpose of Acts 23:1 is to show the irrelevance of conscience. This idea flies in the face of both the popular conservative and liberal logic.
Church people have always passed down “knowledge” about the usefulness and necessity of conscience.
I say “No”. Conscience is irrelevant. Why?
Because based on this passage, we can have our “heart in the right place” (a truly stupid statement), we can “feel” like we are doing what is right, we can have warm fuzzy feelings in our heart and still be taking the worst possible actions.
Paul’s conscience was fine, yet he was a persecutor of the church. Would his conscience have saved him on the day of judgement had he never repented? No. Conscience alone, without correct action, does nothing. Conscience alone is just another emotion stacked on the big pile of worthless emotions. Worthless meaning that without accompanying action, they do not generate any results.
Sure, conscience can be used to direct people to the right actions. But this assumes that their conscience is functioning properly. Many people have malfunctioning consciences. We must reject the dogma that teaches the necessity of the conscience.
A malfunctioning conscience that can lead you straight to hell is not necessary. A conscience that tells you that you are doing what is right when you are definitely doing what is wrong is unprofitable. This was the state of Paul’s conscience. A conscience that convinces you that you have salvation when you live in opposition to the Word is a conscience that should be promptly executed, burned and the ashes buried.
If this teaching makes you uncomfortable, it is because of the dogma you have been force fed your whole life.
Parents, preachers and teachers have always told you that conscience is important and vital. Their teachings go against the explicit examples in the Word.
Did God give us conscience as a tool? Of course. But just like anything else God has given us, we as humans have learned to pervert and manipulate it to our will. This is why many forms of conscience must be rejected immediately, because they have no grounding in reality.
Prepare yourself, because we have more to say on the absurdity of conscience tomorrow. Reject the emotionalistic, ostentatious self-judgement that the weak call “conscience” Be a Man.
Mantra
Action matters. Conscience does not.
Application
Don’t worry about your conscience. Conscience is irrelevant. Nothing matters besides action. Having our hearts in the right place, feeling good, having a good conscience; all these can do nothing to save our souls without obedience. Are those emotions good tools? Sometimes. Are they necessary all the time? No.
Kick to the curb the idea that you have to both have and use your conscience. The truth about the morality of an action can be determined with logic and without involving weak emotions such as conscience.
This is your task: Don’t judge the quality of your actions by how you feel about them, that is for weak men.
Conduct Yourselves Like Men
