Dr Paul Allen

Issues of conscience and preference require careful consideration to maintain unity and love within the church. Understanding these categories helps Christians respect diverse opinions and avoid unnecessary conflicts, promoting a more unified and loving community. Is it an issue of conscience? Conscience issues arise when someone abstains from something that is neither sinful nor foolish, influenced by biblical wisdom and personal experience. Even among like-minded believers, circumstances colour perspectives. The influence of your personal experience can make it difficult for you to imagine how others could operate differently in good conscience. No wonder the New Testament commands believers to respect and tolerate diverse opinions on issues in this category (Rom 14:13). Christians must submit their consciences to God (Rom 14:5–7) and seek to build one another up in love (Rom 14:19), even as they exercise liberty with discretion (Rom 14:20). Is it an issue of preference?   The key to

Most of us are familiar with Martin Luther's heroic statement at the Diet of Worms when he was called upon to recant. "Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture, or by evident reason, I cannot recant, for my conscience is held captive by the Word of God, and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me." Today, we rarely hear any reference to the conscience . Yet throughout church history, the best Christian thinkers spoke about the conscience regularly. Thomas Aquinas said the conscience is the God-given inner voice that either accuses or excuses us in terms of what we do. John Calvin spoke of the "divine sense" that God puts into every person, and part of that divine sense is the conscience. And when we turn to Scripture, we find that our consciences are an aspect of God's revelation to us. When we talk about God's revelation, we make a distinction between general revelation and special revelation

English: Young saint Timothy with his mother (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy , according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare ; Holding faith , and a good conscience ; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck .” ( 1 Timothy 1:18-19 ) Paul had been entrusted with the gospel of Jesus Christ by Christ Himself ( vv. 1 , 12-16 ), and he did not take this fact lightly when it was time to pass on the job of guarding and propagating the truth to others. Following his praise to God for giving him such a function, Paul now "charges” Timothy to follow in his footsteps. The word "commit” finds usage in banking vocabulary and implies a deposit of something of great value. Timothy was to continue to teach the valuable, life-changing truth of the gospel in love ( v. 5 ) while guarding the flock against the teaching of false teachers ( v. 3 ). Paul had not found

Saint Timothy (ortodox icon) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience , and of faith unfeigned." ( 1 Timothy 1:5 ) The Greek noun parangelia and its corresponding verb paranello appear six times in the book of 1 Timothy, translated as either " charge " or "commandment." Paul was quite concerned for his young disciple Timothy and went to great effort to remind him of the truth and charge him to keep it and encourage its keeping in the lives of those in his care. Let us briefly look at these charges. First, Paul wanted to charge Timothy to remain strong in his personal faith. "Thischarge I commit unto thee . . . that thou . . . mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience" ( 1:18-19 ). "I give thee charge in the sight of God . . . . That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ &qu