The role of law in human conscience: a contextual analysis of 1 john 3: 21 in African political landscape

There are divergent views about the actual nature of the conscience of a man. To some people, the conscience is the voice of God in man, having godly characteristics and playing divine roles under divine influence. Others however see it as a natural inclination, tendency, or propensity in a man that tends towards a particular direction consequent upon a given ‘social’ influence under which it develops. To the latter, conscience is rather a product of ‘social learning’ rather than ‘divinely influenced’ agent that could only play godly roles of reproof or approval in a man. The argument against conscience as a ‘divine agent’ is mainly based on the ground that while some consciences could lead a man towards godliness, there are however some consciences that rather lead some into defiant behaviors. Given the above stances, the problems facing the researcher here is to attempt deciphering the actual nature of the conscience and examining the factor that influences or shapes it. Hence, the paper is focused on discovering the roles of law in human conscience in the context of 1 John 3: 21. It is discovered that the conscience could actually be influenced to act in a particular direction as a result of some factors. It is also discovered that Law is one of these factors that could influence the conscience. The objective of this paper is pursued in the contextual analysis of 1 John 3: 21 as to establish in more clear terms the roles of law in human conscience especially in African Political landscape. To achieve the objectives of this paper, the researcher adopted the use of secondary sources that is, library work in carrying out the study. The views of other scholars in the subject matter were consulted. The significance of this work lie in the potential meaningful contributions it adds to knowledge and scholarship. Since the subject matter is studied in the context of Christianity and politics; the study will be of an immense help to the church and the state in understanding the roles of law in human conscience.