God’s creatures have accessibilities in divergent ways. The “dumb animal” (a misnomer if there ever was one) and us “upright” folks have unique brains and the energy implanted into each are none less than miraculous. To the purist, yes I know it is not a miracle in the sense it occurs everyday and is not an invasion of the natural but it surely qualifies as a “near-miracle”. Yes, how that bit of gray matter, which our brain is often called, is able to train, retrain, improve and update the abilities we use every day should be sufficient evidence that the One God of all exists and has shown an individualized interest in His creations. To some, they look at a limited facet of the animal kingdom and the claim of an “opposing thumb” is that which distinguishes man from some beasts of the animal kingdom. Believe me, there is more than an opposing thumb that makes me look at God’s creations of humans and animals with awe! Bill Venrick, The Wordwright

The brain, mind, and innate “image of God” with which all humans are endowed has one little but important part we have named as “conscience”, and that is my subject for this essay. The conscience is a veritable root issue of life and existence. I believe the conscience is uniquely an essential part of the human, not present in the animal kingdom. A technical scientific term, conditioning, is probably the explanation of some animals having near human traits. Not that humans are unaffected by conditioning, this term is definitely used when actions and reactions are the topic of animal behavior and how or why chimpanzees, for example, perform the way they do.

An action might be called “unconscionable” – which means the obvious: without a conscience! Sometimes men and women perform such acts upon other humans that are beyond understanding. Killing, or murder, to be more exact, is a mystery. Why or how one human can so invade the lives of others to try to wipe them off the face of the earth for selfish reasons is beyond common understanding. When some want more, they simply kill to get it. Plundering is not a new thing. We have simply refined the tools of plundering to the extent of having “smart bombs” that can be dropped or sent via missiles to travel miles until it reaches their target and specifically explode at a predetermined time to obliterate its target, whether human or mechanical.

A root issue is really what the conscience is. Robert Fulghum correctly identified the essentials in life when he said, “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.” Well, almost. But it is that litany of life we learn as children: to share, to be nice, to be considerate, etc. is that part of the circuits of our minds that distinguish us from “other animals”. Someone has said, it is only the human that has the ability (or need) to blush. In today’s culture one can almost wonder if the ability to blush is becoming a lost art.

What is this thing we call a conscience? A minister, famous to many, said in a recent sermon, “Conscience is a gift of God to protect us and keep us from destroying ourselves.” (from a sermon I heard on TV by Charles Stanley) That certainly is a deep thought. It is a long way from the philosophy of Jiminy Cricket for sure. What is it that makes some more thoughtful than others? What is it that allows one human to take another humans life? What is it that allows nations to war against other nations? What is it that allows mates to deny love to each other, disavowing pledges made to stay together “until death do us part”? The list goes on as to what humans persist in doing to others because of the conscience, which has been defiled or wounded.

The conscience can often be referred to as either “bad” or “good”. The Apostle Paul accurately stated, “…I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience…” (Acts 23:1) The conscience can be programmed – this was more accurately called “brain washing” during war times when the enemy (and our own troops) are technically brainwashed to obtain specific goals. The tools of warfare in Hitler’s regime were based on brainwashing soldiers to believe Jews were clearly collateral matter – not worth letting live. Millions of Jews were obliterated from the face of the earth like so many insects swatted by a giant flyswatter.

God gave us the conscience but it requires continual service much like many tools that need re-sharpened or machines that need oiled or lubricated and checked for worn parts that may need replaced. Fortunately the conscience can be cared for by regular maintenance much like the machines or tools we use. Truly the conscience is a gift from our Creator.

We must respect and protect our conscience. The conscience can be hardened, even seared to the extent it is no longer a safe guide. Our conscience then could be looked upon as wounded. Such damage is often so subtle, slowly modifying our conscience so effectively that ultimately we will accept bad as good!

Ardath H. Rodale expresses her concern for viewers of TV: “I worry that viewers who watch TV indiscriminately are anesthetized or hypnotized by what they see.” This is a genuine concern that all must face because the conscience as we read in the Scripture needs guarded, otherwise why do we read about a “good” conscience or a “seared” (or branded) conscience. Other references in the Bible mention terms (in conjunction with the conscience) as: wounded, pure, defiled, and evil. Defiling of the conscience can be a very slow or insidiously so a real concern exists as Ardath H. Rodale wrote in her book, “Climbing Toward the Light”, Copyright 1989, The Good Shepherd Press, Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

Former U. S. Senator of Georgia, Zell Miller challenges the conscience of America with these words: "How could this great land of plenty produce too few people in the last 30 years?” Miller asked in March 2007 during a fund-raiser in Macon, Georgia, for Sav-A-Life Care Center, a crisis pregnancy center. "Here is the brutal truth that no one dares to mention: We’re too few because too many of our babies have been killed. Over 45 million since Roe v. Wade in 1973.” "If those 45 million children had lived, today they would be defending our country, they would be filling our jobs, they would be paying into Social Security. Still, we watch as 3,700 babies are killed every single day in America. It is unbelievable that a nation under God would allow this.”

Source: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (and newsmax dot com archives)

Thankfully, our conscience can be improved once we have allowed it to be corrupted by ungodly influences. Simple steady maintenance may do the job of keeping our conscience clean but we are not left without resources to care for our conscience. We must guard or protect our conscience but being mortal or human enters the picture or prevents us being as good as we ought. Such maintenance is not always easy – that’s why the term “work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling…” is an essential part of our biblical training.

Some Scripture for further study: I Corinthians 8:12; I Timothy 1:5; 3:9; 4:2; Titus 1:15; Hebrews 9:14; 10:22; 13:18. Check your own concordance searches for CONSCIENCE.

Conscience – root issues – boundaries, they are all pretty much the same. Without these built-in safeguards humans are helpless victims of Satan. The Scripture accurately teaches us: ”Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23, King James Version) We wouldn’t let our small children out of the house without being sure they would not run out in the street in the path of danger. We put a symbol of danger on bottles of poison so the contents will be obvious to anyone who can read. This damage or corruption of our conscience can be accurately defined as sin. How can we clean our conscience of the sin from our lives? The age-old question has an age-old answer: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Be sure, with such a gift comes responsibility. We must consistently and persistently work to maintain our conscience, keeping it pure. Trusting the One who gave us such a gift is essential, and God has not left us without divine resources. Read the passages of Scripture listed earlier and most questions can be answered when honest inquiry is sought in the Bible.

THE WORDWRIGHT