Before we answer that question let’s look at some quotes from famous people in our past:
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
“It is neither right nor safe to go against my conscience.” ― Martin Luther
“Conscience is nothing more than the voice of God within our souls; the bridge that links the creature to the creator” ― CS Lewis
Webster defines it this way: Conscience, the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good.
The Bible definition I believe could be defined as your conscience is part of your human psyche (your mind). God created it when he gave you the abilities of self-awareness and rational thinking. Notice that it’s spelled with two words, con and science. … Simply stated, your conscience recalls what you have accepted as right or wrong.
The word conscience is mentioned 32 times in the New Testament.
The first place conscience is mentioned can be found in John 8:9. By pricking the conscience of a mob, Jesus prevented them from stoning a woman they had accused of adultery. Through the pricking of their conscience, they realized how unworthy they were to judge someone else. Read John 8:1-11 in its entirety.
The scripture also speaks of different types of conscience:
1. Weak conscience = I Cor. 8:7,10,12 which could turn into a:
2. Defiled conscience = Titus 1:15 which could turn into a:
3. Seared conscience = I Tim. 4:2 or an:
4. Evil conscience = Heb. 10:22
The conscience can be a very reliable guide. But it is only a good reliable guide when it is a good or pure conscience. The scripture mentions a pure conscience in two passages and a good conscience in six passages.
1. Pure conscience = I Tim. 3:9; II Tim. 1:3
2. Good conscience = Acts 23:1; I Tim. 1:5,19; Heb. 13:18; I Peter 3:16,21
One question which comes to my mind is this; how does a person acquire a pure or good conscience?
Acts 24:16 tells us how to acquire it. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. The word exercise means training. What is the exercise or training that produces this pure or good conscience? Acts 24:14 answer that question.
But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
A life filled with the study of God’s Word, and accepting it as the final authority in how you live in this wicked and perverse world. In other words, practicing what it says you are to do.
The other scriptures that mention conscience are: Romans 2:15; 9:1; 13:5; I Cor. 10:25,27-29; II Cor. 1:12; 4:2; 5:11; Heb. 9:9,14; 10:2; I Peter 2:19