Examples of the action of conscience described in the bible.  Orthodox parish of the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Kamyshin, Volgograd diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church - Conscience

What is conscience?

Conscience is part of the human psyche, it causes pain and guilt when we violate its foundations, and gives a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction if our actions, thoughts and words are in line with our value system. The ancient Greek word translated "conscience" throughout the New Testament is suneidēsis, meaning "moral awareness" or "moral consciousness." The conscience reacts when one's actions, thoughts and words meet or contradict the standards of what is right and wrong.

There is no equivalent in the Old Testament for the word "suneidēsis" in the New Testament. The absence of the word "conscience" in Hebrew may be due to the Jewish worldview, which was communal rather than individual. The Jews saw themselves not as individuals, but as members of a covenant community that was collectively subject to God and His laws. In other words, the Jews were sure of their position before God if the Jewish people as a whole were on good terms with Him.

The New Testament concept of conscience is more individualistic and includes three basic truths. First, conscience is a God-given human capacity for self-esteem. Paul referred to his own conscience as “clean” several times (Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Corinthians 4:4). He analyzed his words and actions and found that they were consistent with his system of morals and values, which, of course, were based on God's standards. His conscience confirmed the purity of his heart.

Second, the New Testament portrays conscience as a witness. Paul says that the Gentiles have a conscience, which indicates that the Law of God is written in their hearts, even though they did not know the Law of Moses (Romans 2:14-15). He also calls his conscience a witness that he speaks the truth (Romans 9:1) and treats those around him in holiness and sincerity (2 Corinthians 1:12). He also says that his conscience tells him that his actions are visible to God and hopes that the same is true of other people (2 Corinthians 5:11).

Thirdly, conscience is in the service of a person's value system. A weak value system leads to a weak conscience, while a fully mature value system leads to a strong sense of right and wrong. In the Christian life, conscience can be ruled by an inadequate understanding of biblical truth, leading to feelings of guilt and shame out of proportion to the importance of the issues at hand. Becoming in faith strengthens the conscience.

The last function of the conscience refers to what Paul is talking about when he exhorts us to eat food that has been sacrificed to idols. He believed that, since idols are not real gods, it does not matter whether food was sacrificed to them or not. But in the Corinthian church, people were weak in their knowledge of God's Word and believed that such gods actually existed. These immature believers were horrified at the thought of eating food sacrificed to the gods, because their consciences were based on erroneous prejudices and superstitious ideas. Therefore, Paul urged those who were more mature not to exercise their freedom regarding food if this would cause the conscience of their more "immature" brethren to condemn these actions. The lesson is that even if our consciences are clear through mature faith, we should not cause those with weaker consciences to be shaken by our actions.

The New Testament also speaks of a “branded” conscience that has become insensible, as after being burned with a red-hot iron (1 Timothy 4:1-2). Such a hardened and hardened conscience no longer feels anything. A person with a branded conscience no longer hears her promptings, and may sin more, deceive himself into thinking that his soul is all right, and treat others insensitively and without compassion.

As Christians, we must keep our consciences clean by obeying God and maintaining a good relationship with Him. We do this by applying His Word, which constantly renews and softens our hearts. We reckon with those whose conscience is weak, treating them with Christian love and compassion.

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Conscience is the reaction of the spirit of a person, his best part, to his own unrighteous deeds (sins). This reaction manifests itself through the mind of the outer man, which already has certain attitudes and limitations. Conscience is the ability of a person to critically evaluate his bad thoughts, words and deeds, realizing their inconsistency with God's standard, embedded in his spirit. Usually a person experiences his unworthy deeds and understands personal imperfection. However, many people often do not pay attention to this, living for today. They do not know not only that they have an inner man, but also about the need to prepare him for eternity. It is much easier for a Christian to decide on this issue. He has an increased sensitivity to sins in view of the fact that he has a formed new person who has his own standard of the right, since he was created according to God. In addition, the Holy Spirit convicts a Christian after mistakes and always tells him how to act in a particular case. The Christian must respond to this!

Every person has a conscience, and if he does not pay attention to it, then sooner or later he will have problems. Everything that defiles our conscience weakens our faith. It is important for us to maintain a good conscience, not to reject its denunciations. “Having faith and a good conscience, which some, having rejected, have suffered shipwreck in the faith” (1 Tim. 1:19).

A Christian has responsibilities. The main duty is to keep the faith. “Fight the good fight of faith; hold fast to eternal life…” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is very important! After all, the Apostle Paul at the end of his life summed up: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, kept the faith"(2 Tim. 4:7). To maintain faith in the proper state, a Christian must systematically read the Bible and put into practice its instructions. In this case, he will "serve God in the renewal of the spirit" (Rom. 7:6). After all, his new person will grow incrementally kind words and deeds. Note that not only should a Christian renounce sins, but also empty pastimes. If a Christian does not rest so much as spend time idly beyond measure, then his conscience will react, as well as to bad words and deeds. It is important for a Christian not to reject the accusations of his conscience! Otherwise, he will have problems. To avoid them, a Christian must use the possibilities of the Cross, given to all of us by Jesus Christ. Otherwise, a Christian will pollute his spirit and make his personal faith weak.

There is a direct relationship between conscience and a pure spirit, as well as faith. Pay attention to this.

The Bible speaks of several types of conscience:

1. weak conscience;

2. vicious conscience;

3. burnt conscience;

4. immaculate, kind, pure conscience.

Weak conscience- this is the weak conscience of the believer due to the small amount of knowledge he has. “But not all have this knowledge: ... and their conscience, being weak, is defiled” (1 Cor. 8: 7). It also speaks of a weak believer (1 Cor. 8:10). He naturally has a weak conscience, which must be taken into account. “But by sinning thus against your brethren and hurting their feeble conscience, you are sinning against Christ (1 Corinthians 8:12). A weak conscience prevents a Christian from going through life worthily because of frequent doubts. This is due to the fact that not only is there little spiritual knowledge in his heart, but there are also some weaknesses. Often his mind is not updated in many matters. Sometimes a Christian has enough knowledge, but he does not have the strength to translate it into his life because of a weak heart. It appeared quite a few empty entries due to his immersion in the world, at least in a number of issues. Further, they, along with obvious sins, form in a Christian a large and low-quality background of the heart, which affects him. Sometimes he, growing, can exceed the dimensions of his new person. As a result, for such a Christian, the new man is severely limited by the strong embrace of the soul of the outer man. After all, firstly, his words and deeds have already penetrated into the heart, and secondly, the outer man himself directly attacks him from the outside. In such a Christian, weaknesses of heart make it impossible to completely reject the claims of the personal outward man. And he, significantly influencing the Christian, seizes the initiative from him. I'm talking about how the advice of a weak heart and the desires of the outward man make a Christian walk according to the flesh. Therefore, often the knowledge of the Scriptures cannot be manifested in the life of this Christian in the proper degree.

A weak conscience may occur in a Christian in one or two points. Sometimes - in several, where he has his own ideas, different from the Word of God. Then he is inclined to compromise without noticing it. In fact, here we are talking about the erroneous knowledge of a Christian, which prevents him from adequately moving through life.

vicious conscience appears in a person when a system of immoral views has formed in his head and heart, which allows him to both easily commit sins and teach others to do so. Usually there are far from best views peace. It is not surprising that such a person, when committing sins, explains them for various reasons, considering this to be the norm for himself. “Their mind and conscience are both defiled” (Tit. 1:15). This is how we used to act without thinking, before we were cleansed by the Blood (Heb. 10:22).

A person may have burned conscience. Such people often give heed to satanic teachings and try to entrap believers with their hypocrisy (1 Tim. 4:1,2). A person with a burned conscience openly proclaims his false values, teaches this to others, experiencing the pleasure of union with an unclean world. Often he does this for profit.

Christians have immaculate, good, pure conscience. It can be considered one normal conscience of a Christian, but these are its different stages. For example, an immaculate conscience is found in a believer when, having abandoned the vicious views of the world, he does not want to commit "common" sins. A good conscience appears in a Christian when he renounces not only the generally accepted "light" sins, various fables, but also useless disputes, striving for the pure teaching of the Word of God (1 Tim. 1:4,5). A good conscience always desires to conduct itself honestly. “We are sure that we have a good conscience, because we desire to be honest in everything” (Heb. 13:18). A clear conscience appears in a Christian not so much as a result of his desire, but as a fact of his practical life. I am saying that this fact is reflected in the records of his spiritual heart. This is due to the fact that after receiving a gift - a pure heart, a Christian is awake and maintains his purity with God's possibilities. In this case, he cannot blame himself, and the Holy Spirit does not convict him either. One can talk about a Christian's clear conscience at different levels of his spiritual growth, but the point is that with a clear conscience, he can easily pass into eternity! For example, a sinner, having repented and being born again immediately before death (of the body), acquires a clear conscience, just like a Christian who has been constantly awake for years. For all that, the spiritual growth of a newly minted Christian is usually insignificant.

Every person also has a conscience. It is the sum of the records in the human heart, as the Standard of God and His law, which each of us receives when we come into the world. "There was a Light, true, which enlightens every person who comes into the world” (John 1:9). In other words, God, giving the spirit to a person, gives him His moral law, bringing it into the inner person (spirit). Read carefully: “This is the commandment that you heard from start, to walk in it” (2 Jn. 6). God is just and could not judge a person according to the criteria of conscience, if he did not have it, or this conscience would not tell a person how to act. “For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what is lawful, then, having no law, they are their own law: they show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, to which their conscience testifies, and their thoughts, now accusing, now justifying one another” (Rom. 2:14,15). Read again: "They have the work of the law written in their hearts"!

In life we ​​see that The human conscience reacts in three ways:

1. After convicting the best part of a person’s spirit, which God had previously given him (John 8:9;)

2. To rebuke the Lord, His Spirit (Heb. 12:5; Rev. 3:19; Ps. 6:2);

3. With the weak conscience of a Christian due to the lack of knowledge in his head of the external man.

In the latter case, the Christian reacts easily to the attacks of the devil and his lies. After all, the enemy throws his thoughts to him, and the Christian, because of insufficient knowledge, accepts them. For example, a Christian may not know that when he is born again, all his previous sins are removed from his spiritual heart. Satan, taking advantage of this, reminds him of them! And the Christian wastes time in fruitless regrets. He, instead of rejecting Satan's accusations, agrees with him and droops, feeling dirty and unworthy. Note that the Christian agrees with Satan, not with God: “And you, who were dead in sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made alive with him, forgiving us all our sins” (Col. 2:13), and in other places. In this case, the thoughts of the enemy become the thoughts of the Christian, at least for this moment. Of course, this is due not only to the believer's lack of knowledge, but also often to his weaknesses. Because of this, Satan deceives him. Here it is important for you to see the reasons for such a reaction of a fledgling Christian in order to do the right thing. After all, you can accept the thoughts that come or reject them, seeing that they are not in line with Scripture.

It is important for us to see that when we are under the conviction of a personal conscience, this is so that we return to God and cleanse our hearts of errors. For we must keep our heart pure and renew our mind not to do that again. And the devil accuses a Christian in order to lead astray or slow down spiritual growth. The enemy strives to prove to the Christian his worthlessness! He seeks to fix the Christian's attention on the sinful body of the flesh, knowing that it is impossible for him to improve it. Whereas a Christian needs to pay attention first of all to his spirit, to his new man, who was created according to God! This will help him, if not immediately, but to put his flesh under the control of the spirit! "A if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, That you will be alive» (Rom.8:13). Some Christians confuse the purity of heart they received at the new birth with the purity of heart later in life. However, we received the first as a gift, and the second is obliged, awake, to support.

10.12.3. “Good Conscience”: A Biblical Analysis

A clear New Testament theme is that the believer should always have a clear (good) conscience (Acts 23:1; 24:16; Rom. 9:1; 2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Tim. 1:5,19; 3: 9; 2 Tim. 1:3; Heb. 9:14; 10:22; 13:18; 1 Pet. 3:16). A clear conscience is a gift we receive at baptism (Heb. 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:21; Heb. 9:14 cf. 6:1; Rom. 6:17). If a believer loses a good conscience, he falls from grace. Those who have left the faith have a wounded conscience (1 Cor. 8:12), a weak and defiled conscience (1 Cor. 8: 7; Tit. 1: 15), a burnt conscience (1 Tim. 4: 2). “Conscience” in the Biblical sense refers to how God looks at our minds, rather than how we feel or experience it ourselves. The Spirit rarely characterizes the conscience as being calm, good one moment and bad the next. This is what is at a constant level. Saying, "Yesterday I watched TV in good conscience, but I feel remorse for not delivering flyers today" does not mean "conscience" in the Biblical sense of the word. Paul repeatedly says that he has a good conscience constantly (presumably from the time of his baptism, when he stopped “going against the goads”, Acts 9:5).

Definition of conscience

The conscience that the Bible speaks of is not necessarily related to the right or wrong guilt that we may feel after certain thoughts or actions. All people (and animals) have a certain character trait; however, a good conscience is related to whether we keep the faith (1 Tim. 1:3-5,19; 3:9). It is impossible for those who are not in the Truth to have a good conscience in the Biblical sense of the word. This also does not apply to remorse. Paul, too, must have had remorse for his behavior from time to time (Acts 15:39 cf. 2 Tim. 4:11), but he insists that he has a clear conscience. “I give thanks to God, whom I serve from my first parents with a clear conscience” (2 Tim. 1:3). Jewish fathers, especially Jacob, were often tormented by remorse for their many years. Really, Jewish fathers had a dirty conscience because of many sins. Surely Paul meant that because of their faith in forgiveness in the eyes of God, they had a clear conscience.

Our natural feeling is hopelessly corrupted; our heart is so corrupt that we do not know it (Jer. 17:9). Many of our daily sins are taken for granted because we have a disturbed sense of good and bad. Paul says that although he does not know what charges will be presented to him at the trial, this does not exonerate him, because the Lord looks at us differently (1 Corinthians 4:4). David also came to the conclusion that self-esteem will not allow him to determine his place, his status in the eyes of God: “Who will see his errors?” (Ps. 18:13). We can often hear, “My conscience is at peace, everything is fine.” However, our “conscience,” our natural sense of good and evil, cannot protect us in the day of judgment, or stand up and judge us. Only one thing will judge us: the word of God. (John 12:48), and it does not depend on our feelings.

In 1 Corinthians 8-10 and Romans 14:23 we read that “the one who doubts… is condemned because he is not of faith; and everything that is not of faith is sin.” In these passages, the word "conscience" seems to be used in the sense we use it in modern English. These verses are used as if to prove that our conscience is equal to ours. personal feeling good and evil. However, the context of the chapters used is about what we eat or drink. Here you can separate the bad from the good: you can eat meat, any meat. However, if you think about it, Paul demonstrates, reflecting a weak understanding of the gospel, that respect, the veneration of idols, is very close to real faith into these "deities" that they really exist. Although almost everyone understands this, there are those who have not yet been able to do this. If they eat meat, they consider it a sin, and even strong believers cannot do anything to break this resistance, overcome this weakness. Here we see a concession to human weakness. The standard was: idols do not exist, Christ died to free us from the statutes of Moses. God created this meat for us to accept with gratitude, so eat it! But a concession was made: God allowed people to justify their refusal to accept His teachings, He (Almighty!) respected their human sense of good and evil with the proviso that if they act against their conscience, He will count it as a sin. I doubt that this principle applies in any other areas. God made an exception there, at that time, on the subject of meat. This is His right, and it is not for us to judge Him. In any case, the presence of different levels of "conscience", "consciousness" was a sign of immaturity in the early community. God does not require us to be like robots, we do not have to pretend that everything is in order in our minds. We all have a good consciousness, we must all respond to this in accordance with morality. How we spend money, what movies we watch, what meat we eat. If our consciousness/conscience is truly cleansed by God, and we believe in it, our life will become purer, without remorse.

clear conscience

The definition of a good conscience is given in Heb. 9:10. Paul bases his position on the fact that people in Old Testament times could not cleanse their consciences with sacrifices, since the blood of sacrificial animals could not wash away sins; and on the Day of Atonement they will have to answer for their sins. Their conscience was not perfect (Heb. 9:9). Paul draws a logical conclusion: our consciousness/conscience is not cleansed by the sacrifice of Christ alone, we are in a higher position than the Old Testament believers. We are like a high priest who enters the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement. We can enter the holy of holies with confidence (cf. the nervous state of the priest), because our conscience is cleansed by the blood of Christ. And so “come on” (Heb. 10:22), the language of the chapter is used to describe the work of the priest - serving God; now we can also do the work of a priest, since our conscience is clear. We are not like the Old Testament believers who had remorse because of their sins and needed the blood of sacrificial animals to wash away their sins. We, as Paul says, no longer have the consciousness of sins, the conscience is clear, we have achieved this cleansing by baptism. “So now we also have a baptism like this image, not a washing of the uncleanness of the flesh, but a promise to God of a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21), perhaps we should pay attention to this moment to those who are about to be baptized. We are forgiven for everything once and for all. We are cleansed and covered, we have received mercy, but we can lose everything if we break this condition: we have a conscience cleansed from sins if we sincerely believe in the power of the cross and in our relationship to it through baptism. Accumulating evidence, Paul comes to the conclusion that the Lord Jesus offered one sacrifice for all the sins of all time, so we don't need to offer any more sacrifices or turn to human priests. We are completely forgiven of all our sins. Sin is completely conquered by the victory of the Lord Jesus: “For by one offering He made perfect forever those who are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14 cf. 9:9). “And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more” (Heb.10:17). “... If we, having received the knowledge of the truth, sin willfully, then there remains no more sacrifice for sins” (Heb. 10:26). At baptism, our conscience is set free from sin. From what follows, it is clear that whatever the causes, past or future, have been forgiven:

On the cross, sin ceased to exist, replaced by eternal righteousness (Dan. 9:24). The offering was made for all time.

We must forgive one another, as God for Christ's sake forgave us (Eph. 4:32); not waiting for the brother to repent before we forgive him, but by forgiving in advance, just as we were forgiven. Theological essence turns into painful practice.

Our sins were forgiven/washed away by the blood of Christ—not by our repentance or words of prayer. “The forgiveness of God is not only a cleansing from all filth… we must stay away from the teachings (concepts) of the pagans in order to avoid the former level” (1) . These words are true. When guilt arises, we quickly try to earn forgiveness through prayer, and then at the end of the day or week we begin to doubt whether our spiritual level is high enough. If this happens to us, we are not far removed from the old Israel; offering an offering (our prayer), feeling guilty, coming to the Day of Atonement (breaking bread), feeling guilty again, realizing that the offering does not cleanse us from sin, bringing the offering again - this chain is endless. This can become a ritual of bad conscience, the excuse is that there is no other way out. But our sins were indeed forgiven because of the work that was done by Jesus on the cross. We all have a way out if we believe this and express our faith through baptism. Our prayerful response to errors will be confessing them (1 John 1:9), and also expressing our faith in the redemption that is already available to us.

All our sins were forgiven when the Lord died for us; both past and future. By baptism we unite ourselves with this action, in this state we no longer have “no consciousness of sin” (Heb. 10:2,22), knowing that everything is forgiven, only if we (fall away) fall from mercy, then untruth. So the Bible translation (YLT) speaks of "consciousness" in the New Testament as something very special, and not just as temporary remorse. We have a mind “pointing towards God,” which is how He looks at us (Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Pet. 2:19; 3:21). We may be guilty of something, we may doubt our salvation, but our conscience is clear in the sight of God; we are clean in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we have a clear conscience, God will punish those who persecute us (1 Peter 3:16). 1 Peter 3:21 teaches us that baptism not only frees us from the sins of the flesh, but also gives us a good conscience in the eyes of God.

too good news

Just as we are unable to focus our attention for long on the essential meaning of life, we find it difficult to believe in the existence of God's grace. Remember how the believers were going to pray for the release of Peter, and when he appeared on the doorstep, they declared the maid insane for announcing his arrival. And when the Lord Jesus performed miracles, people asked Him to leave (Matthew 8:34). We also have something like that. Perhaps we want forgiveness and salvation to come to us with great difficulty. Rituals of the Catholic and Orthodox Church their popularity is proof of that. I always get excited when I read the Gospels, how the Lord healed crippled children, comforted young women, and sent them (and their beloved babies) away with a joy this world has never known. But people asked Him to leave, persecuted Him, and so it was until his death. A voice came from heaven, calling Him the Son of God; those who heard him fell to the ground involuntarily. But in reality the people did not believe and conspired to kill Him (John 12:37). They demanded His blood and put Him to death on the cross. He healed the Legion, and the people told the Lord to go away. There is something in our nature that leads us away from the true gospel, because it is too good for us to believe in it. Paul fought the Jews, both inside and outside the temple. They heard the Lord Himself offer them eternal life and rejected it: “What strange words! Who can listen to this? (John 6:60). This too was too good to be believed.

So it is with us. Our sins were forgiven on the cross, by baptism we ascended into heaven with Christ (Eph.2:6), we were introduced into His Kingdom (Col.1:13), we are kings and high priests (Rev.1:6; 1 Pet.2:5 9 cf. Ex. 19:5). We have eternal life (1 John 5:13). We resist, do not believe such passages (and even more). We are trying to find a theological explanation that distorts the meaning of these words in English (or Greek, or Russian, etc.). It's too good to believe; that all our sins are forgiven, that we stand in God's grace, confident, with hope in His Kingdom. This is about true faith. There are several aspects of our spiritual experience in which the Father and the Son are more spiritually rigorous than we expect; and in some cases They show an unusual softness, and we find it hard to believe. Even John the Baptist had this problem, the doubt that the One who would judge with all severity would come (even though he himself preached this).

“Purified… to serve”

In the eyes of God, our conscience is cleansed of sin, our sin is overcome once and for all, we have achieved this through baptism. Our hearts are cleansed by faith (Acts 15:9); we have received a conscience cleansed from dead works (Heb. 9:14); “to the pure all things are pure” (Tit. 1:15; Rom. 14:20). When Paul said that he “lived with all a good conscience before God,” “the high priest... commanded that he should be struck on the mouth” (Acts 23:1,2); there is a connection between a good conscience and perfection (Heb. 9:9; 10:14). In the eyes of God, a clear conscience is that we have no sin. Paul's conscience told him that his way of life responded to the mercy and forgiveness of God (2 Corinthians 1:12). Consciousness does not only do negative work; it compels us to do something. The memory of what Paul did before his conversion was less of a prick of conscience than a call from God to direct his work and dedicate his life to serving His Son. We may have doubts that we repent of, but in the eyes of God we are clean from the time of our baptism. This is impossible to believe without evidence:

We have received a good conscience to serve God with all our ways (Heb. 9:14);

Through our good conscience, we have ascended as high priests to God (Heb. 10:22);

The result is “love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith” (1 Tim. 1:4,5);

Our works prove that we have a good conscience (1 John 3:18-22);

“It is necessary to obey not only out of fear of punishment, but also according to conscience” (Rom. 13:5);

Paul served with a clear conscience (2 Tim. 1:3);

In 1 Peter 3:16 a good conscience is inextricably linked with a good life in Christ;

For the sake of a pure, good conscience, we must endure sorrows, endure, because Christ suffered for us on the cross (1 Peter 2:19-22). His sinlessness before God helped Him endure to the end, because on the cross He was not tormented by remorse.

We must be cleansed of everything that prevents us from fully realizing that we are forgiven; to realize the miracle that God looks at us as Christ, as sinless, whose consciousness is cleansed from sin, as those who serve Him. There is a connection between consciousness, conscience and behavior. This does not mean that the only requirement for us is to refuse military service because we are afraid to stain our conscience, or fear that circumstances may force us to commit acts that are incompatible with a good conscience, the mercy of God allows us to avoid us all this in life.

God's positivity

The reason we refuse to hear the real call is because the pull of the world is too strong. The glorious, marvelous Truth of our salvation cannot be expressed in human language. If we still manage to receive this signal, then Almighty God really wants our salvation, His Name comes with such zeal, as Isaiah saw. If we can realize that the Savior is fighting for our salvation, we can receive the power of His resurrection and eternal life; this power will enter our veins, raise us up and give us an answer, separate us from the world and prepare us for the Kingdom. "We will win through the one who loves us." Wonderful phrase; we will be more than victorious; not only winners. I can give example after example that proves that God does indeed have a positive effect on our lives.

Paul's logic in Romans is convincing. For example, he argues: “If God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us in pain, even before we were born, “while we were still sinners,” then with what kind of love will He love us now, when have we accepted the Lord Jesus?" And further, 'if the love of God was expressed with such power through the death of Christ, then how much can we achieve through the resurrection?' And more, 'if the gift of His Son was an expression of God's love, then He would surely give us a place in the Kingdom, God would not want His Son to die in vain, to show mercy in judgment would mean much less to Him than He already did, surely He will give us the place we are looking for; and not only a place in the kingdom, but everything; the gift of Christ on the cross was the greatest gift, “everything else” means much less, so He will give it to those for whom Christ died.” The logical chain can be continued. “What can we say to that?”

There are often thoughts in the Bible about the positive attitude of God towards His people, about the fact that He imputes righteousness to us. Let's look at these examples (2) :

It is said that the disciples did not believe “for joy” (Luke 24:41). Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Despite his selfless faith, the Lord Jesus marveled at the faith of others (Matt. 9:2,22,29; 15:28; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 7:9,50; 8:48; 17: 19; 18:42). He measured by His standard and hardly knew what faith was. However, He marveled at their faith. They wanted to sleep: “Their eyes were heavy” (Mark 14:40), although it was a shame to sleep at that time. Even the rulers believed in Christ (John 12:42), their faith was a special case, since at that time there was hardly any faith. Despite the fact that when the crisis of Christ tested their faith, the disciples did not really believe, the Lord spoke so positively about their faith. Although he knows that they will depart from Him: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21), He says that the sons of the bridal chamber may not fast when next to bridegroom (Luke 5:34). That was one of the ways He imputed righteousness. When He needed them most, they slept. However, He gently points out that “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38); The Lord demonstrates a meaningful attitude, reflected in the external manifestation (behavior), in this sense, the difference between the flesh and the spirit is minimal.

Did the woman in Mark 14:8 really understand that she was preparing the body of Jesus for burial? But the Lord graciously suggested that she understood it. The women who came to the garden in the tomb were not looking for the risen Christ, they came to anoint the body (Mark 16:3). But their love for the Lord was accepted, the Angel suggested that they were looking for Jesus crucified (Matt. 28:5).

David was, according to God, a man after His own heart, who fulfilled all His desires (Acts 13:22). And these are the words of God, whose ways are much higher than the ways of men. However, He shows untold patience with His faithful servants.

On the shores of the Red Sea, Moses prayed for deliverance from the Egyptians. God's answer was, “Why are you crying to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go” (Ex. 14:15). It seems that Moses' weeping was not recorded by grace. Zechariah's response to Gabriel's words that he would soon have a son was: "How do I know this?" The conversation went on for so long that people outside wondered why he was still there. Supposedly he was talking to an angel and said words that were not written down, therefore he received punishment (dumbness) (Luke 1:18-22).

The Israelites made a leader over themselves to return to Egypt (Neh. 9:17). But this is not mentioned in the historical record; it just says it's what they thought (Num. 14:4). There is no mention in the records of the depth of their apostasy.

It is described that Ada served God as diligently as David, although in fact this was not the case at all. But God considered him righteous (1 Kings 15:11). Barak's imperfect faith was counted as righteousness (Judges 4:8,9 cf. Heb. 11:32). Sometimes the cleansing of idolatry by some kings is described in obviously exaggerated language - such was God's joy that at least something was being done? Israel was never truly devoted wholeheartedly to Yahweh, but 2 Chronicles 20:33 says hopefully, "The people have not yet turned their hearts firmly to the God of their fathers." This never happened.

The Lord saw the zeal of the confused, uncertain, uncomprehending disciples, looking like an army storming the city of the Kingdom of God, knowing exactly where they came from and where they were going (Matt. 11:12).

The description of the righteous in the Kingdom is always given in terms of exaggeration. They overcame, as the Lord overcame (Rev. 3:21). They are described as dressed in white robes, like the Victorious Savior immediately after His death (Mt. 27:59). Comparing Our Suffering to the Lord's Garden of Gethsemane, later on the cross, show us that we cannot do His work. We can't even deal with our sins. We will have access to the tree of life (Rev. 22:14); our salvation depends only on the grace of God. We are invited to be heirs, “to walk worthy of God, in everything to please Him” (Col. 1:10-12), workers who receive the wages of salvation, who are entitled to it (Matt. 20:14). We are considered absolutely righteous, or guilty of everything - it depends on God's attitude towards us (Ps. 36:37). There is no third. Pure in heart they will see God their Father (Matthew 5:8,20,29,48). Every believer will have a body that is already full of light, without dark spots(Luke 11:36); we will walk straight in the way of the Lord (1 John 2:6). These high standards have been set to get us closer to real faith, righteousness, and glory for us: the Father sees our righteousness. David at the end of his life says that he “kept the ways of the Lord, and was not ungodly before God” (2 Sam. 22:21-24). He could only say so because he clearly understood the concept of imputed righteousness. Paul's words that he always had a clear conscience can be seen from the same point of view.

Israeli example

"Some" Jews didn't believe (Rom. 3:3), even the majority, indeed, but God was extraordinarily gentle. The whole tragic history of God's dealings with Israel is proof of the benevolence of His character. During their birth in the Red Sea (baptism) the following record appeared: “The people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and Moses” (Ex. 14:23). Not a word about how they made Egyptian idols and censed them (we are not told about this until Ezek. 20). Not a word about how their faith "lasted" only three days, about how they rejected Moses, about how their hearts turned to Egypt. “There was no foreign god with Him [Israel]” as they went (Deut. 32:12), it was not mentioned that they “carried the tabernacle of Moloch” (Amos. 5:26). The angel told Moses that people wanted to climb the mountain, closer to God, but in fact they fled when they saw the holiness of God; The angel clearly exaggerated their enthusiasm in the spiritual sense of the word (Ex. 19:21-24 cf. 20:18). The angel spoke to Moses, “so that the people would hear ... and believe you (Moses) forever” (Exodus 19:9). It wasn't like that at all. God at that time did not notice the misfortune in Israel (Numbers 23:21). He fulfilled His promise at Mount Sinai as if they had obeyed. He made them his people. He did this by crediting their obedience. However, the punishment of wandering for 40 years does not prove that He considered them obedient. He “for forty years ... was irritated by this generation” (Ps.94:10; Acts.13:18). But, however, He thought differently of them (Ex. 19:5 cf. Deut. 27:9). He sees in them the girl-bride who followed Him into the wilderness, “into a land not sown” (Jer. 2:2). Even when we read about the sins of Israel at that time, God was angry with them (Heb. 3:17). Even when God punished Israel, He later fully accepted the blame for their judgment; thus He said that He left the Canaanites in order that Israel might learn to fight (Judg. 3:2); in other passages, the reference to these nations is most likely due to the unbelief of Israel, and their residence in the promised land was part of God's punishment to Israel. He almost forgives Israel's apostasy, saying that they did not see the great miracles of the Exodus (Judg. 2:7). “From the area of ​​the sons of Judah, an inheritance is allocated to the tribe of the sons of Simeon” (Josh. 19: 9) - these words almost indicate that God made a mistake in placing them there, the problem was that the Israelites did not show enough faith to destroy tribes living there. “The sons of Dan went to war against Lashem” (Joshua 19:47), “the Amorites pressed the sons of Dan in the mountains; for they did not let them go into the valley” (Judges 1:34). When Dan attacked Lasem, it was seen as a grand act of obedience in Nav. 19:47, sounded like a desire to inherit the land, which seemed to them not large enough, so they attacked Lasem. But in reality, this land was part of their heritage. God graciously noted: "... hitherto there had not fallen to him a full inheritance among the tribes of Israel" (Judges 18:1). There have been similar examples; “Thus the Lord gave Israel all the land… and they received it as an inheritance and settled in it… and none of all their enemies stood against them” (Joshua 21:43,44). But the enemies stood against them, they did not own all the land. But God laid it out in such a way as if the story had a happy ending - when in reality it was a tragedy. Even while rebuking them, God in a sense considers them "perfect" (Is. 42:18-20). Israel was like Sodom but was not treated like Sodom (Isaiah 1:9,10). “Israel grew fat…and despised the stronghold of his salvation” (Deut. 32:15). That they wanted a human king was in fact a rejection of Him, and God was grieved by this. However, God gave them a king, but expressed His decision in a completely different tone: “I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin (Saul) ... and he will save My people from the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon My people, since his cry has reached me…” (1 Samuel 9:16). God says that He gave Saul in response to the request of Moses, in order to save Israel from the persecution of enemies. In fact, Saul was later killed by the Philistines - Almighty God foresaw all this. But in His mercy, He didn't put it all into words at that time.

Later, when Judah was a little better than Israel, the Spirit said, “Judas still held fast to God and was faithful with the saints” (Hos. 11:12). And two verses later: “But the Lord has judgment with Judas” (Hos.12:2). The Spirit grieves over poor Israel as a woman abandoned and grieving in spirit, as a wife of youth that was rejected (Isaiah 54:6). The merciful Lord presents it as if Israel were a beautiful young woman who is rejected and now lives with a broken heart. This has deep meaning. This showed God's love for His people, the people of Israel. How powerful is His love given to us through the Son? He is fighting for us to finally realize this. It was the struggle of the Egyptian girl from the Song of Songs, who could not accept the love of Solomon.

But we ourselves, from our life experience, can judge that such a struggle, such efforts are not required of us. We constantly feel the grace of God proclaimed in the Lord Jesus. When He finally appears, we will be able to say, 'Here is our God, we have been waiting for Him.' He will live up to all our expectations. "He will be. Our knowledge of Him and His character will lead us to a positive perception of His Name in every aspect of our existence: from our attitude towards military service, to our sign language."

Notes:

P.G. Sargent, "The Teachings of the Lord" (L.G. Sargent, "The Teaching Of The Master" Birmingham: C.M.P.A., 1961), p.277.

Discussed in the chapter: “Surviving to the End.”

Excerpts from the book “Good Faith Objection”

During this time, I was just bursting with pride because I was a Christadelphian. The book (above), published by the US Printing Office in 1950, is the US Government's official analysis of the various groups in North America who refused military service during World War II.

“... (Christadelphians) have always turned to the Government for exemption from military service for religious reasons and conscience. To distinguish themselves, they chose the name "Christadelphians". They have a conscious stance against military service...Christadelphians are not opposed to war...they just have an individual platform...a very specific one, accepted by the whole church. This demonstrates the level, the degree of objection... of some of the 1,000 religious communities: Christadelphians, 49; Jehovah's Witnesses - 7; The Church of God is 1… it follows that the members of the Christadelphian church most faithfully follow the doctrines of their creed…” (this inspires me).

Remember that the data is not collected by Christadelphians, but by outside observers.

Grace of God

With the following examples, I want to demonstrate that the mercy of God is greater than the mercy of man, even if we are talking about very loving and spiritual people.

Elijah told God that only he was a believer, and all the other Israelites turned away. But God said that in His opinion there are 7,000 more believers. Paul uses the example when we, like those 7,000 people, are saved by the grace of God (Rom. 11:4,5). Elijah was a spiritual man, but God thought better of Elijah's brothers than Elijah himself.

Job felt: “… I am innocent; I do not want to know my soul” (Job 9:21) - he felt distrust of himself. “If I am innocent, He will find me guilty” (Job 9:20; 10:1) - God saw him perfect (1:2). Job felt that God was “looking for blemish” in him (Job 10:6). Remember how God spoke positively of Job in a conversation with Satan. God is less picky about Job than he is.

Paul weeps on his deathbed that all the believers in Asia have turned away from him (2 Tim. 1:15, Greek for apostasy). At the same time, the Lord Jesus writes to the seven ekklesias in Asia and thanks some of the members for their support (in Truth) they give. Paul was a man of great love who tried to see only the best in his brothers. He was ready to give his eternal life for the salvation of the Jews (Rom. 9:3 cf. Ex. 32:32). But even Paul, during his spiritual maturity, thought that all Asiatic Christians were apostates; in the eyes of the Lord it was not so.

“David recognized all this many centuries ago. He was given the right to choose (three punishments). He refused to choose, “but let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for great is his mercy” (2 Samuel 24:14). This has always amazed me. God kinder people. It is better to receive punishment from Him than from people. This rejects the Catholic concept that God is the ruthless tormentor of sinners. It becomes clear that the provision of eternal torment was invented by people, and not by God.

We should not judge our brother, because “…before his Lord he stands or falls; and he shall be raised up, for God is able to raise him up” (Rom. 14:4). God is more disposed to raise a fallen slave than we are, let's not condemn our brother, for God is more merciful, magnanimous in His condemnation.

This word is often used in everyday communication of people. They say "it's on his conscience", "he has no shame or conscience", "his conscience tortured", "remorse", "a conscientious person", "acts according to his conscience", etc. But what does this mean? What is meant by this?

Let's see how conscience is written in dictionaries.

Big Encyclopedic Dictionary: CONSCIENCE - the concept of moral consciousness, inner conviction of what is good and evil, consciousness of moral responsibility for one's behavior. Conscience is an expression of a person's ability to exercise moral self-control, to independently formulate moral duties for himself, to demand from himself their fulfillment and to make a self-assessment of the actions performed.

All words seem to be familiar. But it's not very clear. Too superficial. Moral obligations and self-assessment of the actions performed by each person can be different, especially in modern society.

Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language V.I. Dahl: CONSCIENCE - moral consciousness, moral instinct or feeling in a person; inner consciousness of good and evil; the secret of the soul, in which the approval or condemnation of each act is recalled; the ability to recognize the quality of an act; a feeling prompting to truth and goodness, averting from lies and evil; involuntary love for the good and for the truth; innate truth, in varying degrees of development.

This is clearer and much deeper, makes a person think. Think not only about your actions, but also about the meaning of your existence, about your destiny.

What is the purpose of man? What is a sense of life?

At each stage of life, a person consistently faces different goals and tasks that he solves. For example, to study and finish school, to enter an institute (technical school, college), get a specialty, choose a profession and direction labor activity, achieve success in it, start a family.

When you reach a certain step, you move on to the next one. But if you look ahead, the question arises, what next? What to strive for when you pass these steps? What's next?

Sooner or later, every sane person thinks about the questions:

Why was I born?

What is my purpose, what is the purpose of my life?

After all, each person, passing through different steps, and solving some local problems, strives for something important for himself.

People have different aspirations.

Some strive to achieve only their own benefits, their well-being, in order to get a good job and live comfortably (very often at the expense of others). Achieve big wealth and live happily. The more property, money, the more happy man, the more you can afford, the happier you live ... until old age ...

Others strive to the world it is better to bring benefit to close and familiar people, the people of their homeland, and finally, the peoples of the entire planet. Such a person cannot live only for himself. He sees the meaning of his existence and feels satisfaction when it is good not only for himself, but also for the people around him, when he benefits and does good for others.

Two different positions. And each person has the right to choose his main goal and what he sees the meaning of life.

What determines what position a person takes, what aspirations take possession of him?

Conscience. It is she who determines which way a person goes. And his actions, deeds are closely related to whether he listens to his conscience.

Here are quotes from some famous people who left their mark on history, in the development of society:

"I believe that it is impossible to live better, as if trying to do better, and that there is no greater pleasure than to feel that you are really getting better. This is the happiness that I have not ceased to experience until now and which my conscience testifies to me."
Socrates

"Do not do what your conscience condemns, and do not say what is not in accordance with the truth. Observe this most important thing, and you will fulfill the whole task of your life."
M. Aurelius

"The human conscience prompts a person to look for the best and sometimes helps him to abandon the old, comfortable, sweet, but dying and decaying - in favor of the new, at first uncomfortable and unlovable, but promising a fresh life."
A.A. Blok

"There are two desires, the fulfillment of which can make a person's true happiness - to be useful and to have a clear conscience."
L.N. Tolstoy

In the statements of these famous personalities, it sounds that conscience for them was their guiding star in life, directing them to deeds.

Some will ask: why is it all - to live for the sake of something common, incomprehensible? And what does it give you? Life is short, you have to have time to live for your own pleasure. Why do something for others? And why listen to this conscience, it only prevents you from knowing all the joys of life.

Let's figure out what conscience is, where its roots come from.

Our ancestors about conscience

We Russ (and Russ are not only Russians, but also representatives of other Slavic nationalities), are the descendants of the Slavic-Aryans. Our history goes back to deep antiquity - hundreds of thousands of years, and not 1000 years, as modern historical science represents. You can learn more about this from the books of V. Chudinov, N. Levashov, V. Demin, A. Tarunin, L. Prozorov, O. Gusev and other authors.

Our ancestors - Slavic-Aryans - passed on their wisdom in ancient writings, they say a lot about Conscience.

For example, one of the most ancient sources has been preserved - the Slavic-Aryan Vedas, some sections of which are over 40,000 years old (the Vedas were translated from runic writing and Glagolitic into modern Russian and published for the first time in the form of brochures in 1944).

In the "Santias of the Vedas of Perun" from the "Slavic-Aryan Vedas" it says:

Human Children from the Clans of the Great Race
and, you, the descendants of the Heavenly Family,
be pure in Soul and Spirit,
and let a clear Conscience,
the measure of your deeds will be...

The "Word of Wisdom of the sorcerer Velimudr" of the same source says:

“Why does a person need to go against his Soul and Conscience, because they are above everything in the world, and a person must always take care of them. Can someone from the outside fill the Soul of a person or his Conscience with Joy and Happiness?

“Whoever lives according to Conscience, that person is sinless. The soul of a person and the Conscience have existed since the Ancestral years, and a person lives by their will.

“Conscience is the highest gift of God, you can’t run away from it, you can’t hide, you can’t deceive it and you won’t speak. For good deeds she gives Joy, for worthless deeds she gives suffering.

“Remember, children of the Great Race, and you, descendants of the Heavenly Family, that Life must be lived in Joy, for it is only a single moment. A bright life in the World of Reveal, a person is given by his bright Soul and Conscience. All people revere the Soul and Conscience and how can a righteous person in the name of something, for someone to destroy his Pure Soul and Conscience.

That is, our ancestors gave conscience a very great importance. And the attitude towards it was reverent, as to something very important that must be preserved. But why?

Why do we need to live according to conscience

If you carefully look at the word CONSCIENCE, then you can distinguish two parts in it “with” and “message”.

"So" means jointly, together, together. For example, cooperation (joint work), coexistence (coexistence), empathy (experience with someone).

"Message" is a message, a message.

In the connection of CO-VEST, a joint message is obtained. What's the message? From whom?

Let's figure it out.

Throughout the long history of our Motherland, our people had to endure so many wars, so many attacks, as no other people had to endure. Our people have always repulsed enemies, always emerged victorious from wars, although sometimes at the cost of many sacrifices.

And this is due to the fact that the Russians have a special inner core that distinguishes us from other races. What is this rod?

Now few ancient sources, legends of our great ancestors have been preserved. They, along with the chronicle of the events of our past, reflect the wisdom, national traditions and culture accumulated over millennia. Many of the sources were mercilessly destroyed. Those that have miraculously survived to this day (on gold plates, wooden tablets, parchment, etc.), are currently trying to recognize “official” science as fake, although there is irrefutable evidence of their truth. And most people don't know about these sources, or don't believe they exist. History has been deliberately rewritten and is still being rewritten. What is it for?

This is done in order to defeat the Rus, only in a deceitful, mean way. Take away their national traditions, culture, in other words, the wisdom accumulated by their ancestors, make them “blind, helpless kittens” who do not know how and why they live, and thereby deprive the Rus of cohesion, divide them. And then it will be quite easy to break the people, whose unity is broken.

But it's not so simple. In us, in Rus, the wisdom and orders of our ancestors are also stored on another level - in the genetic memory. And the role of this “guardian” is performed by conscience. It retains the core of the "mysterious" Russian soul.

It is conscience that tells us where to move and how to act in a given situation, gives us direction. Deviation from the right direction causes so-called pangs of conscience, i.e. a person feels that he is doing something wrong. This is a hint-direction to a person on his life path, stored in his genetic memory.

But what does our conscience tell us? What is its direction? What is the deep meaning?

Conscience tells us to act in the name of our kind. To act according to conscience means to act in the interests of one's kind, in the interests of its preservation, development, and improvement.

It is this core that makes the Rus invincible, helps the Rus to preserve their family.

What is meant in this case by the word genus?

The word ROD here means the people of the Rus, the people living in our native Russian land, which at different times was called Rus, Rasseniya, the Land of the Holy Race. A people united by common traditions and culture, maintained over many millennia.

"People live as peoples, and they cannot live in any other way - this is the way of existence of our biological species ... The totality of people makes a people a common culture for them - the" genotype "of a given people. Each people is unique and inimitable. A people is characterized by its psychological integrity, which distinguishes one nation from another...

Our harsh nature and our harsh history have taught us to understand clearly: we can survive and live only together, as a single people and on the basis of the priority of society.

For the Russian nation, at all times, the meaning of life is characteristic, which goes beyond the satisfaction of the physiological and everyday needs of people ...

... the main values ​​\u200b\u200bfor us are the People, the Motherland, the World (i.e. society), Truth, Justice, Friendship, Peace: “First think about the Motherland, and then about yourself”, “Die yourself, and help out your comrade” ... "( A.S. Volkov)

Thus, CONSISTENCY is a joint message, a joint message of our ancestors, fixed at the level of genetics, written down by the genetic code. This code has been formed for many thousands of years. It has been accumulated by many generations of Russ, Slavic-Aryans. He helps to preserve and develop his family.

What do “Western values” bring with them?

Recently, Western values ​​have been intensively introduced into our society. And it is pushed into the minds of people, primarily through the media, that a free society is a society in which every person is free to do what he wants, without binding himself to any moral obligations or moral principles.

Success comes first.

This means standing out from others by achieving some material benefits - a monetary, highly paid job (it doesn’t matter if you like it or not, money is honestly earned there or not), the ability to buy an expensive car, a cottage, go abroad to relax on a prestigious resort, to educate their children in prestigious educational institutions (mainly abroad). This is what is valued (or rather imposed, what is valued). The moral principles behind everything behind this are relegated to the background. Good and honest relations between people, joint creative creative work for the benefit of the native country are forgotten. But what is behind all this? Emptiness. To live only for your own pleasure is the satisfaction of your own physiological and simplest emotional needs. And that's it. This is a dead end in human development.

But the worst thing is that disunity is being introduced into our people through Western values. This is the destruction of us from within. This, in fact, is an invasion with the aim of dismembering our united people, violating its integrity and cohesion. There is an imperceptible substitution of high moral principles (conscience, honor, striving for truth and justice) inherent in our people, with the introduction of alien concepts of deceit as the norm of life (relationships in the same business), career development and the desire for power for the sake of profit (the higher he advanced, the more material wealth), enrichment at the expense of others.

This is a direct attack on our inner core and the desire to kill our conscience. Again - to defeat us, decomposing from within, directing us to the path of moral degradation.

The fundamental principle of Western culture is the unlimited "freedom of the individual", that is, the priority of individualism. This is a culture of "war of all against all" even within one nation. Self-affirmation, victory over others at any cost is recognized as the main goal of a person: you can push with your elbows, trample others with your feet, climb up their heads - and even more so this is permissible in relation to other peoples, and even more so to "our smaller brothers" (American Indians - far from the only people destroyed by Europeans, whales in the northern hemisphere are far from the only species of animals destroyed by them).

Unbridled consumerism and enjoyment, openly proclaimed by Western culture as the highest values, not only completely emasculate the main value of human life (after all, it cannot consist in stuffing the belly!), but also directly threaten Life on Earth: to satisfy their unlimitedly growing the appetite for the planet's resources will not be enough very soon. (A.S. Volkov)

In this regard, it is very appropriate to quote from the statements of Hitler, who came to power in Germany in the 30s of the 20th century:

"I free man from the humiliating chimera called conscience."

What path people took, led by such a motto and forgotten about their conscience, and what this led to - everyone knows - the most destructive war in recent centuries, which claimed tens of millions of lives.

Knowledge, development and conscience

Let's go back to the question of the meaning of life. What is he in? Why was life given to a reasonable person?

Thinking people will agree that a person came into this world to develop, to become more perfect.

Real development opens up new possibilities for a person, inspires a person to more and more new stages of his improvement. And there is a special charm of life in this.

After all, when a person improves and achieves something that was previously inaccessible to him, which he could not do before, when he creates something new, he experiences incomparable satisfaction, spiritual uplift, joy. And this is true happiness! It's worth living just for that!

But in order to develop, you need to learn new things, you need to learn.

The "Slavic-Aryan Vedas" says:

… Awakening of a person only in Cognition,
and the eye of Knowledge saves him...

Reaching Knowledge,
The Child of Man looks again at the Vedas,
and becomes a debt again
striving for Spiritual Life,
and conscience becomes the head of all deeds...
Heeding conscience, he hates everything evil,
from this Conscience becomes strong,
and man creates his Happiness,
in Happiness the man himself is created...

That is, learning something new, a person understands the world, its laws, and develops deeper. But the path of real, deep development, to the achievement of wisdom, lies only through high morality, the path of goodness, truth and justice, where base manifestations of lies, deceit, betrayal, meanness are unacceptable. On the path of development, "the head of all deeds becomes conscience." These are the laws of the evolution of the mind, which our ancestors knew about.

To learn and improve, you need to make efforts and constantly work, work on yourself. Nothing can be achieved without your efforts.

But then again, there will always be people who will say: why? It is better to enjoy life without much effort - it is easier to follow the path of less resistance.

Let us turn again to the Slavic-Aryan Vedas:

“The dark forces use two ways to lure people and prevent them from developing in the Explicit World of Midgard, creatively creating for the benefit of the Family, improving Spiritually and Mentally: the first is ignorance, and the second is ignorance.

On the first path, they do not allow people to know, and on the second, they assert that knowledge is unnecessary and harmful to people.

It is ignorance that makes people not free, does not allow them to develop.

And here is what our contemporary academician Nikolai Viktorovich Levashov said about this at one of his meetings with readers of his books:

Real knowledge can make people free. Knowledge can save man and humanity from disease, poverty, and hunger. A person who knows is a person who is free from the fear of the unknown. A person enlightened by knowledge is a person who controls and creates his own destiny. The awakened ones are guided by their conscience, and the light of their mind allows them to distinguish good from evil. A society armed with knowledge and common aspirations is invincible in principle.

And a person who does not know, does not want to work, does not seek to change himself and improve, more easily succumbs to vices - envy, greed, the desire of someone else, which leads him to the path of moral decline, destroys him:

"Greed destroys Knowledge,
when Knowledge is killed - Shame dies ...

… When Shame is killed, Truth is oppressed,
with the death of Truth and Happiness will perish ...
When Happiness is killed, Man dies ... "
(Santia Vedas of Perun, Santia 8)

The meaning of development, life and death

There is another position: why develop, improve, because we will all die anyway, what's the difference?

But who proved that life ends after the death of the physical body?

Academician N.V. Levashov in the chapter "The nature of life after death" of his book "Essence and Reason" writes:

“Man, like all living things, is doomed to death, and nothing can be done about it. Such is the law of nature, although man has always dreamed of eternal life, sought to find elixirs of immortality, secrets, the solution of which would help to deceive the “bony old woman” who is gathering her “harvest”. First of all, I would like to note that the immortality that most people dream about is actually death, or rather, evolutionary death, while death is the cause of evolutionary immortality.

Paradox?! Yes and no.

If we assume that with the death of the physical body everything disappears: the experience accumulated during life, knowledge, wisdom, our emotions, our memory, everything that allows us to realize ourselves as living, in this case there will be a paradox.

But, if we assume that with the death of the physical body, the essence is freed from the ballast that hinders further evolutionary development, no contradiction, no paradox arises.

"Reset" of the physical body does not mean the death of a living being.

The death of the physical body is only a transitional moment for any living being. A legitimate question may arise. If life does not stop with the death of the physical body, then why is life in it necessary at all? Why do you need to incarnate again and again, starting almost from scratch? Why does an entity incarnate into a new physical body?

The answer to this question is very simple: without a physical body, an entity cannot develop. The physical body is a source of potential necessary for development. In the cells of the physical body, the process of splitting molecules and the release of the primary matters of which they are composed takes place. Primary matter, saturating the bodies of the essence, ensures their work, they are a kind of "fuel".

So, the moment of death of the physical body is a transition point from the active phase of evolution to the passive one. The transition point, but not the death of what we call personality, individuality. When a person dies from natural aging processes, the so-called natural death, there is simply a “dumping” of the old physical body, which is no longer able to provide evolutionary development, in order to gain a new physical body and continue evolution. The old physical body is discarded by the entity, as a shell that has worked its way out. And you shouldn't regret it."

In the book "Essence and Mind" N.V. Levashov in detail, on a foundation that summarizes the knowledge accumulated by society, an explanation is given of what the soul (essence) of a person is, death, reincarnation, conception in a new physical body, the essence of other “mysteries” of human existence, including karma, is set out, so far nothing not explained modern science. And as a result of this, the seemingly supernatural phenomena attributed by religion to the almighty “Lord God” become understandable, which in fact are objective processes.

In particular, when discussing the topic of karma, N.V. Levashov explains how a person, committing unseemly acts (deceit, theft, murder), destroys his personality and, for objective reasons, degrades, weakens the essence, blocking the path to its development with his own hands. A person who read this topic in the book by N.V. Levashov, it becomes clear why one should always strive to act according to conscience, and why people, committing certain actions, determine their own future fate.

On this issue, N.V. Levashov writes:

"In order to keep your essence from destruction, you can advise in a nutshell not to do to others what you would not want them to do to you. If a "normal" person adheres to this rule, it is very likely that he will avoid "hell." Punishment for sin a person receives at the moment of committing a sin, and not after death.The changes that occur in this case, both with the physical body and the essence, are real processes occurring at the level of the physical body, the second, third, and so on bodies of the essence.

At the moment of conception, the essence enters the biomass, the genetics of which corresponds to the evolutionary level of the essence. This happens automatically at the moment of conception, so that in this case the Lord God "did not hold a candle." Therefore, nothing accidental and undeserved happens. The appearance of injustice arises from a misunderstanding of what life is. Each physical body is a temporary garment for an entity. If a person, having committed a murder, changed his costume, he does not become innocent from this. The crime is committed not by the "suit", but by the wearer of the suit - an entity that is in this physical body ... "

In the Vedas we find the same thing, but said in other words:

“Each deed you commit leaves its indelible mark on the eternal Path of your life, and therefore create, people, only beautiful and good deeds ...”
(Word of Wisdom of the sorcerer Velimudra)

The development of man, his essence is not limited by any framework. In his development, a person can reach more and more peaks, acquire new, seemingly fantastic opportunities. Our ancestors knew all this well. People who possessed "superpowers", who entered the path of creation with the power of their thoughts, were previously called gods.

Development of personality, development of society.

In isolation from society, a person cannot develop to high level(An example of this is children raised by animals - Mowgli children who could not even really learn to speak). For development, a person must absorb the experience of his ancestors, assimilate the necessary knowledge accumulated by previous generations. The mechanism and conditions necessary for human development are also described in detail in the book by N.V. Levashov "Essence and Mind".

That is, human development is impossible outside of society, outside of a kind.

But developing and improving a person must contribute to the development of the family. In turn, developing his kind, a person develops himself. Everything is interconnected. Only together the clan develops and gives rise to even more talented, creative people. Moreover, if a person strives to give his strength to his family as much as possible, this gives him additional potential, accelerates his development many times over.

Here it is appropriate to quote from one of the Eastern currents about the genus:

"The Strengthening of the Clan occurs through the strengthening of the Spirit of each individual member of the Clan. Each descendant of the Clan received the greatest Power of his ancestors. He did not have to accumulate the Power from scratch. He was born already with a great potential for good luck - supporting the Forces of Life. Each of the ancestors served the Clan, fulfilling their destiny "Our duty. We all have a debt to our ancestors. They gave us the Power they accumulated in advance. With the help of this Power, the descendants receive the status that their ancestors deserved with their spiritual work. The duty of the descendants to continue to serve the Family.

Rootless people are those who do not care about their Family. They are weak in the Spirit, are not supported by their Family, and, accordingly, have no luck in life. A direct consequence of the absence of the Force of the Family - low level responsibility. The stronger the Rod, the more responsible people make it up ... "

This quote reflects the ideas of our ancestors about the inseparable connection of each person with his family. And although the quote is taken from the so-called "Eastern knowledge", it is known that the origins of this knowledge come from the ancient knowledge of the Slavic-Aryans, transmitted by them to the Dravidians and Nagas during a campaign in Dravidia - ancient India.

A person develops and at each stage of his development, conscience prompts how to move on. The more a person is developed, the more opportunities he has, the more he must take responsibility for himself - this is what conscience dictates. And inaction, if you can do something, also causes "remorse." If you can - act, make the world a better place, help others develop and move forward, otherwise you will not develop yourself, such are the laws of conscience.

Religion and conscience

Very often the concepts of conscience and religiosity are identified, i.e. a believer is equated with a highly moral, moral person.

And does it always happen in reality?

Of course, one cannot say that all believers are bad and dishonorable people. But such people have practically cut off the path to knowledge for themselves, they have limited themselves. Blind faith, not confirmed by knowledge, does not give a path to development.

Yes, in the commandments of Christianity it is forbidden to commit sins (do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not covet someone else's, do not bear false witness, etc.), and hardly anyone will doubt the correctness of these prohibitions. But here lies a trap: it does not explain why it is impossible to do this, but it is said that the "Lord" ordered it, otherwise there will be punishment. Who will be punished and for what? People do not have a complete understanding of objective processes, what is happening and how. An "information vacuum" is being created. They demand from people "stupid" acceptance on "faith", not allowing to know, suggesting that this is not accessible for understanding by "mere mortals".

If you carefully read the stories from the Bible, you can see that the actions of the heroes from this "holy book", from which it is proposed to take an example, do not at all shine with high morality and purity. Unfortunately, most believers have never even read themselves " holy book"bible.

If you look at the "higher persons" christian church, there is also no sense of respect for their high spirituality and infallibility. Patriarch Kirill's recent statement about the Slavs that "these are barbarians, ... they are second-class people, they are almost like animals" does not delight any native inhabitant of our country. And if you look into the biography of Kirill, then unpleasant facts become known, in particular, that he participated in the duty-free trade in alcohol and tobacco products from abroad.

And this person has the status of "Patriarch of All Rus'", that is, personifies the highest spirituality and infallibility...

Oleg Satov speaks very sharply about Christianity:

"For a weak soul, Christianity is attractive from two sides. Firstly, contrary to its own institutions, it amuses pride, creating a sense of belonging with the divine world - a kind of fairground spirituality. Secondly, the world, unattainable for a slave material assets, Christianity proclaims vicious and sinful - devalues ​​it.

Then there is a sweet feeling for any neurotic of his own exclusivity - “I am weak and poor only because I stand above material values. I am spiritual!” It turns out that freedom, strength and self-confidence are completely devalued, and the qualities of the infantile psyche come to the fore - humility, doubt, irresponsibility, self-pity, disguised as high spirituality.

If you reduce everyone around you to your level, then you can become strong among the weak - this is the goal and logic of Christian social morality.

Feelings of guilt and conflict of conscience are the gift of Christianity to humanity."

And here is what L.N. Tolstoy in a letter to teacher A.I. Dvoryansky on December 13, 1899 about the terrible harm done to the soul of a child by religion:

We are so accustomed to this religious lie that surrounds us that we do not notice all the horror, stupidity and cruelty with which the teachings of the church are overflowing ... We do not notice, but children notice, and their souls are irreparably mutilated by this teaching ...

We think that the soul of a child is a blank slate on which you can write whatever you want. But this is not true, the child has a vague idea that there is that beginning of everything, that reason for its existence, that power in the power of which he is, and he has that highest, indefinite and inexpressible in words, but conscious of the whole being idea of this beginning, which is peculiar reasonable people. And suddenly, instead of this, he is told that this beginning is nothing but some kind of personal self-willed and terribly evil being - the Jewish god.

The child has a vague and true idea of ​​the purpose of this life, which he sees in the happiness achieved by the loving intercourse of people. Instead, he is told that the common goal of life is the whim of an arrogant god and that the personal goal of each person is to rid himself of the eternal punishments deserved by someone, the torments that this god has imposed on all people.

Every child also has an awareness that the duties of a person are very complex and lie in the realm of morality. Instead, he is told that his duties lie mainly in blind faith, in prayers—pronouncing certain words at a certain time, in swallowing an okroshka of wine and bread, which is supposed to represent the blood and body of the god. Not to mention the icons, miracles, immoral stories of the Bible, transmitted as models of actions, as well as the gospel miracles and all the immoral meaning that is attached to the gospel story.

(L.N. Tolstoy. Collected works in 22 volumes. Moscow. Fiction 1984, volume 19, p. 457)

Religion is a dead end in human development, it is a path to ignorance.

Nikolai Viktorovich Levashov at one of the meetings with readers of his books said:

Religion is good only for those who are afraid of responsibility for their own actions and shift the responsibility for what is happening to someone else, in this case, to the Lord God. Any religion deprives a person of freedom of choice and responsibility for what is happening.

Why do any religions talk about submission? "You are a servant of God." "Everything that is done, happens according to the will of the Lord." Why?

Without reason, without knowledge, without understanding, goodness becomes blind!

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to quote the words of Svetlana Levashova from her book "Revelation":

"... I very often dreamed that someday such a wonderful day would come when:

A person will smile with joy, knowing that people can only bring him good...

When a lonely girl is not afraid to walk the darkest street in the evening, not being afraid that someone will offend her ...

When it will be possible to open your heart with joy, without fear that you will betray the most best friend...

When it will be possible to leave something very expensive right on the street, without being afraid that if you turn away, it will be stolen immediately...

And I sincerely, with all my heart, believed that somewhere there really was such a wonderful world, where there is no evil and fear, but there is a simple joy of life and beauty ... That is why, following my naive dream, I used the slightest opportunity to to learn at least something about how it is possible to destroy this same, so tenacious and so indestructible, our earthly Evil ... "

Svetlana fought evil, fought in such a way that her enemies were terribly afraid of her. She died in this struggle, giving her life in order to bring closer the future she dreamed of.

Andrei Kazulin

Peace be with you, Elena!

This term is found in the Bible in one place:

“But the Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of false talkers, burned in their conscience forbidding marriage and eating what God has created, so that the faithful and those who know the truth may eat with thanksgiving.

Here we are talking about apostates who preach an unbiblical teaching, and the teaching they received from the spirits, as a supernatural spiritual experience. And what's more, they use deliberate lies in their argument.

As for the term "burnt conscience" in the common usage of this expression, I think it is a characteristic of a person who is so rooted in sin and evil deeds that he has ceased to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit ().

Sincerely,
Alexander

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