Importance of Original Sin

Jesus would have assumed that no sane person would deny physical evidence - like evidence of His injuries, evidence of evolution, etc.

A surrender to the evidence, not just to to belief. If the belief was more important than the evidence, why did Jesus provide the evidence at all?

In the case of the risen Lord and God Jesus Christ they are the same - surrender to the Person Who is alive and available and is Lord. You should try to answer the question for yourself. He said blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.What does that make you think about it ? Receiving Him in belief apparently was more important than just purely objective head nodding to the evidence.Now I'm getting back to the problem of so called Original Sin -Up to Romans 5:11 - sins [plural] is always mentioned. After that from Romans 5:12 though to chapter 8 we have the SINGULAR - sin.From Romans 1 through to 5:11 Paul is mainly dealing with the acts, the deeds, the sinful behaviors - sins.From 5:12 through chapters 6,7, and 8 Paul is dealing with the nature of SIN.No one should just take my word for it. Get a Concordance out and check up to see if I am accurate.One of the issues here has been - Is there something constitutional about SIN in man as a nature? I say, if we go by the New Testament yes. Also yes if we go by the Old Testament, but it is probably clearer in the New Testament.Sin is personified in Romans 7 - deceiving, taking opportunity, deceiving , etc. This agrees with God's exhortation to Cain in Genesis 4.In Ephesians 2 we see the Satanic spirit both outward, objective, in he air. But we see him also working IN the sinners -

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"And you, though dead in your offenses and sins, In which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience ..."

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1.) Satan as an "out there" objective evil spirit - "the ruler of the authority of the air." 2.) Satan as a force operating IN man - "the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience" Paul connects the spirit operating IN the sinners with the lusts of the flesh imposing influence on the thoughts and the mind -

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" the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience; Among whom we also all conducted ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts ..."

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Having such a spirit operating in man naturally makes him a candidate for the wrath of God -

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"... and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."

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The important phrase here is - "BY NATURE" The fallen sinners are children of wrath not merely because of this or that bad act. But they are constitutionally and "by nature" the children of wrath. The "sons of disobedience" (v.2) are also the "children of wrath" (v.3) Paul discribes the condition as "DEAD in offenses" (v.5) And by God's great mercy in the act of regeneration God is able to make us ALIVE spiritually through Christ being received - "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we [the believers] were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ ..." (vs.4,5) The fallen sinner needs a whole new life. He needs a divine life dispensed INTO his natural life. This is something supernatural. He is born in sin. He is born again with Christ imparted into the kernel of his being. He is made alive in Christ. He is given a new live via the resurrection of Christ from the dead - " ... made us alive TOGETHER with Christ"The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not only to seal God's approval of His act of a redemptive death on the cross. His being raised is also the power by which God also makes the dead sinner alive together with Christ.In speaking of His resurrection Jesus said because He lives His disciples shall live also - "Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live." (John 14:19) A superficial understanding must be dropped for insight into the real meaning. Superficially we may say "We will live regardless of whether Jesus lives or not. If Jesus is not raised we STILLwill live."But the live we have in mind in saying this is not the living the Son of God means. To Christ, to live here means to live from God, live unto God, live out God and in oneness with God. It is to allow God Himself to live in us and blend with us.His resurrection is to overcome the nature of the children of wrath and the nature of the sons of disobedience. His resurrection is to install in man a Spirit more powerful than that spirit that operates in the sinners.His Spirit dispensed into man is the real beginning of a new life - a life of the available resurrected Christ. And Peter absolutely also ties man's being reborn to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead -

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"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Pet. 1:3)

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Anyone regenerated to this "living hope" through Christ's resurrection is also a "partaker" of the divine nature. We have then to learn to live a new way. Not by striving or straining. But by abiding in the divine nature, abiding in the Holy Spirit - " ... He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." ( 2 Pet. 1:4) Back to the resurrected Jesus in John 20. It was not the goal of God that Thomas merely be an OBSERVER of the divine nature, or a SPECTATOR to the divine nature. It was not God's will that Thomas merely WITNESS to the divine nature as one who saw the evidence of the risen Jesus.His resurrection was even more so that Thomas would be a PARTAKER of the divine nature. That is a participant in the divine nature. That is that the divine nature which is Christ would be imparted into Thomas. That is that Thomas would receive Christ as His God and Lord in His resurrected state - regenerated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.Amen.

Yes, personified. Personification is a figure of speech. It is not intended to be taken literally. It isn't some entity that deceives us into doing wrong. We deceive ourselves. God's exhortation to Cain in Genesis 4 was clear - we have the responsibility to resist. Yes, the lusts of the flesh are part of us because we are biological, not because of any "invader" like sin.Edited by ringo, : Spellng.

The truth of fallen man being effected with a sin nature is seen in the Tanach (Old Testament) as well as in Paul's epistles.For example - Jeremiah 13:23 - Can the Ethiopian [Heb. Cushite] change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil." Sinning is as natural to the fallen man as having dark skin is to the Ethiopian or spots to the leopard. It is in the nature since the disobedience of Adam.The leopard is simply born with spots.
The Cushite or Ethiopian is born with dark skin.
It is clear that the analogy is used by God to emphasize that the doing of evil is engrained in the nature of sinner.In fact Romans shows that man does not commit sins to BECOME a sinner. Rather man commits sins because he is BORN a sinner. Sin as a nature (from Romans 5:12) refers to that power within us that motivates us to commit sinful acts. Sins [plural], however refers to particular individual evil acts that we commit outwardly.Terms have been created like "original sin" or "source of sin" or "root of sin" or "nature of sin" are not totally necessary. They may help some. The Christian knows that there is something within us that motivates and forces us to have certain spontaneous inclinations, inclinations towards lust and passion and evil desires.Sins [plural] are related to our conduct. Sin [singular] is the force (Romans 7:8, 16-17) driving man to commit individual sinful acts or sins (plural).Sin (singular) is as the nature of the Ethiopian's skin or the leopard's spots. Sins (plural) are those acts carried out by the eyes, the mouth, the hands, the feet, the members of the body. So Paul speaks of "the PRACTICES of the body" (Romans 8:13) And he writes of sin (singular) as a law that controls our members - " .. but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." (Rom. 7:23) Now to the problem of human responsibility. What does God hold man responsible for more - the sin or the sins ? Concerning the sin as a inherit nature, the Christian must eventually admit the truth that he has it. He should not lie that he does not have it -

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New International Version
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

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New Living Translation
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

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English Standard Version
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

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New American Standard Bible
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

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King James Bible
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

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Holman Christian Standard Bible
If we say, "We have no sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

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God does not hold us responsible for having the nature. But He holds us responsible for acknowledging the nature.What about the individual sinful acts ? Those we are held responsible for. And because of those we need salvation from both the guilt of the acts. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) From Genesis we see it was the same. God held the descendents of Adam (namely Cain here) for the acts, the deeds, the specific individual evil sins (plural). "If you DO WELL, will you no be accepted? And if you do not DO WELL, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7) There is no hint in the Bible of God releaving man of responsibility merely because he has the sin (singular) nature. Obviously in both Old and New Testament - the individual acts stemming from the working of the nature of sin, man is judged for. And for these he needs forgiveness and power to overcome in Christ's salvation.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

The Bible - or at least the translation - is mixing metaphors there. It's true that an Ethiopian and a leopard are born with their skin but being accustomed to do evil is not something we are born with. Customs are acquired in life, not inherited at birth.What Jeremiah meant, clearly, is that you can't change bad habits any more easily than you can change your skin colour. Of course that's also a figure of speech, an exaggeration. Exactly. The nature itself is irrelevant. What matters is the responsibility to resist the nature.

I wrote two comments above. The second I'd expand on first. What I'd say about this is more according to personal experience. And I think it is confirmed by others.When a person first becomes a Christian he is probably not aware of the nature of sin. This is something he learns eventually. And the relevant verses in the Bible become meaningful by experience.After awhile he will realize that his sinful acts which he continues to commit and ask God for forgiveness for, are seen in a deeper light. He notices that they tend to return like crabgrass or weeds. In the garden you may pluck up weeds. But they very easily grow back the next week.The new Christian, after several or even hundreds of iterations of this experience will get desperate. Then the light of God shines deeper in him and in the Scripture. He sees that it is a matter of the old Adam in him, the old man.He sees that what is needed is not self improvement or straining and striving to not DO certain things while gritting his teeth. It is a matter of SEEING that he has been crucified with Christ. He has died with Christ and been raised with Christ.This is the beginning of a deeper experience and of liberation. Instead of praying "God HELP me not to do this or that" he will begin to proclaim "Thank you Lord Jesus I have been crucified with you. Thank you Lord Jesus I have been raised with you." This is a extremely short comment on something we could discuss easily for thousands of words.So I revise this comment a little - At the beginning, in the young stage of the Christian life, it seems God does not hold us responsible for knowing that it is a sin nature of old Adam into which we were born. But eventually, upon spiritual growth, the believer deepens his understanding. He is not called to do good, self reform, self improve. He is called to be one with Christ utterly. For only in being one with the living available Christ is there victory. And this needs to be experience moment by moment all day.Romans chapter 6 and chapter 7 speak to this very much. So at first the believer's attitude is religious and occupied with humanistic self improvement. Down the road he will begin to see more of that the Apostle Paul was both pioneering to experience and teaching others - There is only ONE who overcomes - Jesus Himself. Our victory is totally involved with being in union with Him on a moment by moment basis.So very much needs to be written further about this.In response to this exchange: The metaphor, in light of too much of the rest of Scripture, involves the nature the sinner is born with.When Jesus says that the fruits are bad because the tree is bad, he speaks of the nature and the outward fruits produced BY the nature - Matthew 12:33 - "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for by the fruit the tree is known." The sinning fruit comes out of the sin tree.
The son of God fruit comes spontaneously out of the son of God tree. Matthew 5:48 - "You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." This is not imitation of the perfect Father. This is sharing the life and nature of the begetting Father which spontaneously leads to sons expressing the life of their Father. The same as the good tree, by nature, bearing the good fruit. "Offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak of good things? " (Matt. 12:34) This is spoken by Jesus right after His word about the nature of the fruit being determined by the nature of the tree. He is warning the Pharisees of their "organic" relationship in nature as fallen men withthe Viper, the Snake of the Devil.For this reason man needs a new birth as is totally elaborated on in John chapter 3)How will Christ make the tree good ? You MUST be born again. Nicodemus was a upstanding and religious man in the community. He was humble, he was a good man. He called this younger teacher "Rabbi" in humility.

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But there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus ("victor of the people" in meaning), a ruler of the Jews. This one came to Him [Jesus] by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." (John 3:1,2)

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Here is a good man coming to Jesus to see if he can get good teaching. Jesus jumps immediately to the main point. It is not a new teaching that Nicodemus needs. It is a new life from a new BIRTH that fallen man needs. The "tree" needs to be changed.

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Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is BORN ... anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

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I like Nicodemus. He immediately grasped the difficulties concerning what Jesus just said about a new BIRTH -

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Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old ? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he ?

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Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the SPirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

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Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born anew. (3:4-7)

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The Ethiopian needs another BIRTH.
The Leopard needs another BIRTH.
The bad tree needs another BIRTH.
And the offspring of vipers needs another BIRTH.God is eager to give believing sinners this second birth if they come to Jesus Christ. We do not have to grovel for it. We do not have to beg for it. We have to receive Christ the Son of God to receive the birth.

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"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name. Who were BEGOTTEN ... not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12,13)

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You have to come to Jesus to be BEGOTTEN a second time by God. You have to receive Jesus to be born anew. Then you become a little bit of a complicated being.On the one hand you still have Adam as your fallen nature. But on the other hand you have a SEED of divine life implanted in you which is the life of God, which is Christ Himself in His pneumatic form. You have to nourish and grow that SEED. In that seed there is no possibility of sinning.But this post is long enough and the divine seed of Christ I will elaborate on perhaps latter. In this post I stress that the Jeremiah 13:23 agrees with the New Testament. It is not an improved nature man needs but a whole new birth in the deepest part of his being - "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit [ie. Holy Spirit as the birthing agent, the Third Person of the triune God, even God Himself] is spirit [meaning the human spirit, the kernel, the nucleus of the human being, his "holiest of holies" and innermost chamber of his being].Exactly one part of the believer's being actually now becomes God Himself mingled and united with him. "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17) It is no longer I that live, it is Christ that lives in me. (See Gal. 2:20).Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I don't think God regarded this as a dichotomy such that it has to be either / or.He showed Himself alive over a period of 40 days with many proofs -Jesus " ... presented Himself alive after His suffering by many irrefutable proofs, appearing to them through a period of forty days and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3) It is clear that He has not personanlly repeated those physical proofs privately before millions of people down through the ages. He has not written in the stars in the sky "I Rose From The Dead".He told Thomas that not everyone would have the opportunity to have the physical proof that Thomas sought. He does not cause mass confusion by personally physically manifesting Himself in the houses of billions of people all over the globe. He expects us today to believe His word in the Bible. And He seems not to want to be over coercive. He will not have anyone say that God forced them to believe in Him.He will not usurp the human will. And He will not give more of a sign then He is pleased to give. It is as if God says "If you want Me you can have Me. If you really don't want Me then you can forget about Me."He provided evidence but did not over grandstand or usurp the human will.He told the disciples " ... you shall be My witnesses." I think that means not merely objective testifiers but witnesses of His life changing power through the spiritual quality of their lives.Someone has described this as passing the flame of a candle down to successive people down the centuries. The flame of that candle never goes out. It is just passed on and on and on to millions of people for many years.That is just God's way. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

That is indeed our realization because it is so subjective to us and we have been this way for so long. Without the revelation of God what else would we think ?Everyone is this way. We have been sinning since a tot. We may remember the first time we stole or lied. So for us it might as well be just biological.But God's revelation shows us the source of our problem - the first parents stepped out from under God's administration and stepped under His enemies evil kingdom. Somehow we got something of a foreign element into our being, into our body. It wages war against the soul. " ... fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." (1 Peter 2:11) The harmony between spirit and soul and body has been upset. The spirit of man was meant to be closest to God and the highest part of man. The soul of man was then to be under the spirit of man. The body of man was to be the lowest part under the control of the soul of man which was under the control of the spirit of man.In the fall of Adam the roles of man's three parts were disarranged. And in the above passage we see the lusts of the fallen body wage war against the soul, let alone against the human spirit.James says wars of mankind are due to this problem in the members of man's body - "Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Are they not from this, from your pleasures that war in your members ? "(James 4:1) Pushback: If the problem of sin originates in the members of man's fallen body WHY does the NT speak of a defilement of spirit ? Second Corinthians 7:1 says "Therefore since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Here the apostle writes of moral defilement not only of flesh but of spirit too. Why ? If sin is in the flesh how can there be "defilement of flesh ... AND spirit ?Muse for a bit and I will attempt to answer below.

Without any revelation from God, we'd think exactly the same thing. Millions of people who have (recognize) no revelation from God think the same thing. Millions of people with different revelations from God think the same thing. It has already been shown repeatedly that that is not what the Bible says. As God told Cain, sin is outside the door and we're responsible for keeping it out.

Your repetitions have not been effective for me.
" Outside " the door does not have to mean outside of man's entire being.Actually, it is not worth arguing over overmuch because for sin to MASTER Cain must mean that sin has entered the door, whatever the door is. So if you postpone the entrance of this mastering sin until latter in Genesis, what have you really accomplished ?So you argue that each individual has this sin OUTSIDE the door of his entire being trying to GET IN on everyone one person at a time. Fine. So what ?Everyone has the sin. No one has mastered the sin. So you wish to say there was not "Original Sin" and you substitute that for everyone's individual entrance and nuisance of sin sometime in their life.I don't see what you think you've accomplished. That is aside from the fact the you contradict the clear teaching of the New Testament and substitute your own opinion as everyone's revelation to follow.I'll go along with " ... just as through one man sin entered into the world ..." (Rom. 5:12) You're welcomed to your own opinion on the matter. I'll go along with, and teach, "through one man sin entered into the world".It does absolutely nothing to the sense of responsibility to my own human conscience or to God. I still need forgiveness, cleansing, and power from God's grace to overcome that sin (Rom. 7:24) .Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

You're saying that you do not need God to reveal anything to you or to the world. You are saying your own wisdom is fine. You'll lean entirely on that.Well, all I feel to respond is, you run with that. See where it leads you.I'm going with "God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son ..." (Hebrews 1:1)

By birth we are sinners. Our walk matches our birth. Our conduct is exposed to match our title - sinner.There are "gentlemen" sinners who cover up their sins and will not admit that they are sinners. But their refusal to admit that they are sinners doesn't absolve them. This only shows that they have disguised themselves as being without sinning.But we are born sinners with a profession of sinning. In fact we do not become sinners because we sinned. This is man's typical unenlightened thought. The revelation of the Bible is that because we are born sinners we sin. Romans 5:19 is the passage that tells us who is a sinner. "For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be constituted righteous." I am talking now mostly about the first man and how through him we were constituted sinners by nature. Latter we will see how God used the same principle to constitute the saved righteous through the second man.But it is funny, not many people use the phrase "Original Righteousness" as a reflexive result of Christ.This sin nature got into man's body and it wages war against the soul and spirit of man. This is why the culmination of Christ's salvation involves the transfiguration of the body -Paul uttered words of anguish about his fallen body - "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24)The "body of this death" is what he has just anguished over in his previous verses. And because the loosing battle with the sin in his flesh he is not only under God's condemnation. He is also under self condemnation.But the answer to the "Who" rests only with Jesus Christ - "Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (vs.24b25a) This deliverance starts in this life by empowering Paul. This is covered much in the next chapter 8. But after his sojourn on earth as a Christian walking by the Holy Spirit in the end his body will be transfigured and the sin in the flesh is eradicated -Says -

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Romans 8:22 - " ... we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, ... groan in ourselves, eagerly awaiting sonship, the redemption of our body."

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Full maturity from children to sons is accompanied by the redemption of the physical body in rapture and transfiguration / resurrection, rapture and transfiguration.Says also -

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Philippians 3:20,21 - "For our commonwealth exists in the heavens, from which we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself."

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The wretched body which has led to much self condemnation is also the body of this humiliation. In the climax of Christ's salvation He will transfigure that body to be like His own glorious body.Says also -

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First Corinthians 15:51-53 - "Behold. I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

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For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

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So the sin and death inherited from Adam is to be swallowed up in resurrection and transfiguration in Christ the Head of a new humanity.

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And when this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality, then the word which is written will come to pass, "Death has been swallowed up unto victory." Where, O death, is your sting?

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The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

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This transfiguration of the fallen Adamic body of sin is also the swallowing up of death. And it is the being swallowed up by the divine life implanted in the human spirit at regeneration too -

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Second Corinthians 5:4 - "For also, we who are in this tabernacle [natural body] groan, being burdened, in that we do not desire to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

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Now He who has wrought us for this very thing is God, who has given to us the Spirit as a pledge."

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The apostles do not long to be a disembodied soul. Rather they await to be clothed upon with a transfigured body. The Spirit of divine life in their innermost being is the pledge, the down payment, the foretaste assuring them that God will indeed do this. Jesus Christ will cause that divine life within them to swallow up their mortality nullifying the sin and death inherited from Adam.This Spirit regenerated the believer's spirit.
This Spirit ever seeks to transform the surrounding human soul.
This Spirit eventually causes eternal life to burst out even into the physical body and swallow up mortality with immortality.So God's salvation is very practical preserving all three parts of man's total being - "spirit and soul and body" (1 Thess. 5:23)This transfiguration event is assured the Christian who has the Holy Spirit as a pledge of the coming redemption of the body -

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"In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Him also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, Who is the pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:13,14)

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Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

So show here the Bible uses the metaphor of a door in that way. On the contrary, God said to Cain, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." (Genesis 4:7) Sin is only a problem if you don't do well, if you let it in. You don't postpone the entrance of sin to "later in Genesis". You postpone it to your own life. Sin didn't enter mankind at some point in history. It enters each of us individually, if we let it.What do you accomplish by insisting that we inherited sin from Adam, other than shirking the responsibility for your own failure to "do well"? We're not up to the New Testament yet. We're trying to (get you to) understand what the Old Testament says. If the New Testament does contradict the Old Testament, so be it. Then we can each decide which of them to accept, if either. But you can't warp what the Old Testament says to make it agree with what (you think) the New Testament says.

Paul said it before I did:

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Romans 2:14-15 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;

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Not my "wisdom", my conscience.