To Obey or Not to Obey: When Authorities Clash with the Believer's Conscience

“Guys, tuck your shirts in!” the umpire barked, simultaneously issuing other orders that had nothing to do with winning the game. My 14-year-old rolled his eyes while reluctantly complying, as did the other players on his team.

I’ll never forget what ensued. My son’s coach had had enough of this guy’s demands and told him so. The ump stormed off the field, leaving both teams scrambling to find a neutral party to call the game.

Not being a sports aficionado, I failed to understand the importance of what had just occurred. Another parent enlightened me.

“On the baseball field, the ump’s word is law. You don’t argue with the ump, and you don’t question his calls. When he gives an order, the team needs to follow it.

“That coach taught these boys a very bad lesson today.”

The saddest thing about this event is that not one adult – not even the dad who related its impact to me – raised any objections.

This happened 20 years ago, but it may as well have been yesterday – which brings me to my first point. As a retired public-school educator, I observed over my long career a steady decline in respect for authority. Towards the end of my tenure, I heard an administrator remark that traditional discipline methods are no longer effective because “kids are different today.”  I would agree while adding some thoughts of my own: kids have changed because parents have changed, and parents have changed because values have changed.

We live in an age of defiance. High-ranking political figures urge military members to “refuse illegal orders” from the Commander-in-Chief; an attorney interrupts and argues repeatedly with the judge in an Oklahoma courtroom and is eventually led out in handcuffs. With such high-profile examples of insubordination, how should Christian parents guide their children in Biblical patterns of obedience?

The Scriptures urge believers to submit to governmental authority in passages like Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 but, as author and pastor Joe Carter argues, there are exceptions. Notable figures like Rahab, Daniel and his friends, and the apostles risked everything by resisting ungodly orders. Ironically, the Bible praises Rahab’s treasonous actions (in direct defiance of her king) while condemning her compatriots’ compliance, which Hebrews 11:31 describes as disobedience.

What can we glean from all these dueling ideas?

For one thing, we must admit this issue is not cut and dried. It therefore behooves believers to wrestle with decisions that pit us against governing bodies, asking God to help discern when to obey versus when to reject demands from authorities.

Such shades of gray create problems for rule followers like me. I’m much more comfortable living within the confines of rules than stirring up pots that may boil over. The Lord, however, finds ways to stretch his people, and I’m no exception. As a state employee but first and foremost a citizen of heaven, I experienced several dilemmas requiring me to choose between employer and conscience. I here offer a few pointers – the results of numerous nail-biting sessions in which I had to make the tremulous leap into respectful noncompliance:

1)     Be polite but firm. If it becomes spiritually necessary to refuse an order from a superior, maintain decorum. Resist the urge to spew emotional superlatives. Follow the pattern of confident respect with which Daniel and his friends stated their positions.

2)     Be open to direct guidance from God. Gideon may have taken this concept a bit too far, but he wasn’t all wrong when he asked the Lord to provide tangible direction via signs. I faced one situation which legally required me to report a supervisor’s misconduct. I had little confidence and even less time to decide what to do. As I agonized during my lunch break, a member of upper management “happened” to traipse through an area of the building she didn’t usually frequent at a time I just “happened” to be trekking there, too. I took this as a divine nudge, sent up a prayer, and plunged.

3)     Pray and, if time permits, fast in the spirit of Nehemiah. In the aforementioned scenario, I didn’t just fret over the circumstances. Leaving my lunch untouched, I found privacy in my car, called my prayer partner, and together we implored God for guidance. I then experienced the divine encounter described above.

4)     Trust our lavish Lord. He promises to arm us with any arguments and tools necessary for the battles to which he calls us. I found God’s grace sufficient when my superiors “invited” me to a meeting (which included an attorney) to flesh out details of the previously mentioned incident. When they asked a loaded question, no one was more surprised than I when a cool, rational answer emerged from my trembling lips. God means it when he promises to equip his people.

5)     Last, but far from least: stay in touch with the Lord. Don’t wait till a moral crisis arises to start praying and interfacing with his word. Faith curves often seem to come out of left field, but when believers consistently walk with him we can rest in verses like Psalm 112:7: “[The righteous] is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”

In summary, whenever possible, we are called to live lawful, obedient lives. This prevents chaos on baseball fields and battlefields, in conference rooms and courtrooms. However, we can rest in the fact that God will settle our knocking knees and position them atop steady feet when we’re called to respectfully resist. In these times of shaky leadership and ever-shifting values, we must be ready for both possibilities. The wisest preparation is to suit up in God’s armor every day and march into each battle with faith.

After all, if ballplayers don chest protectors and batting helmets to safely compete, how much more must God’s people rely on heavenly PPE to accomplish his will?

Follow the Science?

There's a lot of talk these days about "following the science." 

This has become a popular mantra, often used to castigate those who don't automatically give credence to the latest advice from experts. The CDC insists that a vaccine developed on an emergent basis is safe, secure and the answer to all our prayers, and will halt a virus which seems to have no intention of staying either predictable or at bay. Many clinicians claim that prepubescent children know best about their gender, and that millennia of past expertise have been wrong about the facts of anatomical and chromosomal reality. Individuals who hold differing opinions are often dismissed, disparaged, and lately even canceled. 

For the record, canceling dissenting voices has historically been known as censorship, a tool which has been used very effectively to springboard totalitarian regimes into power and exterminate individual freedom - not to mention individuals themselves. 

All this insistence upon science being gospel has caused me to flip back through the pages of history and investigate some curious views which authorities have held through the ages. Below are a few noteworthy examples in which science got things categorically wrong, jeopardizing the health and well-being of the very people whose best interests it sought to protect. Quick disclaimer: scientists are not in the business of erring intentionally; however, like all of us, they are limited by lack of evidence to the contrary regarding positions they hold at any given time. Science by its nature is constantly evolving. New discoveries either affirm or refute scientific assumptions. Those that stand the test of time - such as Newton's laws - usually remain unquestioned; however, due to the evolutionary nature of science, it behooves the discipline to continuously investigate, rather than insist upon a gavel-striking approach to principles of the day. 

One instance in which science later reversed itself was regarding tobacco. Before they knew better, physicians used to promote cigarettes in advertising campaigns. Research has now shown smoking to be deadly, and no reputable medical practitioner would recommend it.

Experts once believed it was acceptable for women to drink alcohol during pregnancy. That stance was later reversed when evidence surfaced about the danger alcohol poses to the fetus. Likewise, the anti-nausea drug, thalidomide, resulted in untold numbers of birth defects, simply because medical science was unaware of its adverse consequences at the time. Perhaps as a society we should recall such well-intended but egregious medical mistakes before allowing physicians to prescribe puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children and surgically remove healthy body parts in the name of gender affirmation. 

Speaking of hormones, doctors used to routinely prescribe them to mitigate unpleasant symptoms of menopause. Having been proven unsafe, estrogen therapy is no longer the "go to" treatment plan for menopausal women. Why, then, are so many practitioners comfortable prescribing hormones off-label for identity-confused youngsters?

This author realizes that the hormone regimen being used in gender dysphoric children differs in many respects from that which was prescribed for midlife women (not completely, however - gender confused males often receive estrogen in order to align their physical appearance with their perceived identity); nevertheless, studies have revealed serious adverse effects from long-term use of sex reassignment hormones.

 

Medicine is not the only branch of science to have erred in its recommendations; anthropology has taken disastrously wrong turns in several notable instances. Various groups have historically been considered subhuman on the basis of race or ethnicity. Grotesque "scientific" experiments and studies were performed on individuals in these groups, treating human beings as if they were lab animals. Once again, science got it terribly, unutterably wrong. 

The instinct to survive is a strong one. It has caused individuals of conscience to stay silent and inactive in the past. With shame, this author must admit to remaining on the sidelines of the gender debate which is sweeping through our institutions at hurricane speed, leaving too many children as maimed as the mutilated toys belonging to Toy Story's reckless Sid. The difference, of course, between sadistic Sid and well-meaning medical professionals who prescribe and carry out hormonal and surgical interventions on minors is that, in the latter case, the goal is to alleviate dysphoric anguish. The intentions are kind - but what of the outcomes? Tragically, many who undergo sex reassignment surgery seek to "detransition" after realizing an altered body didn't cure their pain, and in some cases, even made it worse, leaving them more prone to "mortality, suicide ideation, and psychiatric issues compared to the rest of the population." I fear for the future of our youth if poorly evidenced gender treatment protocols being administered to minors are not called out and checked. My efforts may be inadequate to stop the troubling trend, but at least I will have done my part to try to stem the tide.

I once participated in a seminar in which the speaker urged her audience to contact lawmakers about an important issue. Her admonition to us was, "If we try and fail, at least we can hold our heads up knowing we tried. If we do nothing, we have only ourselves to blame." 

God forbid that should be said of this author. I prefer to stand in the company of individuals like Martin Luther who, when asked to recant his call for reform of the prevailing church of his day, replied, "My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God." 

"Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, 

in all things desiring to live honorably." 

- Hebrews 13:18

Check out Do Something by Matthew West. This article is my way of doing something for the next generation.

A Matter of Conscience

Dear readers, sadly Blogger has again made decisions for me with regard to font and format! The text as I have it in my Word document is uniform, but somehow got rearranged once I exported it to my blog. Thanks for putting up with the inconsistencies; Blogger has been a good platform for me over the years, pretty user friendly, but does have this one glitch. But, hey, it's free!

Thankfulness

Thankfulness has no meaning without an object.

I realized this simple fact years ago when I worked at a day care center. It was Thanksgiving season, and the staff had organized crafts and projects on the themes of gratitude and giving thanks. I saw a lot of blank stares from little ones whose faces reflected the fact that they had never been taught to thank their parents, let alone a Creator God, for Whom the holiday was declared.

It saddened me then, even as it does now.

Entitlement

Thanklessness and its evil twin, entitlement, have become commonplace in our youth, as the postmodern, post-Christian generation is raising children who have no idea why they should give thanks, or to Whom it is due. Nor should it come as a surprise when individuals who have never received instruction in a moral code based on absolute values struggle with concepts like respect and concern for others, both of which are outgrowths of morality.

Conscience

It naturally follows that a thankless society has little reason to develop a conscience.

Reliable old Merriam Webster offers this explanation of what the word conscience actually means:

“Conscience… derives from… Latin roots—the prefix com- (‘with,’ ‘together,’ ‘jointly’) and the verb scire (‘to know’), and the combination, conscire, means 'to be aware of guilt’—and… relates to… a state of… moral awareness.”

It seems clear that internalization of a basic moral code is a needful prerequisite to the operation of conscience. Just as thankfulness requires an object, conscience needs a reason to exist. In other words, development of that internal voice goes hand in hand with the inculcation of moral principles in daily life.

This brings to mind an incident I recall with bewilderment. Years ago in my day care career, one of our students was misbehaving. The staff was instructed to try to curb the behavior without causing the child to feel any remorse. Since then, I have raised my own family, and noted an interesting phenomenon in school evaluations. When behavioral interventions became necessary, documents often contained the following kind of language:

Johnny struggles to control his impulses. Susie struggles to stay focused. Benny struggles to (fill in the blank).

I humbly suggest that the child in question is doing the very opposite of struggling, as he or she has likely been deprived of the very impetus which would bring about inner conflict in the first place – a feeling of remorse based on a rudimentary moral understanding.

Disclaimer: I am NOT recommending instilling pathologic guilt or shame in our youngsters. I, myself, am a recovering shame addict (not brought on by my parents, just residing in my brain for as long as I can remember), and it’s no fun. Rather, what’s needed is a sensible, balanced message of morality and awareness of other people’s rights. Basic religious underpinnings are helpful, as they provide the rationale for following a moral code. Our country was built on this foundation, and requires nothing less to continue.

The Three C’s – Confirmation, Conviction and Causation

One of my church leaders recently preached on the subject of conscience. He broke down the Bible’s teaching on this topic into the following “three “C’s,” stating that conscience:

·         confirms the existence of God (Romans 1:20-22 and 2:14-16)

·         convicts of sin (John 8:4-11)

·         causes or enables people to take hold of salvation (Hebrews 9:7-14 and 10:22; Titus 1:15; 1 Timothy 1).

The Fourth C – a Clear Conscience

This same gentleman followed up with a second sermon explaining how one can enjoy a clear conscience. Rather than summarizing these two excellent sets of teaching, I have linked them as resources for my readers, especially those who may be experiencing guilt about choices they have made. It is worth noting that one of the points he emphasized is the fact that the conscience can become defiled or “seared” when not cultivated or, even worse, once it has been squelched. That still, small voice can be snuffed out rather easily and, once stifled, can be surprisingly resistant to reawakening.

The Shaping of Conscience

There are many ways to categorize humanity, some of which have been called into serious question by an unbelieving world in a frighteningly brief period of time. The very idea of categorizing has come under fire in recent years! Nevertheless, along with basic groupings such as ethnicity and religion, let us consider the less obvious distinction between conscience driven versus conscience deprived individuals.

It seems to me that most meaningful activity is governed by the absence or presence of conscience, which, in turn, is often shaped by consequences. Inborn curiosity is bridled or unbridled by consequences – do consequences matter enough to check the behavior? Who is issuing the consequences, and is that person a solid role model, someone whose behavior is worth emulating?

One caveat: I am an enthusiastic proponent of positive training of children, i.e., linking positive feedback and rewards to desired behavior. I am fully on board with using this technique in conjunction with consequences – but therein lies the key. It is the combination of two vital ingredients that makes for success.

Soup without salt is flavorless. Salt without a medium to disperse it is overpowering. Likewise, consequences without praise may lead to devastation and hopelessness; praise without consequences can result in egocentrism and entitlement.

Balance is essential.

Takeaways

As the United States has ousted God from such basic institutions as education, family planning and most recently, marriage, our country seems to have lapsed into ever more dangerous behavior. If we want to stem the tide of rebellion and destructiveness that we are seeing in our youth, we must start with the end in mind with our children.

Instilling the sister virtues of thankfulness and conscience isn’t a guarantee that all will be well. Sadly, the numbers of religiously trained kids caught up in the world’s system closely mirror those of the unchurched. That’s because the human heart remains just that – human – and we live in a fallen world in which temptation and instant gratification are the desirables du jour.

Furthermore, we can’t, nor should we attempt to remove the Pandora’s box of technology from the public square. The tools it offers are vast and beneficial. However, knowing most of our kids have the equivalent of an adult bookstore at their fingertips before they’re old enough to cross the street independently ought to give us great reason to instill the counteragents of conscience and accountability from the moment they can mouth syllables. Realizing the daunting array of choices available to their little minds, we must at least give them a fighting chance to combat the impulses of entitlement and self-gratification.

A Happy and Hopeful Ending

I love the old Dick Van Dyke show. This classic sitcom is a product of its time and, therefore, assumes some sex roles that have become outdated, but it sure found a way to combine humor and principles without ever uttering a four-letter word or even taking the Lord’s name in vain.

One episode in particular illustrates the point I’ve been trying to make in this article. Rob has the opportunity to work for Drew Patton, the equivalent of Hugh Hefner, and the job will come with all the fringe benefits of Playboy Mansion. Laura is understandably fearful that her morally upright husband will “crumble” under the pressure. Her relief is palpable when she overhears Rob opine to his would-be employer that “marriage, like a lot of other things, has boundaries, and to some guys, those boundaries represent walls, and that makes marriage a prison to them. But to other guys, those boundaries hold everything that’s good and fun in life.” Our hero turns down the job.

This is the kind of thinking that conscience begets – the idea that boundaries, be they in marriage or any avenue of life, need not be viewed as prisons. They are, rather, safeguards that offer security and protection, so that those who abide by them may proclaim with the psalmist, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” – Psalm 16:6

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