One of the most incredible abilities of the human mind is that we have a conscience. The dictionary defines this as a moral sense. The understanding of what is and what is not moral differs among people. The head-hunters of centuries ago did not defile their conscience when they hunted other humans for food, but it was a crime to hunt someone of their own tribe. Our moral values develop as we grow. They are impacted and shaped by our beliefs, which are formed by religion, the beliefs of our society. Our sense of morals can change as we mature and experience new things. Most societies have developed a strong sense of moral conduct that leads to rules and laws by which the society or nation functions. Not all of the directions of our thoughts are what we would call good morals. We make judgments based on the set of moral values we have developed within our conscience. Conscience begins with lessons at home.
Regardless of what people may think, in our world there is only one very ancient book that has a set of morals that are designed to promote peace, contentment and love. Those morals are written in the pages of the Bible and the author is the Almighty, the Creator. There is a need for wisdom and understanding when we seek moral values that are excellent and perfect (Prov. 4:7-17). For many, doing evil is almost a badge of honour and the wicked do not rest unless they can make another person fall. The words of God give mankind a moral standard that would result in a clear conscience. There is no value that can be placed on having a clear conscience. It is so vital and important that we humans will go to almost any length to justify ourselves and our actions. We are able to blind ourselves to the evil deeds we do. We justify our actions in a variety of ways, but no matter what we do, those actions remain embedded in our mind and memory. One day, the light of God will shine into our mind and our wicked ways will be revealed.
There was a highly intelligent, well educated dynamic man who became one of the apostles whom God used greatly. This man had a conscience that was clear by his own interpretation. We can use him as an example of ourselves. Saul was a zealous instrument in the hands of the priests in Jerusalem in Jesus' day. He was a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin and Saul had a clear conscience for his terrible actions because his conscience was formed by the interpretation of the law by the priests. For Saul, their interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures and application of them was the guide for moral values. He said out of zeal he persecuted the church and considered himself blameless according to the law (Phil. 3:4-6). He had no bad conscience at the death of Stephen (Acts 8:1-3) and he made havoc of the church in his zeal to annihilate the followers of Jesus Christ. Saul went on to ask permission to continue to hunt and persecute men and women (Acts 9:1,2,13-15). The treatment would have been harsh with beatings, stonings, binding in chains and imprisonment being common tools for Saul to use. This was one example of how a twisted and evil set of moral laws or standards can cover evil to such an extent that the perpetrator has a clear conscience - or did he? Was Saul always able to live with himself?
When God reached out to enroll Saul into the work of the ministry, God opened the eyes of Saul to understand the difference between good and evil, holy and profane, right and wrong by God's standards. All of them were written in the book Saul and the priests used, but the desire and belief to keep Judaism pure was strong enough that any act of evil was acceptable for "the cause." That is a common thread in the thinking of evil people - and people who put a cause before God. The conscience of Saul was now stricken strongly by God and his eyes were opened (Acts 9:18-21). Saul now became Paul and had a whole new understanding of a moral code that was from God. That is the only moral code that is lasting and perfect.
There is no doubt that Saul was terribly smitten by the evil he had done. He no longer had a clear conscience, and in fact, he felt terrible and unworthy. God used Paul to write almost all of the transition from the old covenant to the new and to preach widely to the Gentiles. Paul retained his zeal (sometimes too strongly) and was a tireless worker for God. He came to understand that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the way his sins could be forgiven and he was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. However, even though Paul knew he had been forgiven and had accepted the blood of Christ, he never forgot the acts he had committed. His conscience was clear by the blood of Christ, but he was not able to erase his actions from his mind. The new truth had awakened his past wrongly justified actions. Paul mentioned some of his past deeds in his writings about 20 years after his conversion. Paul told the church that he was the least of the apostles because he had persecuted the church (I Cor. 15:9). He told brethren in Ephesus that he was the least of the saints for the same reason (Eph. 3:8). Paul did receive a clear conscience in that he knew and believed his sins of the past were forgiven by the mercy of God and blood of Christ (2 Tim. 4:6-8). That does not mean he did not remember them and perhaps cringed within when he met people he had persecuted. Job stated: "Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace" (Job 10:15).
Like all of us, memory continues to cling to our thoughts. When Peter denied knowing Jesus, no doubt every time a rooster crowed, Peter felt a tug in his heart (Matt. 26:34). We humans are all much the same. Every one of us has a guilty conscience toward God for things that we have done and later found were sinful before Him (I John 1:8-10). We too are told that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. We confess that we have sinned and need His blood at baptism and often in our prayers and when we take the Passover. However, like Paul and no doubt every one of the disciples and the generations of people who came after them, you and I are humbled in the knowledge and remembrance of our past deeds. It is a wonderful blessing to have a clear conscience, but knowing that we do not deserve it keeps us repentant and humble. It takes faith.
Paul who remembered some of the sinful inner forces driving him, informed us all that in the last days, a good and godly conscience would become rare. People are able to excuse all of their deeds because they function within a conscience that has been corrupted by Satan (2 Tim. 3:1-8). Evil men will grow worse and they will not condemn their own actions (verse 13). Paul knew that God had placed mankind on this earth which was under the influence of Satan. He realized that people could not resist Satan on their own, but God did walk with humans and His teachings were always present, although pushed aside and neglected. Humans could excuse their actions when a deed was in their favour. Paul wrote that God gave humans over to a corrupt mind since they refused to glorify Him or be thankful (Rom. 1:20-25). There have been unspeakable atrocities committed by humans against humans in this world. Their conscience can be blinded. Only humans have a conscience and memory. Animals do not act in the evil ways of mankind.
Almighty God has not given up on the human race. God made Saul into Paul. He has yet to set His hand firmly to rescue this world from evil. There will need to be a new education so that true moral values are taught and fully appreciated. A good and godly conscience will be developed in each person. Moral standards are to be put in our hearts through the word of God. Let God be your guide.