I observe that it happens often, and happens very quickly. People are not aware that they have become blind to their own conscience. It happens because of resentment or desire.
Here is an example: A person is in a state of desire and commits a sin, he does an act that he would ordinarily find unconscionable. Later on, when the mind is cleared of the desire, the person regrets what they have done. So, we go to the question: why did the person choose against his conscience?
He sins because we are inclined to sin. He is weak and gives in to desire and doesn’t rely on God to help him. He regrets because he recognises his error as his conscience pricks at him, and God gives him the grace to return. If he were to look for the way of escape that God always gives us to avoid sin whenever we are tempted, he would actually be able to resist and this gets easier with practice. Not all people do regret sins, though… resentment is an example of this.
The reason he chose against his conscience was because his desire was strong and his selfishness kicked in. He put this desire, this love of self, before God and before his knowledge of right and wrong, and ignored the way of escape. I’ve observed it in my own behaviour, too, that when I have mortally sinned I tend to commit several… it’s like a downward spiral. Sin begets sin.
The judge and jury don’t “love” the accused…so not a great choice of comparison.
Eternal life is a gift and not a right. If we have not love we are nothing. The thing is, God is truth. What he has revealed to us cannot be unsaid… to suggest otherwise and we make God a liar. Although Christ freely offers us his love and forgiveness, he also tells us that there are certain conditions for salvation. We have to let his love into our hearts to change us. His love and forgiveness are truly incredible… even if we have committed the most gruesome and cruelest of crimes against God and humanity… as long as we have true repentance, a conversion of heart, we can receive his forgiveness… and that’s even if that repentance comes in the final moments of life after a life full of sin.
[This conversation actually kind of reminds me of something I heard a priest talking about one time… false or misguided compassion, where these days we have a tendency to set up the guilty party as an innocent victim.]
God is already, each and every moment of our lives, offering us his love, forgiveness, salvation. We must choose to accept him. Faith and love and being born again are of the conditions of salvation.
Christ says, ‘I never knew you’… that’s a harsh reality. What does this imply, though? It means they had no relationship with God. They chose against God. This is how free we actually are, we can say no. We just can’t ‘borrow’ a relationship with God from the wise virgins.
We should pray for everyone, of course. We have no way of knowing who will turn to God at the end of their lives. God hears our prayers outside of time, so all prayer is beneficial.
