Should Christians use the Conscience? Flashcards
It is the inner feeling of right and wrong
“The awakening of Conscience” painting
Aquinas: Conscience is the “reason making right decisions”, “the mind of man making moral judgements”, the Synderis
The Catechism — the conscience is “present as the heart of the person, enjoys him at the appropriate moment to do good and avoid evil.”
Church Teachings (e.g. the Roman Catholic Church)
Cardinal John-Henry Newman thought the conscience should be put above all else
“A human being must always obey the certain judgement of his conscience.”
RCC: Christians should not “act in a manner contrary to his conscience”
Joseph Butler — it is a natural guide
‘principle of reflection in man by which they distinguish between approval and disapproval of their own actions.”
if everyone was in tune with their conscience (not led by ‘apparent good’s etc…) we would not need anything else to guide us
conscience is “our natural guide, the guide signed us by the Author of our nature.”
Helps Christians know what to do in specific circumstances. E.g. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Conscientious Objectors, Thomas More
the conscience sometimes tells us to abandon what we’ve been taught to do in the right thing
“Any failure to act is simply to condone evil.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
The conscience could be biased towards personal preferences
Aquinas’ “apparent goods” which are tempted by and are lead to do the wrong thing
The Conscience should not be used by itself as it may not have been understood properly
need to consult other sources when making moral decisions
The Conscience is not from God it is from our environment (Freud)
upbringing etc…, taught to us
born with Id — self at basic level of physical and emotional needs
Ego —rational self
Super-Ego — controls and restrains yourself
as you get older your Super-Ego can restrain your Id and your ego can overall your Super-Ego
society teaches us what not to do, collection of this is conscience
The Conscience may be mistaken — e.g. Peter Sutcliffe
may not be in tune
(following Freud) may have been taught to you differently
mental illness
