Pastoring the Pestering Conscience

Body

“I’ve met church members who are hard on themselves. Like radar that mistakes birds for bombers, their consciences hold them in a state of emergency. They live under the threat of God’s judgment. They apologize a lot. Some are hard on others, too. Like air traffic controllers with defective equipment, they cry danger when there is none. They accuse a lot.” - 9 Marks

Discussion

Pastoring the Scrupulous Conscience

Body

“… people whose consciences were wracked with guilt over sin, real or imagined, that left them in despair. While many causes could give rise to this, one was clearly what we would call an over-scrupulous conscience.” - 9 Marks

Discussion

Calibrating the Conscience

Body

“Theologian Charles Hodge (1797–1878) describes the conscience as a ‘mysterious power,’ a mental faculty that seems both to emerge from our inner world and stand outside of us as an external judge. A further complication arises from the evident reality that one’s conscience can malfunction.” - 9 Marks

Discussion

Up the Down Staircase, Part 2

Read Part 1.

On Conscience, Legalism, Loving Your Brother, and the Fear of Man

Is it OK to go up the down staircase?

If it violates the spirit of the law, no it’s not. If it doesn’t, it’s fine.

But as I noted last time, when it doesn’t violate the spirit of the law, there are other things to consider.

Discussion

Up the Down Staircase, Part 1

On Conscience, Legalism, Loving Your Brother, and the Fear of Man

Ah, that “doubtful things” issue again.

Yep.

Discussion

“Recent scientific discoveries are forcing scientists to revisit questions of faith and to question their own questioning of it.”

Body

“It is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the possibility of a past-eternal universe…. There is no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning” - Imaginative Conservative

Discussion