Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ
Overview
Christian, meet your conscience. What do you do when you disagree with other Christians? How do you determine which convictions are negotiable and which are not? How do you get along with people who have different personal standards?
All of these questions have to do with the conscience. Yet there is hardly a more neglected topic among Christians. In this much-needed book, a New Testament scholar and a cross-cultural missionary explore all thirty passages in the New Testament that deal with the conscience, showing how your conscience impacts virtually every aspect of life, ministry, and missions. As you come to see your conscience as a gift from God and learn how to calibrate it under the lordship of Jesus Christ, you will not only experience the freedom of a clear conscience but also discover how to lovingly interact with those who hold different convictions.
- Illustrations
- Foreward
- Preface
- 1 - What Is Conscience?
- 2 - How Do We Define Conscience from the New Testament?
- 3 - What Should You Do When Your Conscience Condemns You?h
- 4 - How Should You Calibrate Your Conscience?
- 5 - How Should You Relate to Fellow Christians When Your Consciences Disagree?
- 6 - How Should You Relate to People in Other Cultures When Your Consciences Disagree?
- 7 - A Closing Prayer
- Appendix A: Similarities between Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8–10
- Appendix B: Conscience Exercises for Cross-Cultural Effectiveness
- Acknowledgements
- General Index
- Scripture Index
Top Highlights
“The conscience is your consciousness of what you believe is right and wrong.6” (Page 42)
“Of all the principles related to conscience, two rise to the top: (1) God is the only Lord of conscience, and (2) you should always obey your conscience.” (Page 30)
“Whenever ‘obey conscience!’ collides with ‘obey God!,’ ‘obey God!’ must come out on top—every time.” (Page 31)
“Conscience produces different results for people based on different moral standards.” (Page 42)
“Conscience functions as a guide, monitor, witness, and judge.” (Page 43)
I expected this book to be good but found it to be great. Conscience is a much-needed treatment of a vital yet neglected subject. Naselli and Crowley’s overview of the New Testament doctrine of conscience is superb. I was ready to say that that chapter was worth the price of the book, but in fact, I found every chapter to be worth the price of the book! Its treatment of how Christian consciences overlap yet differ and of why we need to calibrate our consciences was remarkable. This book is for everyone with an interest in cross-cultural ministry, as well as for those seeking to become all things to all people that they may win some. It’s also extremely helpful for those living in churches, marriages, and friendships where different convictions aren’t always as black-and-white as we imagine. Conscience would be great to study in a small group.
Randy Alcorn, author, Heaven; If God Is Good; and Hand in Hand
How should Christians navigate the complex world of disagreements with other Christians? Can we differentiate the scriptural non-negotiables, the things we just personally feel strongly about, and those to which we give scarcely a second thought? How can the church best model unity in both love and truth in these matters? Naselli and Crowley bring both cross-cultural experience and scriptural acumen to deftly deal with these issues in straightforward language that almost anyone can grasp. Warmly recommended.
Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary
In our culture awash with instructions to follow our own hearts, we desperately need this book. On a personal note, next to the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, the Bible’s teaching on the conscience has become to me a deeply encouraging motivation in my evangelism. In the last chapter in particular, Naselli and Crowley have given a great gift to cross-cultural workers everywhere!
Gloria Furman, author, Missional Motherhood and The Pastor’s Wife
- Title: Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ
- Authors: Andrew David Naselli, J. D. Crowley
- Publisher: Crossway
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Conscience › Religious aspects--Christianity; Christian ethics
- ISBNs: 9781433550744, 9781433550775, 9781433550751, 9781433550768, 9781538428702, 9781538428719, 1433550741, 1433550776, 143355075X, 1433550768, 1538428709, 1538428717
- Resource ID: LLS:CNSCNCWHTWHDFFR
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:52:26Z
Andrew David Naselli (PhD, Bob Jones University; PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is assistant professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Bethlehem College & Seminary and the administrator of the theological journal Themelios. He blogs regularly at AndyNaselli.com.
J. D. Crowley (MA, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) has been doing missionary and linguistic work among the indigenous minorities of northeast Cambodia since 1994. He is the author of numerous books, including Commentary on Romans for Cambodia and Asia and the