5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
We have the ability to know God's heart, to be connected with the wisdom of the God of the universe, who will direct our steps and help us to discern what pleases Him and what does not. We have to make sure that we are sensitive to God's Spirit and allow Him to govern our consciences, so that we might respond to His inner promptings. He is willing to lead us, and we have to make sure that the our connection to Him is clear, not cluttered, so that we might walk in the Spirit.
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We have been given new hearts in Christ, and His Word gives us a new perspective in our hearts and
minds. Hebrews 10 states:
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and having a High Priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Believers are equipped by God with a conscience, which, activated by the Spirit, can direct us and give us discernment, so that we can know right from wrong and sense the heart of God.
There are those in this culture who would want to override our conscience and force us to do things that would violate those powerful inward promptings. We have seen this in the area of professionals who choose not to endorse same-sex marriage by providing services or products that would display an endorsement.
Now, we learn about an Uber driver who made a choice not to drive a customer to have an abortion. A 20-year old Cornell University student had become pregnant, according to ChristianNews.net, and the article states, "She decided to obtain an abortion as she didn’t feel that she was in a 'position to care for a child at this point in [her] life,' and scheduled an appointment."
The article says: "The unidentified student posted about the matter on Reddit last month and also spoke with Yahoo Lifestyle..." She recounts that the Uber driver "seemed immediately uncomfortable." He asked if she were going to Planned Parenthood, which she initially denied. The article says:
As they rode along in the car, the man seemingly sought to reason with the student, as she says that he told her that she was going to “regret this decision for the rest of her life” and that she was making a mistake. He also shared about his wife, who is five months pregnant, and told her about what happens during an abortion.The driver later pulled over and offered to take her back. She got out of the car and began to call taxi companies. He waited for about 15 minutes to see if she would change her mind; again, he offered to take her back.
The student, well, she called the police, who told her that the driver had done nothing wrong. She also called Uber, who "banned" the driver. She now wants to pursue legal action against the driver.
That Yahoo! article, which was incredibly sympathetic to the student, described her drama after Scott, the Uber driver, pulled over. She claims to have spent $120 on cab fare to go the clinic. Remember, Scott offered twice to take her back. He did not, as the story suggests, leave her "on the side of the road."
John Stonestreet, on a recent edition of The Point, stated:
This is only our most recent reminder that Christians need a theology of getting fired. Business owners, educators, and others -especially those in the medical field – may very well be forced to choose between participating in ceremonies, curriculum or procedures and their careers.
This is an opportunity for Christians who don’t face such choices. We need to be ready to assist our brothers and sisters, and their families, when they courageously choose faithfulness over their financial well-being...He adds, "And we need to prepare ourselves. What will we choose when we face discrimination for our convictions? What red lines must we not cross? We need to decide now where we stand."
There is now a petition at the LifePetitions website, a subsidiary of LifeSiteNews. It says, in part:
The company needs to update their Community Guidelines to reflect that conscientious objection to passenger activities which result in the ending of human life should not result in drivers being fired.
We wouldn't be having this conversation if another Uber driver refused to drive his passenger to a Neo-Nazi meeting, especially if the passenger told him that it was to further arouse his hatred of Jews. Such a driver would be right to refuse to finish that route.
Likewise, what would happen to another hypothetical driver who refused to take her passenger to a dog fight because she could not in good conscience contribute to animal cruelty?Even though it's impossible to plan for every difficult decision, we can abide by certain principles that will guide us. We can determine: what are our lines? What will we not cross? It's important to pre-plan responses and contemplate scenarios so that we do not compromise our faith in Christ. We can have our consciences trained to identify those challenging situations.
Also, we can consider if we are ready to face the consequences of taking an action consistent with our conscience and with the Scriptures. Our boldness can be enriched by a sense of determination, recognizing that God is with us when we make the courageous step.
Finally, this example shows us that we need to be ready to share the truth with people who are on the verge of making life-altering decisions. To point out the potential results of a particular action can be considered an act of unconditional love, wanting the best for every person; not trying to show how much we know, but demonstrating our concern.
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