Monday, 15 August 2011
Conscience and the Holy Spirit
When I was a 'card carrying' atheist I too believed in the innate moral law and in the value of the human conscience but I have found out that the conscience is easily sullied by bad choices. When the conscience is overridden by external pressures or even indeed by the weight of internal desires it is ultimately seared and becomes scarred and then does not fully function as well as it should to protect from negative impulses and poor decisions. Since I chose Christianity as my faith I found that God working through the HS adds an extra dimension of positive quality that really helps in the times when our human conscience is not enough and becomes confounded. And with the christian creed or belief system which is founded in love, grace and mercy then the foundational moral structure is there also in times of trouble. But that's a belief choice and I understand, having been an aggressive outspoken non-believer, and respect other peoples viewpoints like your own.
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Unfortunately the same is true for some aggressive believers.
ReplyDeleteFor an extreme example, take the Catholic church in Ireland. They decided to brush under the carpet via canon law years and years of abuse. All in the name of saving the church and doing what was right by God.
I also feel that the lack of role-models who live by their supposed strong religious views does not help. One obvious exception to this is Tim Tebow the American Football player. His attitude to life and moral code are impeccable and deeply routed in his spirituality.
I guess what I am trying to say is that religion is used just as often to justify immoral acts as a lack of belief is.