Yes, having the man in the long black coat be Johnny Cash oversimplifies things to me also, though Cash was for a while “the man in black.” By digging into the lyrics more, one sees it is a story… so I take the lyrics as a series of clues as to what happened.

The conscience is God’s way of guiding us, and the Bible talks about how God speaks to us “in a still small voice.” However, the Bible also says we live in a fallen world, so consciences get twisted and people justify all kinds of things without their conscience bothering them. Examples abound, but one that bothers me a lot is the legitimizing of hate.

Thanks for your thoughts and response.