There are different kinds of consciences.

1. In Acts 23:1, Paul says he had a "good conscience."
2. In Acts 24: 6 Paul spoke of having a "clear conscience."
3. 1 Corinthians 8:7 speaks of a "weak conscience."
4. 2 Timothy 4:2, describes people "whose consciences have been seared with a hot iron."
5. Titus 1:5 speaks of those whose "minds and consciences are corrupted."

How does the conscience work? What causes it to form concepts of right and wrong? Several factors contribute to conscience development.

1. Parental influence.

   Guilt creating influence by parents is almost universal and absolutely necessary. That why Paul said in Ephesians 6:4,
   ". . . bring up your children in the training and instruction of the Lord."

2. Environment.

   Very early in life and all through our lives our sense of right and wrong is shaped by our environment - our peers, the media, our teachers. Even songs, slogans and public opinion polls play a role in determining our sense of right and wrong.

3. The Bible.

   The writer of Hebrews said,

   For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

   When the Bible becomes the standard of determining right and wrong, we can be very certain that it stimulates true guilt, not false guilt. However, that's not quite as simple as it sounds. Many self-professed experts on the Bible filter the Word of God through their own personalities. When they lay scripture on you, they are not simply telling you "what the Bible says." Many of those who say "we go just by the Bible," don't do it. What they propagate is their own biased version of things and calling it "thus-saith-the-Lord." We do that ourselves a lot more than we realize.

FALSE GUILT VERSUS TRUE GUILT

As we think about Paul's fear of creating sorrow for sin in a hurtful manner as opposed to creating "Godly sorrow," it becomes increasingly important to separate false guilt from true guilt.

Some Causes of False Guilt

1. Human Interpretation of the Bible.

   Sometimes we like to claim that we don't interpret the Bible. Everyone who reads the Bible interprets it. Interpretation simply involves defining the meaning of a text. The task before us is that of attempting to understand the intent of the author of Scripture instead of imposing our own feelings, value judgments and opinions on the text.

2. Limited Information Base.

   Acts 10 tells the story of Peter being told to eat certain things that he saw in a vision. According to his way of thinking those foods were forbidden. The idea of eating them was repulsive to his conscience, so repulsive in fact that he argued with the Lord about it. Peter's problem was a limited information base. He didn't understand that the Lord had cleansed those things, which the law of Moses had declared unclean.

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