Conscience—A Burden or an Asset?
‘MY CONSCIENCE is bothering me!’ From time to time, virtually all of us experience the pangs of conscience. Such feelings may range from simple uneasiness to agonizing pain. A stricken conscience can even trigger depression or a deep sense of failure.
Viewed from this perspective, then, is not the conscience a burden? Some may feel that it is. Previous generations of thinkers often regarded the conscience as an innate, inborn faculty. Many felt that it was a moral guide given directly by God himself. The conscience has thus been called “God’s presence in man,” “our original nature,” and even “the voice of God.”
In recent years, however, it has become popular to assert that conscience is mostly an acquired faculty—a product of parental and social conditioning. For example, some psychologists argue that a child learns to refrain from undesirable behavior mainly out of fear of punishment, believing that what we call conscience is simply the absorption of our parents’ personal values and beliefs. Others point to the role that society in general plays in transmitting values and standards. Some view pangs of conscience as nothing more than the conflict between what we would like to do and what an oppressive society demands that we do!
Theories notwithstanding, time and again people have stood up to parents, families, and whole societies because their conscience told them to do so. Some have even been willing to sacrifice their life for the sake of conscience! And despite the profound differences among the world’s cultures, such actions as murder, theft, adultery, lying, and incest are almost universally viewed as wrong. Would this not argue that the conscience is innate, inborn?
Conscience—The Bible’s View
The real authority on this subject is Jehovah God. After all, “it is he [God] that has made us, and not we ourselves.” (Psalm 100:3) He thoroughly understands our makeup. God’s Word, the Bible, explains that man was made in God’s “image.” (Genesis 1:26) Man was created with a sense of what is right and wrong; from the start, conscience was an inherent part of man’s nature.—Compare Genesis 2:16, 17.
The apostle Paul confirms this in his letter to the Romans, writing: “Whenever people of the nations that do not have [God’s] law do by nature the things of the law, these people, although not having law, are a law to themselves. They are the very ones who demonstrate the matter of the law to be written in their hearts, while their conscience is bearing witness with them and, between their own thoughts, they are being accused or even excused.” (Romans 2:14, 15) Note that many who had not been raised under the divine Law given to the Jews still followed some of the principles of God’s law, not by social pressure, but “by nature”!
Far from being a burden, then, the conscience is a divine gift, an asset. Granted, it can cause us pain. But when properly heeded, it can also reward us with feelings of deep satisfaction and inner peace. It can guide, protect, and motivate us. The Interpreter’s Bible comments: “Mental and emotional health can be preserved only as the individual tries to close the gulf between what he does and what he feels he ought to do.” How can one close that gulf? Is it possible to mold and train our conscience? These questions will be considered in the next article.