Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Conscience Is Not...
Our past lessons concluded with love and conscience: we said that when we are faced with moral decisions, we try to find out what the loving response is. It is sometimes easy, but many times it is difficult to determine. It is our conscience that helps us discern how we can respond in a loving way. What is conscience then?
Let us first try to clarify what conscience is not. According to Connors and McCormick (1998), conscience is not:
¶ 10:34 pm 
Our past lessons concluded with love and conscience: we said that when we are faced with moral decisions, we try to find out what the loving response is. It is sometimes easy, but many times it is difficult to determine. It is our conscience that helps us discern how we can respond in a loving way. What is conscience then?Let us first try to clarify what conscience is not. According to Connors and McCormick (1998), conscience is not:
- A separate being. Conscience is not like a guardian angel that whispers to your ear tellling you what to do. It is neither Jimminy Cricket telling Pinnochio the right thing, nor is it the SafeGuard commercial that pops up here and there and commands you to buy a bar of soap. Our conscience is part of us.
- An infallible moral code. Conscience is not a list of things that are allowed and not allowed and shucked into your system like one would play back a DVD. Conscience continually changes and develops.
- A stern critical voice. It is not our superego that tells us not to run in front of moving vehicles or tells us to be nice boys and girls. It is not the fear that is evoked by the familiar words "isusumbong kita kay Mommy". The superego tells us "you shouldn't do that or you'll feel guilty.", conscience asks, "is it wrong?"
¶ 10:34 pm
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Brother, how can we see God in line with conscience aside from conscience being an encounter with God? Does God have a perfect conscience? Does God even have a conscience? If God knows everything, doesn't that make Him like a super-ego? Is "Hard- Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World" gonna get deeper? :)
Thanks for your question, ramon.
You see God communicates to us. He reaches out to us but sometimes because of our limitedness, we don't exactly understand what he means. Sometimes we even refuse to listen.
Does God have a conscience? God is all knowing: He knows what is right and what is wrong. However, unlike us, God is not bound by time and space. God is infinite and perfect, and by virtue of His existence, He is good. God does not need to decide whether an action is good or not—he already knows what good is, for he himself is good.
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You see God communicates to us. He reaches out to us but sometimes because of our limitedness, we don't exactly understand what he means. Sometimes we even refuse to listen.
Does God have a conscience? God is all knowing: He knows what is right and what is wrong. However, unlike us, God is not bound by time and space. God is infinite and perfect, and by virtue of His existence, He is good. God does not need to decide whether an action is good or not—he already knows what good is, for he himself is good.
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