Truth Shapes Conscience

[448 words] Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day” (Acts 23:1). In the Bible’s account of his life, Paul—earlier known as Saul—is as close to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” as anyone you will find. The evil Mr. Hyde is revealed first as a heartless young Saul who watched over the robes of witnesses of the stoning death of one of our earliest brethren, Stephen (see Acts 7:58). Acts 8 begins by asserting his sentiment about the murder when it states, “Saul was in hearty agreement with pulling him to death.” His thirst for Christian blood continued unsatisfied as he went on a rampage against the church wherever he found it, “dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison” (Acts 8:3). Later, after he met the resurrected Jesus on the…