I always knew what the conscience was. I have never been one to not listen to mine, but sometimes, things can become gray and it gets harder and harder with the frivolous noise in the world to listen to our conscience.
Tonight, in RCIA, our speaker was presenting on moral theology. (A personal favorite topic of mine) And he mentioned that there are 3 levels of knowledge. The first is natural instinct. The second is personal conscience, self-determining right from wrong, and the third was "who are we listening to?"
At the end of class, I posed a question concerning what might be considered a "mortal" sin. First of all, what is a mortal sin...a mortal sin is something that is of grave matter, done in full knowledge, and with full consent. Now, if someone, knowing that a particular matter is of grave matter, and does it with full consent, yet truly in their heart believes it to be okay or morally acceptable is this a mortal sin?
His answer...at the end of the day, when you have gone through the four things that constitute guidance: human experience, prayer, scripture, and the Church, then you must follow your conscience. Wow...for in the end we will be judged for our actions and what we deem a stain on our conscience. To be honest, this places a lot of responsibility on us as humans. But shouldn't it?
If we believe that natural law exists: that we are all good and striving to do good, then we must believe that even though there are people in this world that are not Christians, they will be judged by their conscience, and whether they are good. Christian doesn't mean good. It just means: you are a sinner and striving to be Christ-like.
Is this right or wrong? I am a firm disbeliever in relativism. I hate it, probably as much as I hate judgement...but damn how do you rectify the two? I know so many people that judge others according to something they believe to be true about them. Yeah...that's wrong. That's a sin.
Take it this way: I believe in the full doctrine of the Catholic Church. Do I believe that those who decide to forgo the teachings of this Church are wrong? Not necessarily. However, I do believe that we will all be judged according to the "who we listen to." Meaning...you don't have to be Catholic to be perfect. No Catholic is perfect. No person, no human, is perfect. But if you align yourself to someone of immoral doctrine then you are responsible for what that does to your conscience.
Am I making sense? It's all kinda going through my head, but sometimes it is hard to relay on paper. What I know is this...we all have a conscience, and we are responsible to follow that conscience, but we can teach our soul and conscience to follow the True path. That part is our responsibility.
Tonight, in RCIA, our speaker was presenting on moral theology. (A personal favorite topic of mine) And he mentioned that there are 3 levels of knowledge. The first is natural instinct. The second is personal conscience, self-determining right from wrong, and the third was "who are we listening to?"
At the end of class, I posed a question concerning what might be considered a "mortal" sin. First of all, what is a mortal sin...a mortal sin is something that is of grave matter, done in full knowledge, and with full consent. Now, if someone, knowing that a particular matter is of grave matter, and does it with full consent, yet truly in their heart believes it to be okay or morally acceptable is this a mortal sin?
His answer...at the end of the day, when you have gone through the four things that constitute guidance: human experience, prayer, scripture, and the Church, then you must follow your conscience. Wow...for in the end we will be judged for our actions and what we deem a stain on our conscience. To be honest, this places a lot of responsibility on us as humans. But shouldn't it?
If we believe that natural law exists: that we are all good and striving to do good, then we must believe that even though there are people in this world that are not Christians, they will be judged by their conscience, and whether they are good. Christian doesn't mean good. It just means: you are a sinner and striving to be Christ-like.
Is this right or wrong? I am a firm disbeliever in relativism. I hate it, probably as much as I hate judgement...but damn how do you rectify the two? I know so many people that judge others according to something they believe to be true about them. Yeah...that's wrong. That's a sin.
Take it this way: I believe in the full doctrine of the Catholic Church. Do I believe that those who decide to forgo the teachings of this Church are wrong? Not necessarily. However, I do believe that we will all be judged according to the "who we listen to." Meaning...you don't have to be Catholic to be perfect. No Catholic is perfect. No person, no human, is perfect. But if you align yourself to someone of immoral doctrine then you are responsible for what that does to your conscience.
Am I making sense? It's all kinda going through my head, but sometimes it is hard to relay on paper. What I know is this...we all have a conscience, and we are responsible to follow that conscience, but we can teach our soul and conscience to follow the True path. That part is our responsibility.
I'm not sure I believe that human conscience should be the final rule. If scripture says something is sin, then it is. Period. But the human mind is able to justify anything it wants. For example, it's easy to read a scripture like 1 Thessalonians 4:3 that says, "This is God's will, that you abstain from sexual immorality," yet never let it affect our thinking and actions because of our "buts": "God says to 'abstain' from 'sexual immorality,' but [insert justification here]." Even if our conscience nudges us at first, we are able to silence it through continued justification of our sin. Anyone, no matter how devoted or faithful, can fall prey to the desires of his flesh through justification; his feelings can be dictated by what his flesh wants, which, according to Galatians 5:19-21 (Thank you, Google!), is not at all what God has called us to.
ReplyDeleteIf I seek God with my whole heart and submit myself to His will - if I give myself over to being transformed by the renewing of my mind - then my conscience will come into agreement with scripture throughout the process. But I don't want to ever arrive at the point that I think my feelings know better than God's word. I honestly fear the path down which that belief would take me, because I've met my flesh. She's a depraved sinner, capable of destroying the beautiful life I am blessed to live. Instead, God must be the ultimate authority, and my heart must remain submitted to Him. It's the only way I've found to walk in peace and freedom.