When you live in accordance with what you presently understand, you will come to understand more. When you knowingly live out of accord with your present understanding, you will understand less.
For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that recive th I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have. (2 Nephi 28:30)
As you disobey your conscience, it attenuates. Every choice you make contrary to your conscience will make it harder to make the next correct choice.
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. (Proverbs 4:19)
God’s light, which actuates your understanding, will not stay with you if you willingly disobey your conscience.
...Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. (Alma 9:13)
Those who disobey God’s voice distance themselves from God. They will gradually lose the knowledge they have, becoming less and less like him:
49 And the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin.
50 And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me.
51 For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin.
52 And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me.
53 And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now. (D&C 84)
When you do what you believe to be right, your ability to perceive what is right and wrong will improve. When you do what you believe to be wrong, your ability to perceive what is right and wrong will degrade.
And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have. (D&C 60:3)
As you live contrary to your understanding, your understanding will diminish. As you act against what you know, you will know less than you did before, and you will not perceive the loss.
Do not underestimate the degree of change that can occur in a person’s character through seemingly small disobedience to their conscience. The character of a person can quickly degrade to being unrecognizable: the closest friend or family member can become a bitter enemy; the wisest of people can become the greatest of fools; the kindest person can become shockingly violent; the most virtuous can become depraved. In fact, the more noble the person, the more evil they will become through disobedience to God.1
Footnotes
- 1. And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things. (Alma 24:30) ↩