Mondays with MacDonald (on the role of conscience in interpretation)

March 21st, 2011 | 2 Comments

To accept that as the will of our Lord which to us is inconsistent with what we have learned to worship in him already, is to introduce discord into that harmony whose end is to unite our hearts, and make them whole.

by George MacDonald
from Unspoken Sermons, vol. 1, “It Shall Not Be Forgiven”

Related posts:

  1. Mondays with MacDonald (on the role of reason in faith) Our vision is so circumscribed, our theories are so small—the garment of them not large enough to wrap us in; our faith so continually fashions...
  2. Mondays with MacDonald (on God’s role in our moral development) God does not, by the instant gift of his Spirit, make us always feel right, desire good, love purity, aspire after him and his will…The...
  3. Mondays with MacDonald (on how the Kingdom comes) Except for the loving help they gave the distressed, revealing him to their hearts as the Redeemer from evil, I doubt if [Jesus] would have...
  4. Mondays with MacDonald (on our hope as indicative of our assessment of God) Multitudes evidently count it safest to hold by a dull scheme of things: can it be because, like David in Browning’s poem Saul, they dread...
  5. Mondays with MacDonald (on the Word of God as truth) The Word is that by which we live, namely, Jesus himself; and his words represent, in part, in shadow, in suggestion, himself. Any utterance worthy...

March 21st, 2011

  • http://blogforthelordjesus.wordpress.com/ Mike Gantt

    The person who disregards conscience in order to obey Scripture either has a deficient conscience or a deficient understanding of Scripture.

    The good news is that our consciences can be healed and can mature while our understanding of Scripture can be corrected and can grow.

    Thus when we encounter a conflict between our conscience and our understanding of Scripture, we must allow ourselves to be perplexed without dispairing (2 Cor 4:8), turning our attention to obeying those things we do understand. If we live this way, sooner or later the Scripture/conscience conflicts we see will evaporate either through the greater understanding of Scripture or the healthy maturing of conscience (both of which are gifts of Him who loves us).

    • http://undeception.com/ Steve Douglas

      Great comment, Mike. I agree with it in the main, although I think that our conflicts of conscience result not only from incorrect interpretations of Scripture but also, not infrequently, from correct interpretations of passages that actually get God wrong. But in any event, the take-away is the same, “turning our attention to obeying those things we do understand.” Thanks again.