2022-01-30 The Conscience Question

The Conscience Question

Introduction

Why are people who have had too much to drink inclined to make bad decisions?

-Because they’ve had to muck to drink?

Let me start with the opposite. First off, there is no link between alcohol consumption and GOOD decision making. I think we all would agree on that.

No one has ever heard the story of “It was a good thing I was drunk, otherwise I might have made a really bad decision.”

Right?

Why are people who’ve had too much to drink inclined to make bad decisions?

Well, it’s because alcohol increases a chemical in the brain that acts as a stimulant. Stimulants increase impulsiveness and decrease inhibition. The result is decreased sensitivity to the potential consequences associated with a decision.

On top of that… alcohol temporarily impairs the activity of the prefrontal cortex. That’s the part of the brain that enables you to think rationally. To make good decisions. To connect the dots as it were.

Plainly put, alcohol liberates a drinker to act without thinking clearly.

Comedian Ron White says it this way when he was getting arrested once:

“You have the right to remain silent,

but I didn’t have the ability to remain silent.”

My point here is that people who’ve had too much to drink are inclined to make bad decisions because they are temporarily desensitized to social, cultural and relational cues. They are chemically impeded from rational thought.

So, inebriated people can’t help themselves, once their inebriated.

When someone is drunk, they don’t consciously ignore common sense. The don’t consciously ignore their conscience. It’s been suppressed, switched off.

Intoxicated people can’t pay attention to social, cultural, and relational cues. But we’ve all seen sober people refuse to pay attention to those same cues. The inebriated aren’t even conscious of their consciences. But we’ve all seen what happens when sober people choose to ignore their consciences—that internal tension that always deserves our attention.

Intoxicated people can’t help themselves.

But sober people often won’t help themselves.

So here’s the third question we should pause to ask whenever we make decisions.

Question #3: Is there a tension that deserves my attention?

Sometimes, in fact, more often than we care to admit, there are options that we consider that create a little tension inside us. Something just isn’t right about this decision. It doesn’t seem quite right. It give us pause. It bothers us. It creates hesitation. And we don’t know why

Experts call this phenomenon a “red flag moment.” When that happens you owe it tor yourself to pause and pay attention. Don’t ignore it. Don’t brush it off.

Ask yourself the question “Why does this bother me?”

Then because we feel pressure to fit in, or to please others, we can find ourselves making decisions that don’t align with you highest good. When we make decisions from the fear or being feared or rejected, we doom ourselves to a people pleasing brand of decision making. - Joshua Nash

Now, just to clarify, I’m not suggesting that you prioritize emotion over reason, but to just pay attention to what may appear initially as an unreasonable emotion. To find its source.

Tension

I bet this has happened to you a time or two. You’re considering something . . . nothing about it bothers you . . . and then somebody comes along and points out something you hadn’t thought about. Something you hadn’t seen. Suddenly, where there was no tension, there’s tension. Where there was no hesitation, you find yourself second-guessing your original intention. Oftentimes, it’s irritating. Oftentimes, it’s your mom. “Honey, that all sounds good except for the fact that it’s against the law.”

Talk about that Still Small Voice: It’s your mom!

Pay attention to that voice

“You shouldn’t do this…”

“I felt like you should…”

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Have you ever made a decision but heard someone else make comments that are tension filled?

Ex:

“Sounds good to me but what about your wife?” - Tension

“Can you afford that?” - Tension

“Did you sign a contract?” - Tension

“I thought you were on a diet?” - Meddling.

Here’s the real deal.

The problem is that these comments and thoughts are one that create a relational tension. A tension you should pay attention to as well. Why because we have a tendency to discount the truth by discounting the truth bearer.

What does he know? What does she know?

“They don’t have to deal with the consequences, besides what could they possibly know.”

Genetic Fallacy or Fallacy of origins

There is the philosophy they have a name for this.

It’s called the genetic fallacy or the fallacy of origins. We fall prey to this fallacy when we discount information based on the source rather than the merits of the information.

Making a decision about a car and someone totally unrelated how nice it is to be able to take your family with you and it resulted in us getting a mini van.

They didn’t even know anything about x, but what they said totally made sense.

Once upon a time, I interviewed for a position at a Methodist church. It was a full-time youth ministry position, and it was in the area where I grew up. I had known the Pastor there, and when it came up I interviewed. It all went really well, in fact, I liked them, and they liked me. But there was something about it that didn’t sit right. Then one day, I was working around the barns, and someone reminded me about waiting for the right opportunity requires as much discipline as it does to act when the time is right. This was someone that was talking about grain markets, but it applied to my Pastoral career. So, I waited. I passed on the position. And two weeks later, a friends church in Amboy called me up and the rest is history.

So pay attention to the tension. Let it bother you. Don’t excuse it. Embrace it. Face that tension until it either goes away or you decide to go a different route. But if you don’t pause, you’ll go right past it.

[Story Time]

Same thing happened a while back to a boy named David. You see, there was a prophet that came to the house, and told his dad that David was going to be the next King of Israel. The problem was, there was already a King of Israel, named Saul. And Kings usually have sons that take the throne after them and David wasn’t even related to Saul.

[Tell the story up to the point that David is raising the knife…]

-Soldier - Goliath -Popular - Wins lots of battles - in fact,

1 Samuel 18:7 NIV

As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

-Saul was infuriated -Saul was going to get him - David hid - Saul hears that David is at a location in the dessert called “En Gedi”

-Saul = 3,000 men - David = a couple of hundred

Looking for David all day, and Saul has to use the bathroom.

1 Samuel 24:3–4 NIV

He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

Saul’s goes into this cave, his eyes haven’t adjusted and he is having what we men call “a magazine moment.” David and his men can see everything, and they are keeping quiet, but are quick to quote scripture.

David is on his way, and I want you to see something here. David crept up unnoticed AND (circle this “AND”)

there’s a tension here. “Can this be right?”

“Am I going to kill the King that God has anointed and by the way also told a prophet that I am to be the next king?”

Stop here for just a second.

We have something in common with David.

One of the reasons that we ignore these tensions when we are making decisions is that we believe we can predict outcomes don’t we? We think we know, but we don’t do we? Does anybody?

If you have ever been disappointed you know this is true.

Outcomes and Disappointment

What is disappointment? It’s is an unexpected outcome. When you make a decision assuming the outcome and it doesn’t materialize.

Just a word of friendly advice, ignoring the tension in your gut sets you up for disappointment. Paying attention to that tension is how you avoid unnecessary disappointment.

So, here we have David raising a knife behind Saul’s back as he’s sitting back, using the bathroom, and reading a magazine.

David realizes something: Just because I kill the king doesn’t necessarily mean that I become King. I just become the man who killed the king.

The author tells us that David was conscience-stricken.

What happens next is that David cuts off a piece of the robe of Saul and shrinks back into the cave.

In a very short speech David concludes with these words. This is one of the most powerful phrases in all scripture - a statement really. A statement that we should all take to heart.

1 Samuel 24:12 NIV

May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.

In other words.... Saul, I’m going to choose to do the right thing. The just thing, and I will wait and allow God to determine the outcome of this conflict.

David wisely decided not to use Saul’s bad behavior as an excuse to do bad things. David is saying “This may be the worst decision politically, militarily, and leadership wise, but God mad you king, and I will not replace what God put in place. I will not play God in your life or min… May the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.”

Paying attention to that unexplainable, seemingly irrational tension is important for all of us. But for those of us who believe in a personal God, a God who genuinely cares for us . . . this is extraordinarily important.

Here’s why.

That internal hesitation, that red flag, is often God’s way of turning us in another direction.

People yielded to God don’t attempt to play God.

They don’t predict outcomes. Instead, they surrender. They obey. They follow.

Just yesterday, I was in a gas station with a few guys. We were asking people if we could pray with them. One of my friends engaged in a conversation with a lady, and asked what we could pray for, and she responded. Afterwards, she said she truly appreciated it and that she wanted to know what church we were with. Well, he responded that we were 3 different churches today. She stated that she went to the Jonesboro Friends church, and they instantly said “HEY, Dwight… she’s a fellow Quaker!” She was shocked, but I came over and started talking with her. She said that she was blessed that there were people out spreading God’s love, and how she appreciated that there was a Quaker Minister among them.

But here’s the deal. We can’t predict outcomes. For David, if he knew that 7 chapters later, he’d be made King of Israel, it would have made everything easier.

Back at the cave though, after David made his speech, there was Saul, with all eyes on him. Humiliated by David’s humility. His sensitivity to his own conscience. So what do you do in a situation like that if you’re Saul? Pursue a man who could take your life but chose not to? Even Saul knew better. So he took his army and went home.

Not long after this, Saul takes his army up against the Philistines and in a battle, an archers’s arrow finds the perfect spot, a seam, in Saul’s armor. Once word reaches Jerusalem, they instantly know who they want for the next king.

We can’t predict outcomes.

Again, if David knew the future, he wouldn’t fret nearly as hard as he did. But that’s not how life works is it? That’s why we have to pay attention to the tension. That’s why we dare not take matters into our own hands. That’s why we dare not trust our ability to predict the future. That’s why you have to ask yourself the question “Is there a tension that deserves my attention?”

Story about Kyle Oaks and Drew and the broken windows.

Here’s what I now about you. The decision that you’re wrestling with right now falls somewhere between choosing whether or not to tell your Dad about the kid breaking windows around town. Right?

The principle is the same. If there’s something in you, and it’s something you can’t put your finger on, perhaps something or someone else has put a finger on you. That tension may very well be God’s way of protecting you. Every time you make a decision, especially a decision that takes you by surprise, like David’s decision, ask yourself “Is there a tension that deserves my attention?” Don’t ignore it. Don’t brush it off. Let it bother you until you know WHY it bothers you.

So in the last two Sundays, I’ve given you 2 questions and 2 decisions. Today is no different.

Question #1 was

Am I being honest with myself… really?

Decision #1 was

I will not lie to myself even when the truth makes me feel bad about myself.

Question #2 was

What story do you want to tell?

Decision #2 was

I will not decide anything that makes me a liar for life.

Question #3 today was

Is there a tension that deserves my attention?

And the decision you need to make today is

Decision #3 I will explore, rather than ignore my conscience.

I will pause even when I can’t pinpoint the cause of my hesitation.

Is there a tension that deserves your attention?

If so, pay attention to that tension.

Because that is a decision you’ll never regret.