John F. Kennedy wrote, “Great crises produce great men and great deeds of courage.” While it is true that a crisis helps to make a person, it is also true that a crisis helps to reveal of what a person is made. Pilate faced a great crisis, but his handling of it did not give him either courage or greatness. How we handle the difficulties of life will depend largely on what kind of character we have; for what life does to us depends on what life finds in us. The conscience is a warning system, placed by God into the very framework of the human soul. Like physical pain, which warns of damage to the body, the conscience warns of damage to the soul. It reacts to the proximity of sin, warning the soul to “wake up and stop!” before it suffers the terrible consequences of sin.