by Englishman 13 Replies latest jw friends
I think it depends on your conscience. It usually has been developed by you life's experiences and training from youth up. It's located in some part of the brain and if it's not working right you will do anything whether it's right or wrong by the moral standards of your society.
I think my conscience is a good guide as do most people, even the canibals in the remotest parts of the earth.
Ken P.
Many ex-dubs associate conscience with guilt feelings, but IMHO, this is wide of the mark. Our conscience will make us feel uncomfortable for a while when we do actually make a serious error, but this isn't guilt, this is useful remorse and is entirely temporary whilst we work out and learn from our mistake. Or at least, it should be temporary, otherwise guilt replaces this useful temporary remorse and is totally useless as a result.
Englishman.
I don't think one's conscience is necessarily reliable. Each person is different and sometimes feelings of wrongdoing can be programmed right out of your conscience.
Take for instance simple things. Let's say when you first started driving, you were maybe conscious of the speed limit and maybe felt concerned or guilty when you went a mile or two over. Then, you discovered nothing happened when you were driving 5mph over. So now your conscience is saying "that's OK". Nowadays when the speed limit is 55, but you're driving 70 to keep up with traffic and don't feel bad about it, what happened to your conscience? Is it still there telling you this is wrong?
Same goes for any other thing that you've come to accept because "everybody else is doing it".
And you've got to incorporate your upbringing into your conscience. What makes one person feel guilt may be perfectly OK elsewhere. Does that mean one is wrong or living a bad life? In Germany, many public beaches are nude and people walk around with no guilt or shame. Yet here in the US, people's consciences tell them it's wrong or it's a sin to be nude in the company of the opposite sex (except spouses). Or, switching it around, in Afghanistan, some women's conscience may make them feel guilty if they don't wear a burka. Yet here in the US, how many women's consciences tell them that?
I think so much of what our conscience tells us is learned behavior. I don't believe that our conscience is some universal meter of right and wrong that transcends learned laws and practices. It's learned from laws and from religions and other forms of influence. And, when people talk of a Biblically trained conscience, that's exactly what it is - accepting the Bible's rules (or more likely a specific religion's rules) as the triggers for feelings of right and wrong and guilt.
Is my conscience reliable?
it depends on me and my beliefs. If I believe that it is ok to steal then I won't be bothered when I steal therefore my conscience won't bother me
Now if you ask me if my "inner voice" or "gut feeling" or whatever else you call it can be trusted then I would say YES. This is my inner sense of what is right and wrong. And ignoring it has always gotten me into trouble.
