We are now coming to the point in First John where the concept of "conscience" makes its appearance (1 John 3:19-21). Now, in "To Kill A Mockingbird", the word "conscience" is used two very different ways. One is in Atticus' explanation to his daughter Scout why he has taken on the Tom Robinson case even though the town is against him, and the other is when his opponent, Horace Gilmer, badgers Tom about why he ran from the Ewell household. It is this second sense that is used in First John: the sense of being free from guilt.
John says, roughly speaking (and here he goes round in circles again), that it doesn't matter what our consciences charge us with if we are living in peace and trying to follow the commandments, for God knows our hearts, but if our consciences are clear, then we can be sure that God is with us. I think that what he is trying to say is that there is no room or should be no room for guilt trips. (One translation, the New Jerusalem Bible, uses the word "feelings" in place of conscience, "if our feelings don't condemn us.") I'm sure John meant to be reassuring but his meaning is closer to Horace Gilmer's meaning when he sneers at Tom, "But if your conscience was clear, boy, then why did you run?" Knowing full well but choosing to ignore it, that no matter what Tom did or didn't do in that situation, he was trapped.
But that is not the way Atticus uses the word when he tells Scout that the Robinson case goes to the essence of a man's conscience. "Suppose you're wrong about it?" she asks. "Most people think they're right and you're wrong." Well, says Atticus, "they are entitled to think that, and they are entitled to full respect for their opinions. But before I can live with other folks, I've got to live with myself. One thing doesn't abide by majority rule--a person's conscience."
It is this second sense I find lacking in First John or anywhere else in the Bible. The idea that one can disagree with its teachings, not out of perversity, not out of willful rebellion, not because one is under the influence of Satan, but because one's conscience says, "I have examined the evidence and I am not convinced that what you are saying is right." The idea that "they are entitled to think that and they are entitled to full respect for their opinions." No matter how bitter things get, Atticus says to Scout, these people are still our friends and this is still our town. Contrast that with John: there have been antichrists among us who have left us which only goes to show they were never part of us to begin with. No "these are still our friends and neighbors" here! The lines have been drawn. You are either with us or against us and if you are against us, well, that just shows what side you are on.
The lines were drawn against Atticus as well, but he chose not to respond in kind. They are still our friends, he says to Scout even if their views on a lot of things are quite different from ours, and he shows it in several places by his actions towards them. In that he embodies the love John was talking about earlier in his letter, that love is not just an attitude but must be lived out in daily life, that it is not possible to say that one loves God but hates his or her fellow humans.
John says, roughly speaking (and here he goes round in circles again), that it doesn't matter what our consciences charge us with if we are living in peace and trying to follow the commandments, for God knows our hearts, but if our consciences are clear, then we can be sure that God is with us. I think that what he is trying to say is that there is no room or should be no room for guilt trips. (One translation, the New Jerusalem Bible, uses the word "feelings" in place of conscience, "if our feelings don't condemn us.") I'm sure John meant to be reassuring but his meaning is closer to Horace Gilmer's meaning when he sneers at Tom, "But if your conscience was clear, boy, then why did you run?" Knowing full well but choosing to ignore it, that no matter what Tom did or didn't do in that situation, he was trapped.
But that is not the way Atticus uses the word when he tells Scout that the Robinson case goes to the essence of a man's conscience. "Suppose you're wrong about it?" she asks. "Most people think they're right and you're wrong." Well, says Atticus, "they are entitled to think that, and they are entitled to full respect for their opinions. But before I can live with other folks, I've got to live with myself. One thing doesn't abide by majority rule--a person's conscience."
It is this second sense I find lacking in First John or anywhere else in the Bible. The idea that one can disagree with its teachings, not out of perversity, not out of willful rebellion, not because one is under the influence of Satan, but because one's conscience says, "I have examined the evidence and I am not convinced that what you are saying is right." The idea that "they are entitled to think that and they are entitled to full respect for their opinions." No matter how bitter things get, Atticus says to Scout, these people are still our friends and this is still our town. Contrast that with John: there have been antichrists among us who have left us which only goes to show they were never part of us to begin with. No "these are still our friends and neighbors" here! The lines have been drawn. You are either with us or against us and if you are against us, well, that just shows what side you are on.
The lines were drawn against Atticus as well, but he chose not to respond in kind. They are still our friends, he says to Scout even if their views on a lot of things are quite different from ours, and he shows it in several places by his actions towards them. In that he embodies the love John was talking about earlier in his letter, that love is not just an attitude but must be lived out in daily life, that it is not possible to say that one loves God but hates his or her fellow humans.
