The vanishing conscience : drawing the line in a no-fault, guilt-free world by John MacArthur Jr.
Nelson, 2012 £9.99 280 pages ISBN 978 0 785 271 819
John MacArthur’s excellent sermon on this subject can be found on YouTube
(in some respects, the sermon is better than the book)
Truth to tell, there is more about sin than there is about conscience in this book.
That shouldn’t be surprising since there is an undeniable link between the two, convincingly demonstrated here.
The author begins with sin followed by a chapter dealing with the conscience -‘The Soul’s Automatic Warning System’ and more consideration then follows on how sin silences the conscience.
For the Christian there is an inextricable connection between sin and the individual conscience.
Conscience works rather like traffic lights, alerting the individual to the presence or prospect of right or wrong. If the conscience light is ‘green’, the Holy Spirit is indicating ‘carry on’, no problem so far as morality is concerned. An amber warning says ‘be careful, you are treading on thin ice’.
A red light is a definite ‘no-no’, you are in the area of transgression, or sin in other words.
In short, conscience is to the spiritual part of our human make-up, what pain is to the physical body. It is a warning system.
So much for the theory but there are complexities.
Conscience is not inert, static, hard and fast.. It can be moulded, affected, hardened or softened. Think of the story of Pharaoh in Exodus, for example..
Dealing with sin occupies a good deal of space in this book and the author offers plenty of spiritual counsel in this regard.
Inevitably, given the author’s context, there is much serious criticism of American culture, including mention of individuals, pointing to the untimely death of conscience in that divided society unless there is fundamental change.
John MacArthur’s approach may be seen as a diatribe aimed at the USA but it is, nevertheless, a salutary and timely warning against the perils of ignoring conscience.