Conscience, the locus of perfection, for LaRondelle

by koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungbook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

6 January 2010

Prof. dr. Hans LaRondelle wrote his doctoral under G. C. Berkhouwer with the main topic, perfection. The topic is a silver thread throughout the Bible. It is the core of Bible and is in turn connected to nearly all thinkable topics and categories of systematic theology. Systematic theology is not philosophy although man is thinking when categorization of the Bible takes place. Systematic theology is not a second Bible outside the Bible. It is thinking doctrinally inductively towards some helpful systems created deductively. The best system is the one that closely answers and echoes the Bible and does not contradict the Bible at all. It is one that is affirmative and not suspicious. If it is suspicious, it is no longer representing the Revelation of God but rather that of the snake in the Garden of Eden who spoke to Eve in Genesis 3.

Anyone who reads the dissertation of LaRondelle must be willing to spend a whole year on it. The footnotes, the exegesis of Old and New Testament texts are crucial to a proper understanding of the subject.

The human brain has a memory aspect that helps the thinking person to remember what he learned, experienced, saw, heard and touched. The body is in a state of memory building that goes over to memory sharpening and finally as the body grows older, leads to memory loss. However, the memory data are always in the brain and some days they may still be active or "called up to appear vividly" or may go into a sleep mode. Some memories are good and some are bad corresponding on our actions and deeds in our past accumulate as well as the bad memories. The bad memories can have different effects on people's lives. Some give a lot of money for humanitarian causes in the hope to apologize for bad memories of the past. Others give it to churches or pagan temples in the hope that they will receive some benefit after death. However, bad memories or bad conscience are a shadow in everyone's life. Ellen White also indicates that God works through man's conscience to speak to the individual. The conscience is the vehicle through which the Holy Spirit speaks to the sinner. A good memory can help to remind the sinner of good days in his life or examples of good people who tried to witness in his/her past to hi/her about God's salvation and love for the sinner.

What then happens is that when the sinner listens to his/her conscience and weighs the good memories and the bad memories, a decision is made for or against and realizing the hopelessness of the bad memories and its consequences, the sinner reaches out for hope and that hope is in the Word of God.

Salvation breaks through for the sinner, when the sinner realizes that the imperfection of his/her present life is not what he/she wants and that he/she hopes for a better outcome or a better life.

How to deal then with a bad conscience is the goal of this rethinking. The human finds out in the Word of God that Jesus lived a holy life fulfilling all the demands of the law with total perfection that becomes our Substitute. Accepting this Substitute/Christ in our lives on our behalf is effective for our bad consciences. What is happening is that Christ, through His death on the cross in 31 CE, in effect provides us now with a total forgiveness of our bad deeds in the past, asking us to be baptized as a public symbol showing to everyone that we have accepted His salvation for us. More than that, saying that we want to be cleansed in our lives and through His baptism and death, we are indeed cleansed from all iniquities. We become perfect, but, as LaRondelle and the Bible points out, not in flesh but in the conscience.

The perfection of Christ, says Hebrews, is Substituting our imperfection immediately. The Righteousness of Christ is Substituting our unrighteousness immediately.

What now happens is very important. As LaRondelle indicates, the perfection of conscience is not waiting for us in the future since the perfection of conscience is following and accompanying us throughout the rest of our sanctified life. We experience progressive sanctification, a continual daily and momentary submission.

Perfect flesh or bodily perfection is not part of our reality now and will not be until the Second Coming of Christ or shortly before that, if it will be bestowed at the close of the door of mercy, of which Revelation is speaking.

Perfect flesh/bodies are awaiting us as a future reality at or near Resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ.

Because of that the believer must not allow his/her bad memories to accuse him/her or discourage him/her. The bad conscience is cleansed, perfected, sanctified (Hebrews 10:2, 10 and 14).

Bad conscience denial, in the face of Christ's role for us and our acceptance of Him, should be our continual subjective struggle. Our focus is now on good memories or good conscience reminders that outweighs the pointing fingers of the bad conscience. Christ our Advocate in Heaven is our continual inspiration that our salvation is 100% secured, right now. Our perfection is 100% secured right now. Our sanctification is 100% secured right now  provided that we stay and remain in Christ. That is why He said: "Abide in Me. . . ."

Where do we get good memories or good conscience reminders? By studying the lives of others who lived for God in the Bible, we get encouragement, hope, examples of ones who struggled like us but who found similar victory and similar hope and similar perfection of conscience as us.

Christ's perfection, sanctification and cleansing that He offered during His life and death on the cross in 31 CE is once and in no need of repetition by anyone (Hebrews 10:11-14).

Does this mean that I close my eyes to the wrongs in my life and continue wrongs with a denial of a memory that reminds us that it is not correct what we are doing right now? The answer is no. Present sin cannot reign in our lives any longer. Throw out all sin. Change habits. Remove sin temptation signifiers in your life. If your sin starts with your eyes speaking strongly to your passions leading you to corruption, then cancel what is available to your eyes for viewing. Close your eyes when everyone else is watching. Refuse to look. Break free from the environment that influenced your eyes and ears before without running to the mountains like monks. You have a task to fulfill among humanity not away from them. But, you have to break free from the circle of the mockers of God.

The basis of your sanctification, the basis of your perfect conscience is Christ and His perfection, and now being freed from condemnation, one can live without stress. One does not have to fear God for what He will do to us in future, but be thankful for what He already did through Christ our Substitute.

If old ghosts in our past reappear and accuse us of being bad in this way or that way, what should we do? Apologize and restitute if it is necessary. Live up to the new life of freedom and stress-free lifestyle that you were given. Maintain it with good deeds to your enemies who wish to blame you, without cause or causes that you have created in the past.

This is how dr. LaRondelle indicates that perfection, our perfection is in Christ provided to us free as Substitute for us, perfecting our conscience but not our flesh or bodies (see H. K. LaRondelle, Perfection and Perfectionism [Berrien Springs, Michigan: 1984 originally 1971], 242-245).

If one has to select one sentence from this dissertation that captivates the most central doctrine of Hans K. LaRondelle, then the following is suggested:

"The perfection-imperative presupposes the redemptive indicative" (LaRondelle 1984: 162).

Dear God

Look at me as I look at You daily and even in this hour right now. I accept Christ's Substitute for my life and keep my bad memory cleansed and my bad conscience cleared. Help me to focus on the promises of the Bible that build my good conscience daily and secure me with thanks about victory in You. Holy Spirit, speak to me constantly through my cleared conscience.

Amen

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