Month: March 2026

The other day I was looking through the notes I had made in one of my old Bibles. It was the New American Standard that I received from the Lockman Foundation when I graduated from Biola College in 1978. I used it during the years I taught Bible and Science to sixth- through eighth grade students at Westminster Christian Schools. In recent weeks, I had recalled a list of suggestions I put together to help my students make decisions about whether they should participate in certain practices they were unsure about. I thought I had made a poster to display in the classroom as a reminder.

As I’ve been slowly cleaning our garage of 55 years of accumulation, I’ve recently wondered if I might find that poster. I had forgotten what some of the points were beyond the question of whether the issue was biblical.
Well, I found the list – not the poster, but the list on one of the pages in the back of that Bible.

Here’s the list, titled, “Should I?”

1. Can I do it with a clear* conscience? (Romans 14:14; 21-23)
2. Does it violate scriptural instructions?
3. Does it cause anyone else to stumble? (Romans 14:13-20; 1 Corinthians 8)
4. Am I really being honest with God and with myself? (Romans 14:5,12,21-23)
5. Don’t judge others for concluding differently. (Romans 14:1-12)

* There is a difference between a clear and a seared conscience.
Other notes on the page were:

1. Clean things are evil if they give offence. (Romans 14:20)
2. Wounding the conscience of brethren = Sinning against Christ. (1 Corinthians 8:12)
3. Knowing to do good and not doing it is sin. (James 4:17)