Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ

Very thought-provoking

This was a small book with important content that I have been sharing and recommending since I’ve read it. Every church needs to read, and re-read this book!

This is an excellent book on a topic that most Christians, including me, are neglectful. The authors - one a New Testament scholar and the other a cross-cultural missionary – carefully ask and unpack the following questions: What is the conscience? How do we define it from Scripture? What do we do when our conscience rightly condemns us? How do we calibrate our conscience? How do we handle differences with other believers when our consciences disagree? How do we handle conscience disagreements cross-culturally?Before Andy and JD define the term from 30 New Testament passages, they argue that conscience is a priceless gift from God, much like an on-off switch and personal to us. Not just that – no two people have the same conscience nor does anyone’s conscience perfectly match God’s will. Further, we can damage the conscience by making it insensitive (habitually ignoring its voice) or oversensitive (packing it with too many rules that are matters of preference).How does the New Testament define the conscience? Examining 30 passages, they define it this way: The conscience is our consciousness or awareness or sense of what we believe is right and wrong. And they are quick to add: “What you believe is right and wrong is not necessarily the same as what actually is right and wrong”. The conscience functions as a guide that warns us before we do wrong or urges us to do right. It also functions as a monitor, witness or judge – either accusing/condemning us when we do wrong or commending/defending us when we do right.But how do we respond when our conscience rightly condemns us? The only answer, they argue from Scripture, is to go boldly before God’s throne of grace to find mercy and grace. Further, how about when our conscience wrongly condemns or guides us, i.e., how do we calibrate or align our conscience to God’s holy standards? We calibrate it by educating it with truth (inside and outside Scripture) and also with due process (years of maturity). They then guide us through various examples that illustrate how to calibrate our conscience (adding to and subtracting from our conscience) – covering wide ranging issues like nudity on screen, dating relationships, reproductive technologies, getting tattoos, wearing shorts or jeans, etc.The issues are multiplied when our consciences disagree with fellow Christians (Chapter 5) or people in another culture (Chapter 6). When it comes to fellow believers, they argue that it’s important we understand first-level, second-level and third-level issues – what they call the “theological triage". Third level issues are disputable matters or matters of conscience. In matters of conscience, they point to Paul’s solution of love in Romans 14:1-15:7. Paul urges the one with the strong conscience not to look down on those with a weak conscience and the one with the weak conscience not to judge those with a strong conscience. However, the ultimate goal of every mature believer, the authors argue, is not simply to stop judging those who are free or stop looking down on those who are strict, but like Christ and Paul to give up our rights for others. In other words, to be “free to be flexible in disputable matters in order to (1) edify fellow believers and (2) advance the gospel”. Paul’s overriding concern here is love for the other person and unity among believers. This is what will bring glory to God! This is a fantastic chapter and full of practical wisdom!Finally, when it comes to people in another culture, they point to 1 Corinthians 9 showing us how Paul did the hard work of calibrating his conscience to God’s standards. In other words, he became culturally flexible, i.e, his liberty was the freedom to discipline himself to be flexible for the gospel (becoming all things to all men for the sake of the gospel). This is the example of Jesus Himself (Romans 15:7-9a).This is a wonderfully practical and Biblical book - one that I highly recommend. Please add this to your must-read list!

An area not talked much about, book contains both clear Biblical teaching as well as practical guidance. Definitely will recommend.

Wonderful book delving into the conscience and helping understand different facets of it. It has helped me carve my own path in life to better place of peace within myself.

The third tier world of theological issues can be tricky to navigate in the church world. Naselli & Crowley chart a helpful pathway through the often turbulent waters. I’d recommend this book to new believers, those coming out of a strict fundamentalist background, and those who sin that grace may abound. If there is one minor area of critique, the book is a little repetitive in thought. While I appreciate the thoroughness in which they approach the topic in such a small volume, I found myself skimming ideas they had already covered in the book previously from a different angle. However, I can imagine this being a plus for someone new to the topic.