Is the Conscience more than a Feeling?

One of the least helpful pieces of advise I have ever received from a pastor (elder), was when he told me that I had the freedom to do a certain thing… only if I could do so with a clear conscience. Now, without context, that’s absolutely solid advice—or just simple truth for that matter. However, the context was in us exploring a certain topic for the direct purpose of determining whether or not it was permissible for me to do. 

After lots of discussion, reviewing of the facts, and talking through the Scriptural considerations, we seemed to be on the same page: that this was a morally permissible thing for me to do. As the conversation was wrapping up, he kept ending it with this statement, “you can do it, if you can do it with a clear conscience.” 

But, wasn’t that the whole point of the conversation? An alignment for my conscience? Or something similar? It was as if we could sit here and reason about things and come to a solid position, but then this mysterious conscience also had to be satisfied. But, what does that mean? Does it mean that I can have no negative emotions or feelings when considering it? I naturally feel guilty about a lot of things—even things I know are moral obligations! So the conscience has to be more than just the feelings of guilt or shame. But how exactly does the conscience relate to what I believe is right and wrong? About what is permissible and forbidden? Is my conscience a reasoned positioned that I have? Or is it primarily a feeling?

Without exaggeration, these questions have haunted me over the years. I’ve rarely found someone who can provide substantial clarity. Or even provide the kind of conceptual framework I’ve been looking for. Of course, I’ve learned a lot to make me lean a certain way, but I still struggle with various aspects of fully grasping what it means to do something with a clear conscience. Especially as the Apostle Paul states it must be done without any doubting (Romans 14:23). 

Enter, (once more in my life) the wonderful wisdom of C.S. Lewis. In his lecture/essay titled, “Why I am not a Pacifist,” Lewis begins by defining the conscience. Before deciding upon a specific moral obligation, we must answer the “more general question: how do we decide what is good and evil?”¹ Of course, we must decide by our conscience. But again, what does that mean? 

Lewis first argues that the conscience is not a separate faculty. That is, it is not its own sense—indeed, according to Lewis, “it cannot be so thought of.” This is primarily because a sense cannot be argued with. “You cannot argue a man into seeing green if he see blue.” But the conscience can absolutely be swayed, influenced, and altered by argument. After all, the literal definition of conscience is with knowing (con means with; science means knowing/knowledge). This can only mean then that the, “conscience… means the whole man engaged in a particular subject matter.” 

But even then, we need to distinguish between two meanings. Lewis distinguishes these as Meaning A and B. A is “the pressure a man feels upon his will to do what he thinks is right.”² Meaning A, is “always to be followed.” A man dare not argue with it, he must only obey it. The critical point to note here is that this is a feeling associated with a belief. The feeling is working on the will, due to the conviction that a certain matter is indeed the right or wrong thing. A man must not argue with himself in an attempt to violate his conscience—to act against what he believes to be the right thing. Indeed, “even to question it is to incur guilt.” 

But what of, Meaning B. Here, the matter is significantly different. Here, “people may be mistaken about what is right or wrong; most people in some degree are mistaken.” And of course, the goal should be to have a correct and accurate belief on any given moral position. 

Here, Lewis makes an extended analogy from Reason. When the whole man is judging with reason, he is judging, “not about right and wrong, but about truth and falsehood.” 

Now, when using the conscience to judge what is right and wrong, one should only act when they are morally certain (Paul’s no doubting principle). But, if we are honest, who has complete certainty with the many, many, actions we do on a daily basis? I’d be lying if I said I did. Once more, Lewis helps us out: “By ‘moral certainty’ I mean that degree of certainty proper to moral decisions, for mathematical certainty is not here to be looked for.” 

Lewis could have dropped the mic with that last phrase, if he was in a lecture hall full of Chandler Moore’s (now there’s a scary thought!). Don’t so many of us intuitively know where that degree of certainty line is for moral decisions? But, with many of my decisions and considerations, I am positive that I have been seeking a kind of mathematical certainty where there is literally no conceivable way that I could be wrong. It’s a very post-enlightenment, Western thing to do. You want a recipe for a whole lot of moral anxiety? Try mixing in a little quest for mathematical moral certainty—on second thought, don’t try it, just trust me, it is not fun—or achievable. 

This is the kind of framework I’ve been looking for. Of course, others have said something similar, Lewis isn’t being that novel here. Even more than a framework, it is more of a key to understanding other things I’ve read and heard about the conscience. For instance, with his Meaning A and B now in mind, I can finally see how Andrew David Naselli and J. D. Crowley can define conscience as follows, while not contradicting others things in their book:

Conscience is your consciousness of what you believe is right and wrong… it’s basically your moral consciousness or your moral awareness turned back on yourself.³

And that is a very reasonable position. What I had been missing was the conceptual link for how that belief relates to the feeling exerted on my will. And now I’ll say what I’ve said so many times before, thank God for C.S. Lewis. 

Notes:

1. This quote and all the following are from: C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, (New York, NY: Harper One, 2001), 64-66
2. Italics are mine
3. Andrew David Naselli and J. D. Crowley, Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 43