1.27.08 The Voice of God
WESTMINSTER PULPIT
The Rev. Dr. David Thompson
January 27, 2008 The Voices Within: #1 Conscience: “The Voice of God”
Text: “When Gentiles who do not possess the law carry out its precepts by the light of nature, then, although they have no law, they are their own law; they show that what the law requires is inscribed on their hearts, and to this their conscience gives supporting witness, since their own thoughts argue the case, sometimes against them, sometimes even for them.” St. Paul
Inside all of us are voices clamoring to be heard. Which ones do we pay attention to? Is there any kind of a voice of God within us? Is this a personal voice? Is it separate from our conscience or part of it? What role does the conscience play? What does God have to do with our conscience? How might we know that the voice is from God?
There is a tremendous amount written about the human conscience, some profound and some rather funny.
Robert Redford once said: “Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better.”
Mark Twain once wrote: “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
Many modern scientists in the fields of evolutionary psychology and neuroscience talk about conscience as a function of the human brain that has evolved to make possible altruism in society. It could either be instinctive or learnt behavior. It could be in the genes or not.
In psychoanalysis, after Sigmund Freud, it was thought that conscience originated in the super ego which is full of parenting tapes from our childhood. Freud was much concerned with guilt which came from not obeying our conscience.
Physicians often see the conscience as set in the anterior prefrontal cortex. When brain damage occurs it can result in the elimination or reduction of inhibitions. Psychopaths seem to be missing all or some elements of the conscience.
Some experts think that conscience is the drive within us to avoid provoking fear or contempt in others. They say that we experience our conscience when we feel guilt or shame. To avoid these negative feelings we change our behavior. Thus our conscience prompts us to behave in the right way.
But Joseph Butler, born into a Presbyterian family, eventually converting to the Church of England, believed that God had something to do with the conscience. He writes about the conscience as God given and it should always be obeyed. He also said that it was intuitive, because we are able to perceive things beyond empirical evidence, and therefore it is considered to be “the constitutional monarch” of the mind and “a universal moral faculty.”
The Bible happens to be a very rich mine on the subject of the human conscience. What does the Bible say about it?
St. Paul in Romans argues that Gentiles who do not have the moral law delivered to the Jews, but who carry out its precepts by the light of nature, they become their own law. Their conscience gives supporting witness, since their thoughts argue the case, sometimes against them, sometimes even for them.
St. Paul then sees human beings as having a conscience which bears witness to us as to what is right and what is wrong. It is not the same as the voice of God to St. Paul. In the letter to Timothy he argues that the conscience can become seared. “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” For St. Paul it appears that conscience is a God given faculty but it is not infallible. It can be seared.
The Thursday morning Bible study group has been studying the life of Joseph. In that story Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery and lie to their father that Joseph has been killed by a wild beast. But when the brothers fall on hard times their conscience becomes active and they remember their guilt and think that they are being punished for their sins.
King David sees a beautiful woman who is another man’s wife. He sleeps with her and apparently feels no pangs of conscience. But Nathan the prophet gets to David’s conscience and calls him to account and David repents.
At the time of Christ’s crucifixion St. Peter denies Jesus three times. Before these denials Jesus had predicted that he would deny him three times before the cock would crow in the morning. When the cock crowed as Jesus had predicted Peter’s conscience would not leave him alone and he wept. His conscience was not peaceful until the resurrected Christ confronted him and asked him three times “Do you Love me?”
The Biblical record teaches that the conscience is very powerful. When Judas betrays Christ and the betrayal is successful, Judas is filled with remorse and commits suicide.
The book of Job is a treatise on the human conscience among other themes. Job’s conscience is clear. Everybody around him thinks that he is suffering because he must have done something wrong. Not Job! He believed in his own innocence. His conscience was his guide under immense peer pressure.
Often the conscience does not do what the body wants. I remember reading a true story of a young man on holiday who met a really attractive young woman. There was chemistry between them. They went out socially and afterwards he took her home. She invited him in and they both knew where this was going. This went against his conscience because he was promised to another. So they parted never to see each other again. He wrote that his body was extremely angry with him…
It is events like this that cause Christian theologians to think that the conscience is more than just a sentient faculty.
Orthodox priest Alexander Milieant writes: “The heart seeks pleasant feelings and turns away from what is opposed to these. Meanwhile, violations of the demands of the moral law are frequently accompanied by the most severe torments which cause the heart to be rent in two, and from which we can in no way escape, no matter how much we want to try. Clearly the sentient power of the conscience must not be regarded solely as a manifestation of the normal sensual faculty.” In view of all this he says, “should we not acknowledge that the conscience appears to be a power independent of us, standing higher over us and reigning over our intellects, even over our will and heart?”
Henry Sloane Coffin, the famous preacher, once said that he had come across a statement made by a Chinese official in the early days of the Chinese republic. The official was asked what a distinctive quality about Jesus was. He replied: “That that quality in Jesus seemed to be his power to create a more delicate conscience.”
Historical Presbyterianism would agree and it states in our Book of Order that God alone is Lord of the conscience and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his Word, or beside it, in matters of faith and worship.”
In the government section of the Book of order section G-6.0108 it states “that those who are ordained to serve in the church as officers shall adhere to the essentials of the reform faith and polity as expressed in the Book of Confessions and the form of Government. So far as may be possible without serious departure from these standards, without infringing on the rights and views of others, and without obstructing the constitutional governance of the church, freedom of conscience with respect to the interpretation of Scripture is to be maintained. It is to be recognized however, that in becoming a candidate or officer of the Presbyterian Church USA one chooses to exercise freedom of conscience within certain bounds. His or her conscience is captive to the Word of God as interpreted in the standards of the church… Candidates for ministry in the Presbyterian Church USA shall have their attention drawn to the constitutional documents of the church including its statement on freedom of conscience.”
Why is the freedom of conscience a pillar of Reform Theology? In 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church he was expressing scruples of conscience about the church of his day. When arraigned before the government of the day in Worms and placed on trial for his beliefs and actions Martin Luther said, “Here I stand. I can do no other!” His conscience would not permit him to go along with the abuses he saw happening in his day. When he said that, history began to take a different course.
For instance one of the founding fathers of the American Constitution James Madison said that, “mans relation with his God is above human legislation and his rights of conscience inalienable.” George Washington said, “Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions ought to be protected in worshipping the deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.” So suddenly the human conscience as Butler was to argue becomes constitutional monarch of the mind and a universal moral faculty. In a sense it becomes a self evident truth. Out of this understanding came the theory and practice of the separation of church and state in the U.S.
As Presbyterian Pastors, ordinands to the Session and Board of Deacons, we are all to exercise our conscience when we feel led to do so. As many of you now know when the Sacramento Presbytery decided to dismiss two congregations along with their property without considering how to replace those missions on behalf of the PCUSA the three Westminster pastors protested the actions of our Presbytery, not because we were against the Presbytery or the congregations of Fair Oaks or Roseville, but because our consciences told us to do so. As far as we could see the trusteeship role of the Presbytery which hold the assets of the PCUSA in trust was violated in the negotiated agreement with these two congregations. As far as we can see the whole nature of connectionalism is threatened by the Presbytery action. What we see is that we have to help the Presbytery and the congregations of Fair Oaks and Roseville to see their responsibilities rightly in terms of their ordinations vows to uphold the peace, unity and purity of the church. In order to do that we need the balance of the Synod Permanent Judicial Commission to whom we have sent a remedial complaint.
Property is held in common in the PCUSA because we deal here with the concept that we are trying to actualize, which is the whole Kingdom of God. In the PCUSA congregations do not own their property. It is held in trust for the mission of the Kingdom of God by the whole church. Yes congregations can leave the PCUSA, but there is a principled way to do that and as far as we can see that has not happened at all. Rather the costs of litigation and the threat of a court case and depleted Presbytery finances seem to be driving these decisions. This is exactly where the conscience says, but this is not right. We are to make highly principled decisions. We don’t roll over when the going gets tough. The Christian Faith sometimes requires sacrifices and this may be one such occasion. You may pick up our remedial complaint today if you so wish in the office after service.
In closing I would like to agree with the astute Chinese official. The amazing quality he saw in Jesus was the “power to create a more delicate conscience.”
Jesus is so amazing if you look closely at his methodology and his thought, particularly when it came to the conscience of the conservative theologians of his day. In the Gospel lesson today we see the Scribes and Pharisees confronting Jesus with a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. Note their consciences were telling them that she should be stoned to death according to their Scriptures. Note also that there seems to be no enforcement on the male side. There is no man charged, it is the woman’s fault, the sort of thing that we used to hear in courts and still do in some parts of the world today that it is the woman’s fault because she enticed the man.
The Scribes and Pharisees were religiously conservative. Things were black and white for them. There were no shades of grey. It was clear what should be done. The woman should be stoned to death. Why did they bring her to Jesus? Was it perhaps because somewhere deep down they knew it was a terrible decision to remove someone’s life for adultery? Or did they bring her to Jesus to try to trap Jesus because they knew he was compassionate? Scripture says that they brought her to him as a test, looking for something to use against him.
If that is the case and it seems very likely it was, note as well that these religious conservatives were not above using someone’s life to entrap Jesus. They were using her to further their own ends in what to them was a matter of principle. The end justified the means, something we have long regarded as unethical especially today. Note as well that they made her stand in full view of everyone. Her act, done in privacy was to be exposed to everyone to create shame, not unlike what happened to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski on the Internet.
These religious conservatives all had clear consciences. They were into prosecution.
John Newton was a slave trade captain. The slave ships were awful in the way they treated the Africans. They were in the most inhumane conditions and many died on the voyage. Yet Newton had no pangs of conscience, in fact he would sit in his bunk and read his Bible quite oblivious to the suffering all around him. One day however, after a near death experience, Newton came to his senses and began to realize what had happened to his conscience. In that moment he began to compose the famous hymn Amazing Grace.
Jesus wrote in the sand when these conservative folks asked him to rule on the woman before him. What would Jesus do? Suddenly he looked up and said “Let the person who is without sin cast the first stone,” and went back to writing in the sand…
Slowly the crowd of accusers melted away, all taken aback because Jesus had sharpened their consciences. Suddenly he showcased one of his major teachings. Judge not that you be not judged. Or as St. Paul said, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one.” So the playing field is absolutely leveled because there was not a man among them without sin who could morally cast the first stone.
Jesus is absolutely brilliant. Get to know him. He will sharpen your conscience if you permit it, and one day along with the slave captain you will sing; Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found was blind but now I see…
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