| “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23:1). |
| This is the Apostle Paul speaking to the Jewish council, and it was a true statement. Yet in his younger years, when he was known as Saul of Tarsus, we find him persecuting Christians, putting them in prison. How could this be? He even stood by when Stephen was being stoned to death, and thought it was a good thing to do (read Acts 7). |
| The answer is that in those days, Saul (later Paul) did not know any better, and he thought he was doing the right thing. His conscience at that time did not bother him when he did all this. |
| Adam and Eve got a conscience when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and suddenly they had a sense of right and wrong. Everyone since then has had a conscience. Why then do people sometimes do terrible things, yet think they are doing something right? The answer is that we all have some sense of right and wrong, but our conscience can be compared to our eyes. We may have good eyes, but if the room is very dark, we cannot see very well. If a room is totally dark, we cannot see anything, even if we have good eyes. |
| In order to work properly, our conscience needs light — the light of the Word of God. We read in Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of Thy words giveth light.” Then we have a proper sense of right and wrong as God sees them, and our conscience is very useful to us. But I have been in some countries where most people follow false religions, and these people often lie, steal, cheat people, play mean tricks on others, and many other bad things. Yet their consciences do not bother them, for their religion tells them it is sometimes all right to do those things. |
| Even Christians can do wrong things and not have a bad conscience about them, if they do not know the Word of God. How important then it is to be familiar with the Bible, and to have a conscience that reminds us of right and wrong. |
