What is Liberty of Conscience? - Part 1

What is Liberty of Conscience?

Well, to begin the study one must understand that God works from internal to external. In 1 Samuel, when David is being selected as king, God tells Samuel not to look on the outward appearance, as man does, but to consider that God looks at the heart.

What does this internal 'look' like? Internal includes all that is unseen in the individual. It is considered primary (most important), as we saw above. It is the cause of what we see externally. Intentions, beliefs, values, motives, mind, soul, spirit, heart...all these and more comprise the internal. This internal is, in fact, your individual property. You own it. You are responsible for it. You can neglect it or your can nurture it. The most valuable aspect of this internal property is your conscience.

What then, is conscience? Most of us probably immediately think of Jimminy Cricket, from Disney's Pinnochio. Let's put away this image for a bit and examine the etymology and definition of this word.

Dictionary.com lists 'conscience' as:


1.
the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action: to follow the dictates of conscience.
2.
the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual.
3.
an inhibiting sense of what is prudent: I'd eat another piece of pie but my conscience would bother me.

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the American Language lists 'conscience' as:

1. Internal or self-knowledge, or judgment of right and wrong; or the faculty, power or principle within us, which decides on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of our own actions and affections, and instantly approves or condemns them. Conscience is called by some writers the moral sense, and considered as an original faculty of our nature. Others question the propriety of considering conscience as a distinct faculty or principle. The consider it rather as the general principle of moral approbation or disapprobation, applied to ones own conduct and affections; alledging that our notions of right and wrong are not to be deduced from a single principle or faculty, but from various powers of the understanding and will.
Being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one. John 8.
The conscience manifests itself in the feeling of obligation we experience, which precedes, attends and follows our actions.
Conscience is first occupied in ascertaining our duty, before we proceed to action; then in judging of our actions when performed.
2. The estimate or determination of conscience; justice; honesty.
What you require cannot, in conscience, be deferred.
3. Real sentiment; private thought; truth; as, do you in conscience believe the story?

Etymologyonline.com lists 'conscience' as:

c.1225, from O.Fr. conscience, from L. conscientia "knowledge within oneself, a moral sense," prp. of conscire "be mutually aware," from com- "with" + scire "to know." Probably a loan-translation of Gk. syneidesis. Sometimes nativized in O.E./M.E. as inwit. Rus. also uses a loan-translation, so-vest, "conscience," lit. "with-knowledge." Conscientious objector first recorded 1916.

The common thread here is "to know", or "with knowledge", or "moral sense of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of an action or inaction. It is clear in this that the conscience precedes actions. It sets a path and then judges that path. In Scripture, it is said that all Scripture is...able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (2 Timothy). Hm...sounds awfully close to the definition of conscience.

That's all for now - more later.