Guest Blog: Respect the Conscience

This post was guest blogged by my husband, Josh Parnell.  Josh has B.A. in Biblical Studies from Crowley's Ridge College. He is currently a graduate student at Harding University and the pulpit minister at the Monette church of Christ in Monette, AR. Together, we are working to serve the Lord in our community. Each week Josh writes an article for our congregation's bulletin. The following is this week's article, and I thought I'd share it with you this Halloween.

Respect the Conscience

When I was a child, my parents strictly prohibited me and my siblings from eating pork
or anything else the Old Testament classified as “unclean.” Since they taught us that eating pork
was wrong, I believed it. Of course, the New Testament tells us that the dietary laws are no
longer in effect (Mark 7:19, Acts 10:15), so my friends didn’t understand why we always refused
bacon. One day I was so pressured by my friends and my hunger that I gave in and ate a sausage
pizza. That was wrong. Sure, the Bible says that all meat is now clean, but it also says that when
we violate our conscience, it is sin, even if the thing we are doing is not sinful by its nature
(Rom. 14:14). I was violating my conscience that day, and dishonoring my parents. Who knew
how much grief a sausage pizza could cause?

     You would think that experiences like that one would keep me from ever pressuring
others. However, a few years later I discovered Christian rock bands. I was excited about having
a clean alternative to secular rock music. I had a friend who also loved rock music, but his
conscience did not allow him to listen to any music by “Christian” artists. Instead of respecting
his conscience, I pressured him until he gave up and started listening to it. That was wrong.
Although I believed I could justify my choices in music, It was a sin to push that on someone
whose conscience was violated by it (I Cor. 8:9-13).

     We might find it strange that some Christians ban their kids from Halloween, refuse to
watch sports, or believe potlucks in the church building are wrong. We might be able to explain
to them why we disagree. But regardless of what we think, we must ALWAYS respect their
conscience. Sometimes that will require sacrifice on our part (Rom.
14:20), but love is more important than freedom.

 -Josh Parnell