Conscience: The faculty by which one distinguishes between right and wrong–Webster’s Concise Dictionary, Encyclopedic Edition. In the social realm of person-to-person relationships our conscience tells us what is right or wrong relative to the attitude of those around us. Most societies have both written laws and unwritten customs designed to remind their citizens of what is considered acceptable behavior in each situation. The citizens’ collective conscience is geared to the society’s rules of social engagement. Because these rules of behavior are so engrained in their minds, when they disobey those rules their conscience bothers them.

We learn early on what those in authority over us –parents, teachers, civic leaders, law officials, etc.–expect of us and adjust our behavior accordingly. It is from our relationships with these local authority figures, as well as those in the general society, that we develop our “social conscience” which reflects the society’s behavioral expectations. Without a social conscience civilized society would not exist; each person would do “what is right in his own eyes” (Prov. 21:2); chaos and anarchy would be the norm. Due to our respect for authority our social conscience keeps most of us from doing things our conscience reminds us are not acceptable, thereby keeping ourselves in good standing with those around us, which keeps the society running relatively smoothly. However, there are some in any society who have a poorly developed social conscience. Each society deals with them in its own way. In summary, in the social realm it is through the social conscience that society keeps its citizens within the bounds of acceptable behavior.

However, the relationship between authority and behavior in the spiritual realm is totally different. Whereas the social conscience is founded on man’s definition of right and wrong, the “spiritual conscience” is based on the Word of God. Whereas man’s definition of right and wrong changes as each generation proves to be more liberal than the previous one, God’s definition of right and wrong never changes. Whereas each generation has departed farther than the previous one from God’s Word, man’s behavior, and therefore his social conscience has reflected this ever-increasing rejection of God’s standards of behavior. For this reason we see on t.v., in the movies, in written form and in the public domain acts and language that in times past would have resulted in arrest and prosecution. In the United States, as well as in other so-called “Christian nations” we are witnessing social conscience run amock. See The Voice of America. Concerning America, “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God” are nothing more than vague memories of a bygone time when the Bible was her standard of behavior–the Rock by which individual and social activities were judged. Modern America’s social conscience is based on the shifting sands of individual desires which Jesus called “the things of man” (Mat. 16:23). An example from the distant past will show how far America has distanced herself from God’s Standard–His Holy Bible.

My mother told me of an incident that took place in Campbell, Missouri during the 1930’s that will illustrate how much our social conscience has degenerated. Saturday night was THE night to go to town. One Saturday night a local woman arrived wearing a blouse that showed a tiny bit of cleavage. The people complained to the town constable. He placed the woman in his car, drove her home and warned her that if she ever showed up dressed in that fashion again he would throw her in jail. The woman became a social outcast. Compare this to Miley Cyrus who was hailed as the queen of entertainment for her obscene “performance” on t.v. a few months ago. Question: from whence came the Western World’s Satanic version of right and wrong? The Institutional Church. See The Source of Church Heathenism, National Deception and the introduction to this website. To be continued. L.J.