Page 28 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 10
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Personal Agency and Conscience                    ment can go more or less awry, and so contrary
             Humans were created by God to become per-         to  God’s  design  plan,  leading  to  a  disordered
             sonal agents-in-community, a creaturely image     conscience.
             of  the  Trinity  (Johnson,  2007;  2017),  and  a
             healthy conscience is a critical part of one’s per-  Disorders of the Conscience
             sonal  agency,  which  likewise  emerges  during   This leads us back again to Scripture, which in-
             the  course  of  development.  Personal  agents-  dicates that the conscience can get disordered,
             in-community are characterized by a sufficient    becoming  “evil”  (Heb  10:23),  “defiled”  (Tit  1:
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             degree of rational-linguistic capacity, an aware-  15), or “seared” (1Ti 4:2),  so that it comes to
             ness of others’ minds and their agency, the abi-  correspond poorly to God’s law (which we have
             lity to determine one’s actions, responsibility for   seen is his ethicospiritual design plan for human
             those actions, and a sense of moral validation    life). Today, such damage is seen in the extreme
             when  one  is  living  according  to  God’s  design   in  those  with  antisocial  personality  disorder,
             plan (evidenced by a “good,” “clear” conscience,   who  seem  to  have  little  capacity  for  empathy
             as we saw above) (Johnson, 2007; 2017). Moreo-    and  moral  awareness,  in  spite  of  normal  co-
             ver, as personal agency matures in adolescence    gnitive abilities. To the degree that individuals
             and  early  adulthood,  humans  make  decisions   and cultures have developed and accepted ways
             and begin to shape their own development in       of living that differ from God’s revealed will in
             ways for which they are held responsible. Part    Scripture, we may appropriately judge that their
             of  this  accountability  involves  the  shaping  of   consciences have become evil, defiled, or seared
             one’s own conscience. So, while the conscience    (e.g., burning wives in the funeral pyre of their
             is intended by God to serve as a guide for one’s   husbands).
             actions, one’s actions can also shape the form    Less antithetical to God’s purposes is the dis-
             of  one’s  conscience,  sometimes  in  deleterious   tortion  of  a  “weak”  conscience  (1Co  8:7,  10,
             ways. Therefore, the formation of one’s consci-   12; or being “weak in faith;” Ro 14:1), in which
             ence is an important part of the task of beco-    one feels that one has violated God’s law, when
             ming  a  mature  self  before  God  (Kierkegaard,   one actually has not, for example, eating meat
             1849/1980).                                       offered to idols (1Co 8) or doing anything per-
                                                               ceived as religiously “unclean” (Ro 14:14), wh-
                                                               ether eating meat, rather than vegetables (14:2)
             The Formation of the Conscience in a Fallen       or not observing certain holy days (14:5). Such
             World                                             examples are instructive. With regard to Chri-
             Human  life  as  we  know  it,  however,  is  fallen   stians eating meat used in non-Christian reli-
             and characterized by many kinds of deviation      gious ceremonies, Paul taught that it was not
             from  God’s  design  plan.  Genes  and  physiolo-  spiritually  contaminated  by  that  association.
             gical  processes  can  malfunction,  for  example,   Rather, the meat still belongs to God, and it can
             and parents can provide poor attachment and       be eaten by Christians with thanksgiving. The
             socialization  experiences  for  their  children.   “weak” person (1Co 8:11), unfortunately, is fal-
             Depending on what exactly goes wrong, such        sely persuaded that such actions are religiously
             aberrations can impact the development of the     reprehensible, so their moral awareness is not
             conscience, leading to the lack of the develop-   yet conformed to God’s will in this matter. Ne-
             ment of a coherent self, poor internalization of   vertheless, Paul’s pastoral response to churches
             moral standards, and a deficient sense of social   that  have  such  members  is  to  encourage  the
             obligation that enable one to act in ways that are   strong to respect the weak and not act in ways
             consistent with one’s identity and moral under-
             standing (PDM Task Force, 2006). Eventually,
             as  personal  agency  emerges,  people  come  to   4 This last phrase is reminiscent of the Old Testament
             shape the development of their own conscience     Hebrew description of the psychological condition which
             through  their  personal  sins.  There  are  many   is translated in English as the “hardening” of one’s mind,
             ways, therefore, in which conscience develop-     spirit, or heart (Ex 8-11;Dt 2:30; 1Sa 6:6; 2Co 36:13; Dan
                                                               5:20; see also 2Co 3:14).
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