Ethics and Christian Conscience

Romans 14:5 NKJV

5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

Introduction:

I am once again diverting from our series in Revelation this morning.

There has been concern in the Christian community about ethical choices involving the distributed Covid vaccines.

It has been all over social media, and has even been texted to those who are not on social media.

Much of the concern has revolved around the use of stem cells ahrvested during abortions.

The Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines, used stem cells to test the vaccine on, whereas Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, used stem cells in the delivery of the DNA into the cells.

There are many different opinions on this subject, especially from the Christian community.

As I was reading Dr. Piper’s interview on this subject, I knew immediately that the Lord was nudging me to address this today.

As your pastor and under shepherd of the flock, I have a responsibility that i must not shirk, even if it does not thrill me!

If you have not read John Piper’s interview on this subject I would encourage you to do so.

I took the liberty to email it to all of you just before I came up to speak today.

Let me first say, that Dr. Piper is a compassionate champion of the faith who has been vey vocal about the murder of innocent aborted babies throughout the years. He is a wise expositor of God’s word and I respect him greatly.

Now you’re expecting a but, from me.

Yet, I have none to offer. Only that I wish to continue the conversation he started in this interview, and bring it to the conclusion that we as God’s children need, at this hour in history.

After reading Dr Piper’s interview, I found that what i was taking away from it, was close to … what i “must” believe as a Christian.

I found this distressing, because I knew of the varried opinions on this subject, and that suddenly I was forfeiting my own conscience for the “right” conclusion.

This, I found troubling, because suddenly my inside man was thinking about other scriptures, and wondering how these fit in to this pre-ordained conclusion, which i admit was my interpretation of the facts. It may not be yours.

This is where the light bulb, so to speak, went on!

Who is thinking for me, and is that right or is this a matter of conscience?

Hence, I found myself in a dilemna. perhaps you also find yourself in this same dilemna.

I. The Dilemna is Bound by Conscience.

Every Christian must give an account for their own conscience.

God has given us a choice, and we must look at the problem and decide where we stand as individuals.

Will we violate our own convictions, or regulate our choice by our convictions?

Each person must make that decision for themselves.

The Principal:

Romans 14:14 NKJV

14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

If we perceive something to be unclean to us, then, it is!

We are held by our own convictions and conscience, which God does not release us from.

A. There is no direct prohibition in the scriptures.

Now we know this, and it doesn’t take away the guilt of those who harvested these stems cells, or the autrocity of the murder that produced them.

But, there are some circumstances that we must consider:

These cells were harvested before the government prohibited further harvesting.

No new cells are being harvested legally.

These are not the original cells, the ones today are clones of the originals.

The current Covid vaccines are not made from these cells, only that the vaccine was tested on these cells in a labratory, with the exception of Johnson & Johnson’s.

B. There is a precedence of principal.

What are the Biblical principals that apply?

Dr. Piper uses Romans 3:8 as his first principal.

Romans 3:8 NKJV

8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.

First observation: in Romans 3:8, some of Paul’s adversaries accused him of “do[ing] evil that good may come.” Paul responded to this, that it was a slanderous charge. In other words, he distanced himself from that kind of ethical stance. And I think we should too. We shouldn’t do evil that good may come.

God alone has the infinite wisdom to manage an entire world of sin in which he can turn horrible things for wise and good purposes. He never tells us that we have such wisdom; we don’t. We are to live our lives guided by the principles he reveals in his word, not by our calculations about how much evil we can join in for some greater good.

John Piper

In Dr. piper’s second paragraph, I believe there is an assumption being insinsuated or at the least inferred by the reader.

“not by our calculations about how much evil we can join in for...”

Are we joining in on the evil?

There is the question.

And it begs for a couple of qualifying questions:

Are there degrees of evil?

Are we picking and choosing certain evils?

If we say that one evil is worse than another, we deny much of what the scripture teaches, and violate our own practices.

If we are picking and choosing which evils to violate because of convenience, we are hypocrates and not walking in the truth.

II. Conscience Cannot be Controlled by Others.

A. It is outside Biblical doctrines and commands.

Because of this, there is no ecclesiastical authority over the conscience.

And so -

B. It cannot be regulated by others or the church.

For those Christians who like to be told what to do, because they cannot be bothered to study it out for themselves, this is an even bigger dilemna.

And I’m thinking more and more, that these folks are the ones telling everyone else how to think.

I do not believe they know anything about conscience.

Dr. piper goes on to say in his third point - “Testifying to the sanctity of life”

Third, avoiding such research and avoiding the use of the products of such research is only one way of testifying to the truth and value of Christ in the sanctity of the unborn persons.

I want you to follow that logic with the following list of -

CORPORATIONS THAT GIVE MONEY DIRECTLY TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Adobe, Aetna, Allstate, American Express, Amgen, AutoZone, Avon, Bank of America, Bath & Body Works, Ben & Jerry’s, Boeing, BP, Charles Schwab, Clorox, Craigslist, Converse, Deutsche Bank, Diageo, Dockers, Energizer, Expedia, Exxon, Mobil, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Frito Lay, General Electric, Groupon, Intuit, Jiffy Lube, JPMorgan, Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser, Permanente, Kraft, Heinz, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, March of Dimes, Microsoft, Mondelez International, Monsanto, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Oracle, Patagonia, PayPal, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Progressive Insurance, Prudential, Qualcomm, Starbucks, Shell, Susan G. Komen, Unilever, United Airlines, United Way, US Bank, Verizon, Wells Fargo

CORPORATIONS THAT GIVE MONEY INDIRECTLY TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The following companies have supported Planned Parenthood indirectly through third-parties such as United Way chapters:

3M7 For All Mankind, Abbott Laboratories, Accenture, Adobe, ADPAdvanced, Micro Device, Aetna, Alamo, Albertsons, Alcoa, Allstate, Amazon, American Airlines, American Express American Greetings, American Petroleum Institute, Ameriprise Financial, Amerisource, Bergen, Amgen, Anheuser-Busch, Ann Taylor, AOL, Apostrophe, AT&T, Avon, AXA, Banana Republic, Bank of America, BelkBen & Jerry’sBest Buy, Black & Decker, BP, Bridgestone, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Calvin Klein, Campbell’s Soup, Cargill, Carmax, Central Pacific Financial, Century, Link, Cigna, Cisco, Citibank, Choice Hotels, Clorox, COACH, Comcast, Comerica Bank, Commerce Bank, Conagra, Conoco, Phillips, Costco, Converse, Corning Inc., CoverGirl, CVS, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Del Monte Foods, Dell, Delta Express, Deutsche Bank, Diageo, DiGiorno, DIRECTV, Dockers, Dollar General, Dollar Shave Club, Dow Chemical, Dow, DuPonte, Bay, Energizer, Enterprise Holdings, Ernst & Younge, Toys.com, Expedia, Express Scripts Inc., FedEx, Fifth Third Bank, Ford, Freddie Mac, Friendly’s, Frito-Lay, Fry’s Food Stores, Gap, GEICO, General Electric, General Mills, General Motors, Google, Groupon, H&R Block, Hallmark Cards, Harris Teeter, Hasbro, HBOHCA Holdings, Health Net, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, Hershey Company, Hewlett-Packard, Hillshire Brands Company, Home Depot, Honda, Hunt’sHurleys, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Jack in the Box, JanSport, Jell-OJenn-AirJet.com, Jiffy Lube, John-Deere, John Hancock Financial, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, Junior Achievement, Kellogg’s, Kenmore, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Kimberly-Cark, Kipling, KitchenAid, Kmart, Kohl’s, KPMG, Kraft-Heinz, Kroger, L.L. Bean, Lands’ End, Lee, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, Lincoln Financial Group, LOFT, MAPCO, Mars Inc., Marshalls, Mary Kay, MassMutual, Master Card, Maytag, Mcdonalds, Merck & Co., MGM Resorts International, Microsoft, Mondelez International, Monsanto, Morgan Stanley, Motorola, National Car Rental, National Basketball Association, National Football League, Nautica, NBC Universal, NCAA, Nestle, New Balance, New York Life, Newell Brands, Old Navy, OraclePacific LifePay Pal, PepsiCo, PetSmart, Pfizer, PINK, Pizza Hut, PNC Bank, Prudential Financial and Insurance, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, Publix, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Quaker Oats, Qualcomm, Quality Inn, QuickBooks, Ralph Lauren, Ralphs, REI, Rite Aid, Safeway, Sam’s Club, Schnucks, Sears, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Shell Oil, Shelter Insurance, The Sherwin Williams Company, Sprint, Starbucks, State Farm, Subaru, Subway, SunTrust, Susan G. Komen, T-Mobile, T.J. Maxx, Taco Bell, Tazo Tea, Teavana, Texas Instruments, The North Face, The Travelers Companies,Tiffany & Co, Timberland, Time Warner, Toro, Toys R Us, Tractor Supply Company, Turbo Tax, Unilever, UnitedHealth Group, US Bank, USAA, Vanity Fair, VansVerizon, Victoria’s Secret, Walmart, Walgreens, Wawa, Wells Fargo, Western Union, Whataburger, Whirlpool Corporation, White Castle, Wrangler, Yelp, Youtube, Xerox, Zales.

I hope you get the point?

If, as some would assert, we should categorically refuse the vaccine based on the conviction that we are contributing to the abortion problem, would not the same logic apply to doing business with all these companies?

And so, this is why I say that conscience cannot be controlled by others!

III. Conscience is What You Must Live With.

We have already seen that conscience is personal, between the individual and God. But, what happens to the believer that violates his or her own conscience?

They bring upon themselves the judgment of God.

They begin to make human reasoning the litmus test for their decisions.

Their walk with the Lord becomes weakened, even to the point of breaking fellowship with God.

They will even try to control other’s conscience.

A. Judging the brethren’s motives is sin.

1 Corinthians 10:29 NKJV

29 “Conscience,” I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience?

B. Violating the conscience of the brethren is sin.

1 Corinthians 10:27–28 NKJV

27 If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake. 28 But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.”

Conclusion:

There is an utter fault in the Christian community, when each person wants he other to abide by his conscience.

We do not give the other brother liberty to follow his own conscience in matters that are outside the bounds of scripture.

Let each person be fully persuaded in his own mind!