The Jackson Drive
Admonisher
"…able also to admonish one another."(Romans 15:14)

PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTEREST OF TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS BY THE

Jackson Drive Church of Christ
1110 Jackson Dr., Athens, AL 35611

Is Conscience a Safe Guide?
By Mike Johnson

"Always let your conscience be your guide." "Just do what your conscience says." This is the attitude that many people have when trying to determine what is right or wrong religiously. They think that as long as the conscience is followed, on some doctrinal matter or even on a moral issue, they will be correct. Is conscience really a safe guide, or is there some other guide which must be considered?

What do we mean by the conscience? The conscience is known as the internal recognition of right and wrong regarding our actions and motives. It can be described as the part of the mind which either approves or disapproves of one's actions on the basis of the actions being either in or out of harmony with that standard that one has chosen.
It is important to recognize that a conscience not properly "programmed" with the right standard will lead a person astray. For example, a person might not think that it is wrong to lie. Thus, he could tell a lie, and his conscience would not condemn him. He would, of course, sin by telling the lie, but since he had not been taught properly about lying, he could lie with a good conscience.

Paul serves as a good example in this area. Prior to his conversion, he persecuted Christians, and he did this with a good conscience. He thought that he was doing the right thing. Before the Jewish council (much later) he said in Acts 23:1, "…Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." He always did what his standard told him to do, but before his conversion, his standard was not correct. In Acts 26:9 he said, "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." Thus, Paul's actions prior to his becoming a Christian make it clear that a good conscience is not proof that one's actions are right.

Consider that if conscience is to be our guide, then there would be as many guides, or standards, as there are people. A person's conscience, for example may tell him that a certain practice is correct, or it may tell him that he is saved. Another person's conscience may tell him the exact opposite. With this approach, whether something is right and wrong is based only on what each individual perceives it to be.

What is to be our standard? It is to be the Bible---God's Word. Christ has all authority (Mt. 28:18). We must abide in the doctrine of Christ and not go beyond His Word (II Jn. 9, Rev. 22:18-19). It is important that we "program" our conscience with the teaching of God's Word.

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While we may have a good conscience and do wrong as mentioned above, it is impossible to violate our conscience and do right!(Romans 14:5,23) We must be taught truth, know truth, and practice truth to be right(John 8:32; I John 3:7). - p.a.o.

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[Note: A popular false teaching throughout the religious world is Premillennialism. It is based on misunderstandings of several things. These include God's purposes for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, the "land" promise God gave Israel, what the kingdom Jesus said He would establish is, as well as what will happen in the future and at the end of time. In fact, the doctrine of premillennialism distorts one's view of practically the whole Bible.

What follows is the first of twelve fine articles on this subject written by Hiram Hutto. It is hoped these will help in understanding what the Bible teaches on these matters. Feel free to contact Mr. Hutto or me about any of these teachings. - Phillip A. Owens]

Premillennialism -- # 1
By Hiram Hutto

One of the most popular and widespread doctrines in the religious world today is the one that is referred to as Premillennialism or as it is referred to sometimes as Dispensationalism. Its popularity may be seen in a recent series of books which deals with the doctrine. On the dust jacket of a book in the series, it states that 40,000,000 copies have been sold. Although there are many sides to the doctrine, basically it claims that between the second coming of Christ and the end of the world there will be a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth in Jerusalem. Since that period has not occurred yet we are living in the time before it does, thus premillennial. The word millennial comes from Latin and means one thousand, thus the idea of premillennialism. Involved in this is the idea that God promised to Abraham, and especially his descendants (the Jews), the land of Canaan (Palestine). It is further claimed that this promise has never been completely fulfilled and that it will be sometime in the future.

Let us consider the promises to Abraham. Basically there are three: (1) Land, (2) A nation of numerous descendants, (3) Spiritual or the seed promise. The promise of land is seen in Genesis 12. This chapter tells of God's call for Abraham to leave his country and kinsmen and go to the land that God would show him. In obedience to this, Abraham came into the land of Canaan (12:5). Here God said to Abraham, "unto thy seed will I give this land" (12:7). Later the promise was extended in Genesis 15:18ff where God said to Abram, "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the River of Egypt unto the great river, the River Euphrates."

The second part of the promise, numerous descendants, is found in 13:16 where God said to Abraham, "I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth" and "as the stars of heaven" (15:5).

The "spiritual" seed promise is found in 22:18, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou has obeyed my voice." These are very important. In fact, the rest of the Bible grows out of these promises; the Old Testament from the first two and the New Testament from the third one.

It is claimed that these promises have never been fulfilled, but this is a false claim. A fulfillment of the promise of the land can be seen in the Israelites entering into the land of Canaan following the exodus from Egypt and the forty years in the wilderness. In Joshua 1:4-6 God assured the Israelites that He would give them "the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." Following their entrance into the land, the Bible says, "So Jehovah gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; Jehovah delivered all their enemies into their hand. There fell not aught of any good thing which Jehovah had spoken unto the house of Israel, all came to pass" (Joshua 21:43-45).

Furthermore, it can be seen that later the "extended land promise" of Genesis 15:18ff was fulfilled during the days of Solomon. Here in 1 Kings 4:21, "Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life." Also see verse 24.

Then in Nehemiah 9:7ff there is a brief, concise history of God's dealing with Israel. In verses 7-8 the following statement is found, "Thou art Jehovah, the God who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perrizite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it unto his seed, AND HAS PERFORMED THY WORDS FOR THOU ART RIGHTEOUS."

To people who believe the Bible, there can be no doubt about it, God has fulfilled His land promise that He made to Abraham and his descendants.