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A more complete definition of conscience
Definition of the word Conscience
To be truthful there are a variety of definitions applied by different ministers of the Gospel for the word Conscience as used in the Bible. But most definitions agree that it is a faculty of the human mind. All people have this faculty. It is susceptible to change. It is part of the mind used to make or identify the rightness of behavior having a moral character. For Christians all behavior has a moral sense about it because all Christian behavior should be based on obedience to the Will of God in our lives and promoted by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Some say the conscience is present at the time of birth, some say the conscience is formed as the human mind matures, and some say other things like the conscience is preset to identify to us certain things pertaining to right and wrong. Regardless of these things, Christian ministers agree and there is plenty of Bible passages that agree with them, that there is a conscience and that it cannot always be trusted because it is influenced by social conditions. But since it can be changed it can be trained to be reliable in identifying the rightness of behavior.
Again there are difference between ministers in terms of how the conscience actually works and how it is integrated with the rest of the human mind and how it works with the Holy Spirit. See the symbol (RA) in the dialog for some idea of these different perspectives. Regardless of the detail you should realize that how the conscience it related to the rest of the mind and the work of the Holy Spirit in our soul, it is unanimous that there are relationships and one must strive so that the conscience and the rest of the human mind support and reflect the oneness towards which the Holy Spirit is working in our souls.
The remainder of this definitional dialog reflects the views of the author of the feature article "How the devil plays God". If the details are important to you then you should read the relevant Bible passages in context, and review the different perspectives as found when you click on the (RA) symbols. You will find these imbedded in the text as (RA1), (RA2), etc. Then pray about the matter and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you the details you are seeking. The symbol (RT) will provide you with English and Greek Bible text for all the passages in the Bible using the word conscience. And if you click on the numbers surrounded by angle brackets you will be able to get the definition of the Greek words used in those texts. The features just explained in this paragraph are under development and depending when you read this they may not all be available.
Conscience is a faculty (part of or a function of) the human mind. The activity of conscience relates to truth and error, right and wrong. Conscience is active at all times for from a Christian perspective thoughts are considered as serious as actions and both are a form of behavior. Conscience involves some kind of introspection (examination of one's own thoughts and feelings). This is done from a moral perspective, that is a right and wrong character is assigned to them. Should I pursue this thought or should I even tolerate the presence of this thought or feeling? Should I do this thing I seem to want to do or should I turn away from it now? So, you see, there is rational thought, analysis, and judgement applied to the thought, feeling, or action under consideration. These are attributes of the human mind. And does it really matter how they integrate with the mental function of conscience or is it more important to understand that what and how we think can have a profound effect on conscience and vice versa. Pragmatically speaking, it is therefore most important to read and meditate upon the scriptures while trying to relate to the right and wrong perspectives revealed there about the characters in the Bible and about Jesus Christ. These Bible characters are people just like you and me. And if we fill our mind (program our mind) by regular reading and meditation of the scriptures we will be helping to change our conscience so that it is strong and persuaded regarding a sanctified soul walking close with God and led in all things by the Holy Spirit..
I believe the faculty of conscience develops (gets programmed) as a key faculty of the human mind, designed by God to be a moral center of decision making. But whether or not it is such a center of moral decision making it certainly provides a sense of caution when our thoughts, feelings, and actions under consideration veer away from the programming.
Also, I think that this introspection eventually develops to a point where it tends to extend out beyond the self to others. Sometimes clashes occur between Christians because of the different programming and maturation process associated with their consciences. In the book of Hebrews and the two books of Corinthians the Apostle Paul speaks about how one Christian may act according to his or her conscience and cause a problem for another Christian who is bothered or may be weak in conscience about the same matter. So he encourages, on issues that are not always clear, that we should honor each others conscience so as not to offend each other. This is a very important concept but it should not be confused with tolerating an outright violation of clearly stated and often repeated scriptural principles and codes of conduct. Read this for yourself.
A good conscience reflects these attributes of ones soul: Awareness, affirmation and trust in God's presence in our soul as the Holy Spirit. Any personal goals are really just obedience to the Will of God. Faith in the reliability of God to keep His promises. And our constant metal focus should be to "put on Jesus Christ" that is our mind should be like His. Our mental preoccupation should then to be like Christ and not preoccupied with the flesh to fulfill it's lusts.
Do you know what are the lusts of the flesh.? The lusts of the flesh are not just obsessive desires for food, drink, and illicit (according to God's law) sex. The lusts of the flesh are obsessive desires for power, money, material possessions, and status. They cause greed, dishonesty, stealing, adultery, murder, competitiveness, pride, lack of compassion for others, an ill temper, addictions, and all the many things that have to do with abuses found in this current worldly system.
Each Christian person needs to come to his or her own convictions regarding matters of conscience. Where the scriptures are not clear we must in any event answer to the Lord so we should always be cautious to act out of Love and with wisdom as we can defile our conscience or operate with a weak conscience or wound someone's weak conscience.
But the greatest joy is to be obedient and have a strong and clear conscience in all things. So always act towards that end avoiding thoughts, feelings, and actions under consideration if there is any possibility of setting off injury and a cycle of further damage rendering our or someone else's conscience severely damaged in it's capacity to differentiate between right and wrong.
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