The Critical conscience part one 

 

THE HYPER CRITICAL VOICE.


There is great strength in being a person who is sensitive to the Holy Spirit, eager to perceive His will and heart, and aware of the needs of the people around. These are great gifts and qualities when they operate under the Lordship of Christ.

However, this same sensitive spirit operating outside of yielding, surrendering and trusting God is potentially the site of great vulnerability. This sensitivity can easily mutate into a harsh, overstrict, and critical conscience, an immature conscience is motivated by asceticism, severe self-discipline for a spiritual goal. (Colossians 2:23)

The immature conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7) is hypersensitive, harsh and critical. Instead of clarity that results from the healthy conscience, the weak conscience results in toxic, dysfunctional, chaotic, foggy false guilt. Fuelled by the entrapping lie, spoken with great conviction by the harsh ‘parent’ “if you feel guilty then you are guilty”. Leading the person to constantly focus upon what they haven’t done instead of what they have. The critical conscience is only satisfied with perfection and has no value for the celebration of progress, steady steps and faithfulness. The critical conscience creates on an identity based on failure and this identity leads to shame (feeling unloveable) experienced as symptoms that feel like trauma.

Under the weight of constantly feeling false guilt the conscience becomes spoilt, defiled, unable to distinguish real from imaginary guilt. Due to the tyranny of the overstrict, critical conscience the sensitive soul protects itself through very restrictive boundaries, discipline and laws. Don't do this, say that, go there (Colossians 2v21). The logic is that through perfectionism, the harsh voice will be silenced, and through legalism nothing can become a blockade to intimacy and connection. These boundaries are self regulated with hypersensitive diligence. There is a severity and harsh treatment of self to both protect from guilt and the trauma of shame, the logic being that a very narrow path affords less opportunity for mistakes. In this state everything is open to be questioned, and analysed, the conscience is continually evoked to safeguard one-self.

If there is even the slightest temptation false guilt is triggered, from the genuine desire to please God and people, the false guilt is scrutinised, and analysed. Digression and retreating is used to obsess around the guilt. A habitual loop, is engaged in order ascertain if the accusation is correct. Undergirding the habitual loop is the deep fear of failure, shame, and punishment. Nothing is ever good enough, the desired spiritual goal is always just out of reach.

As with the issue of eating meat offered to idols outlined in 1 Corinthians 8:7, this self-destructive mindset is obsessing about an issue that God Himself considers unimportant and inconsequential. The spoilt conscience is no longer able to discern real from false guilt, and has no biblical grid for understanding and perceiving God’s will and heart. Intimacy and connection with God, and empathy and compassion towards others plays second fiddle to reacting to the harsh critical, overstrict conscience.

For more resources to encourage Intimacy, connection and trust in Father God please download the Dream Revolution smartphone App by clicking the link.

http://get.theapp.co/4ee1

Jamie Lee, 02/09/2018
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Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
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Planning your Visit

New to Church?


Welcome! Whether you've just moved to the area, or have lived here all your life, we hope our website helps you to find out everything you want to know about our Church.

 

Some key information about the church...

 

Where & when does the church meet?

The church meets every Sunday at 11:00 am for our Sunday Service. There is plenty of free parking around the CCK building. We are walking distance from Plumstead Train station and local buses. It’s good to get to the meeting 15 minutes early to enjoy a fresh cup of coffee before the service starts.

We meet at the church building in the middle of Plumstead

The address is:

46 Lakedale Road
Plumstead
London
SE18 1PS

You can see a map on our contact us page.

 

What should I expect when I visit the church?

You will receive a very warm welcome particularly from our Welcome Team who will be able to answer your questions and direct you to where you need to go.

Sunday is special because it’s the main opportunity in the week for the whole church family to gather, worship God, enjoy his manifest presence together, minister to one-another, receive encouragement and exhortation from God’s word and be refreshed by God’s Spirit and one-another’s friendship and support.

There will be approximately 45 mins of singing with opportunity for church members to pray, prophesy or read a passage from the bible. After the notices there will be a preach, we take time to understand the bible’s message and how this can teach us about God, about ourselves, about the world that we live in and about what authentic Christian lifestyle looks like in practice. At the end of the preach there is always a chance to respond.

Tea, coffee and biscuits are served after the service where there is plenty of time to meet new people and ask more questions.

 

What happens to the kids at church?

As a family church we are thrilled to have people of all ages involved in our Sunday morning meetings. Typically, after worshiping together for 30 minutes or so, the children and young people will leave for their own activities.

We have a fantastic programme for the kids at the Church for ages 0–14. Children stay with their parents at the start of the service as we worship (sing songs!) together for the first part of the morning. Someone will announce when the children need to go to their programme.

For more information about what happens in the children's work please visit the relevant age groups for you under church life.

Is there a dress code?

No! Please just be yourself and come dressed in your 'normal' clothes.

 

Will I have to join in?

Not at all!
You are free to simply observe or participate as much as feels comfortable for you.

 

Useful Links...

We have more information for you specifically if you…

 

I have more questions, how can I get in touch and ask them.

Please feel free to contact us.