Vanishing Conscience: Drawing the Line in a No-Fault, Guilt-Free World [Audio Cassette]

John F., Jr. MacArthur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1994

John MacArthur sounds a clarion call for us to turn from the moral compromise gripping our society--and our churches--and shows how and why sin must be dealt with if we are going to live lives that please God.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JOHN F. MACARTHUR pastors Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and serves as president of the Master's College and Seminary. A well-known Bible expositor and conference speaker, he has written more than six dozen books, including the MacArthur New Testament Commentary series and the MacArthur Study Bible. He is the Bible teacher on Grace to You, an international radio broadcast. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: W Publishing Group (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849960991
• ISBN-13: 978-0849960994
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,076,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Books on Cassette > Religion & Spirituality > Ethics

More About the Author

Widely known for his thorough, candid approach to teaching God's Word, John MacArthur is a popular author and conference speaker and has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969. John and his wife, Patricia, have four grown children and fourteen grandchildren.
John's pulpit ministry has been extended around the globe through his media ministry, Grace to You, and its satellite offices in seven countries. In addition to producing daily radio programs for nearly 2,000 English and Spanish radio outlets worldwide, Grace to You distributes books, software, audiotapes, and CDs by John MacArthur.
John is president of The Master's College and Seminary and has written hundreds of books and study guides, each one biblical and practical. Best-selling titles include The Gospel According to Jesus, Truth War, The Murder of Jesus, Twelve Ordinary Men, Twelve Extraordinary Women, and The MacArthur Study Bible, a 1998 ECPA Gold Medallion recipient.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where there is no sin, there can be no salvation., January 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Vanishing Conscience (Paperback)

As a child, adolescent, young man, and, yes, even as an adult, there stood ever before me one whose teachings and opinions guided my life. Although short in physical stature and of limited formal education, this man was and always will remain a giant in my eyes. In fact, my admiration and respect for him and that for which he stood grows greater with each passing day. That man was my Dad.

In his book, The Vanishing Conscience, John MacArthur, Jr. reiterates those teachings which I have both loved and hated throughout the majority of my life. My Dad, from my earliest recollection, taught my brother and I that regardless of what those around us might say or do, we were always, always to do that which we knew to be the right thing to do. We were instructed that we were, as individuals, personally responsible for that which we spoke, did, even thought and felt. There was made no mention of self-esteem, of political correctness, of compromise, of shades of gray; the moral rainbow consisted solely of two colors: white and black (right and wrong). That truth exists today as it has always existed, despite mankind's attempts to philosophize it into oblivion.

In this, the latter portion of the twentieth century, it has become fashionable to preach the gospel of self-esteem while eschewing the principle of personal responsibility. Psychology and Science appear to be able to place the blame for any deviant, aberrant, bizarre and/or socially unacceptable behavior on virtually anything or anyone excepting, and thereby pardoning, the individual who commits the breach of what was once considered reasonable behavior. Nothing and no one is safe from the finger of reproach with the single exception of the perpetrator. Perhaps the individual in question was abused as a child, was reared in poverty, deprived of love, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Blame, guilt, and retribution have given way to pity, leniency, and forgiveness.

Where there were once credible norms, there now flutters in the societal winds an increasing tendency toward latitude and acceptance, regardless of the malignity of the act and the resulting impact on society as a whole. It seems that no behavior is to be demonstrated that is worthy of personal blame or public condemnation. The perpetrator of a crime has now become the victim while, alas, the true victim receives but cursory and transient empathy with no attendant justice nor equitable recompense.

Has this policy of moral liberality proven of benefit to society? One has but to peruse the daily newspapers to be made painfully aware that this standard of personal blamelessness has, to the contrary, proven empirically to be an abject and abysmal failure. Personal bankruptcies rise each year in a society where per capita income and personal standards of living have also risen. Murders, rapes, tortures, muggings, arsons, drug usage have increased at an alarming rate during this same period of improved self-esteem and public acceptance, liberality, and forgiveness.

In The Vanishing Conscience, MacArthur addresses, from a biblical perspective, the issues of self-esteem, personal guilt, and individual responsibility. How does modern psychology's obsession with personal forgiveness, high self-esteem, and the love of self stand in the light of Holy Scripture? What became of the little word sin with all of its grave implications, ramifications, and negative connotations? In an age of self-absolution, it would appear that Jesus Christ suffered and died in vain, for, if we are to believe the modern self-proclaimed and self-ordained prophets of the "feel good" philosophy, we are to forgive, each his or her own, transgressions and iniquities by blaming our environment, our genetic predisposition, our parents, our teachers, our political leaders, our role models, anything or anyone but our individual selves.

The Vanishing Conscience is an extraordinarily germane work in that MacArthur not only elucidates the church's adoption and endorsement of this secular abomination as well as the inherent dangers of this heretical philosophy, but does so in such a manner that the reader is made knowledgeable of that which a just God demands of His children. Of far greater importance than self-esteem is our relationship to a God who will hold you and I accountable for each act, thought, word, and deed.

On that Great and Terrible Day, conscience may be either a dear friend or a damning foe, but it will not claim neutrality. Self-esteem, that placebo of modern psychology, will not be a factor.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vitally important for our time, April 26, 2000

By 

David T Reed (Longview, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vanishing Conscience (Paperback)

John MacArthur's 'The Vanishing Conscience' is a pivotal work exposing the insidious sham of modern psychology's band-aid approach to the metastasizing cancer of sin. It belongs on the top shelf of every discerning Christian's library, alongside Dave Hunt's 'The Seduction of Christianity.'

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Great Danger, March 24, 2005

By 

J. Adrian (Orange,New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanishing Conscience: Drawing the Line in a No-Fault, Guilt-Free World (Audio Cassette)

I believe one of the authors concerns in writing this book was to asess how the Church and individual Christians both view and deal with sin,and then to look at how the maintenance of a good conscience can help the Church of Christ have a greater influence in the world. The author sees one of the Church's weaknesses (not being a lack of effort and involvement in our society)but that the Church often becomes more influenced by the world's values than the reverse. The Church must not get sidetracked into thinking its purpose is to reform society. The Church should be salt and light but its purpose and commission Pastor MacArthur points out in the intoduction is to proclaim the gospel, God's message of salvation to save those who will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. How our society deals with guilt and the Biblical remedy are quite different. If we are thinking Biblically guilt exists because of sin. Our society wants to rid people of guilt but not by dealing with sin God's way,that is repentance. Our culture's way is to remove personal responsibility and accountability by promulgating a victim mentality. Another way our society deals with guilt P.23 "is by classifying every human failing as some kind of disease."This seeks to remove guilt (by getting rid of personal responsibility)by making sin to be sickness. Pastor MacArthur has so much insight as to what ails our society and how that can be remedied.
In Chapters 2 and 3,what the conscience is and how it functions is an invaluable part of the book. A weak and seared and healthy(or strong)conscience are very clearly distinguished. Chapters 5 through 10 are concerned with various aspects of sanctification(The believer being set apart for God and how to Biblically deal with sin).Some of the specific areas which are addressed are:Temptation(Chap.8), Mortification of sin(Chap.7) and keeping the mind pure(Chap.9). There is an abundance of practical help to enable Christians(by God's grace) to live a more godly life.
John MacArthur gives the best definition of the conscience that I have seen on p.37"The conscience entreats us to do what we believe is right and restrains us from doing what we believe is wrong...It is a human faculty that judges our actions and thoughts by the light of the highest standard we perceive."
The conscience is an important gift that God has given to man. The reality is that the conscience in the thinking of modern man is given very little thought or relevance.To better understand what it is and how it works is of great significance to individual believers,the Church and society at large. Having said that, there are relatively few books in our day that deal with the conscience specifically(or the devastating effects of its diminished influence,as this book does) and this elevates the importance of Pastor John MarArthur's valuable contribution on this subject.