Tuesday, December 26, 2006
The Christian Conscience
Set in the context of what is going on in the PC(USA) this post from Classical Presbyterian looks at the "Christian Conscience" The post looks heavily at some of our confessions and contains these two marvelous paragraphs:
The bottom line is this - we are created to be enslaved and will always be enslaved. Freedom, true freedom, exists not in a lack of enslavement, but in the attachment to a righteous and just Master.
One master tries to warp us into something we are not. THE MASTER uses us as we are intended and frees us to be who we were made to be.
Related Tags: conscience, enslavement, Master, Christian
And then, the Confession proceeds to tell us what we are free for--to follow the teachings of Christ! Conscience is not just 'following our feelings' and it most definitely is not 'doing what we think is best'."Doing what we think is best" is just another way of enjoying the enslavement to our sinful nature.
The conscience, the inward conviction of what is right and good, is a gift of the Holy Spirit to those who are freed from the bonds of sin by a new birth in Christ. And then, with that new self who is also now a slave to Christ, we can follow him and obey his Word.
The bottom line is this - we are created to be enslaved and will always be enslaved. Freedom, true freedom, exists not in a lack of enslavement, but in the attachment to a righteous and just Master.
One master tries to warp us into something we are not. THE MASTER uses us as we are intended and frees us to be who we were made to be.
Related Tags: conscience, enslavement, Master, Christian
