“The slippery slope is a logical fallacy in which a relatively small claim is asserted to inevitably lead to a significant event that must be avoided. Despite the initial assertion, little to no evidence is actually given to support or prove the causality of this relationship.” Let me give an example of a slippery slope. If you drive too fast you will get a ticket from the police. If you get a ticket from the police you might not pay the fine on time. If you don’t pay the fine you will be arrested. If you’re arrested, you will go to jail. Therefore, if you speed, you’ll go to jail. Slippery slopes litter our society today as people try to quickly prove a point and sway interest in their direction. Yet slippery slopes are considered one of the basic philosophical fallacies as they are neither logical nor truthful.
But what if a slippery slope were true? What if I could somehow peer into your future and see each and every step that would occur in a particular series of events? I would, in this hypothetical, be able to accurately and truthfully predict and determine a factual slippery slope in your life. What would you say if I told you that there is one single item in our lives that will fulfill these criteria? What if there is one thing in our lives that starts out small and snowballs down a massive hill and is guaranteed to result in pure chaos and destruction? What if there is an inevitable slippery slope in our lives that if not dealt with, will spiral out of control and consume us as well as all in its path? There is such an item.
Sin.
We come across a chapter in the book of Judges today that is simply hard to read. Most that are unfamiliar with God’s Word would deny it exists within the pages of scripture. Even those that study God’s Word have a hard time processing the brutality and darkness of its message. The great Bible commentator F.B. Meyer even recommended not reading it at all. The message if simply hard to stomach. But beyond the details of the message, far outside of the facts it so vividly describes, lays the absolute blackness of sin. The foundation of sin and the darkness in which it resides. You see, sin is a slippery slope that is guaranteed to take us to the absolute darkest place we can occupy. Left unchecked, left unbridled, sin will take the human heart to places that will disgust, repulse, and nauseate. Witnessing how far sin can take a life is hard to behold.
Just as with a slippery slope, sin always starts small. Lies begin small and grow exponentially as more intricate and complicated lies are required to maintain the ruse. Before long, a life is embroiled in lies that control, manipulate and dictate. Looking at pornography starts out small. It quickly escalates from viewing once a week to twice or three times a week. Just as the proverbial snowball rolls down a hill, it gains momentum until it has enough mass to do great damage to anything in its path. A life that before was immune is now enslaved to erotic images on a screen. That life is now enslaved to porn, and as a result, hobbled to true intimacy, true love and meaningful relationships. The love of money starts small. The strong desire for more money to buy essentials can quickly turn dark. More money for cars, houses, vacations, and material that promises satisfaction, whispers pleasing lies into the ear. It never stops. Money is numbers and numbers never stop. One man is lusting for an $80,000 sports car while another is lusting for a $23 million dollar yacht. The seeking of sex for selfish gratification starts small. Pre-marital sex in high school or college sets a precedent that can hound a life. Now in a marriage, that life will seek the same external sexual gratification regardless of the bonds of matrimony. The resulting adultery breaks hearts, shatters homes, and damages the lives of the spouses and children left in its wake. And folks, all these sins started so very small.
Chapter 19 of Judges starts small. We witness a man that takes a legal mistress, a concubine, something many men did in this era. Yet it’s something God does not condone or approve of. But he does it anyway. The mistress seeks sex outside of the union, an act that God condemns. The relationship is splintered, the sin being the wedge that splits. The man seeks to reunite with his concubine and travels to retrieve her. It appears a noble gesture, yet it is his desire to rekindle the sinful relationship. A sprint directly back into the darkness of sin. The couple journeys back home and lodges in the town of Gibeah which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. As they lodge with a stranger, the darkness of night is overcome by the darkness of men’s hearts. A group of men beat on the door and demand the visiting man be brought out that they may know him carnally. Their request was the same made by the homosexuals who surrounded the house of Lot in Sodom Genesis 19:5. The picture is clear: During the time of the Judges, Israel in the promised land was as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah.
From here we see sin that truly moves into the realm of animalistic. The man sacrifices his concubine in his place. He tosses her out in his place. The men accept his offer and proceed to rape her throughout the night. The next morning she crawls to the doorstep of the home where her partner is and dies on the doorstep. The man cruelly and coldly takes her body home where he dismembers it and distributes it to the 12 tribes. How can a human be capable of such atrocity?
We’ve seen this behavior countless times before in our history as well as our present. Serial killers, rapists, murderers, war lords and mercenaries. The human condition that has reached such levels of depravity and unimaginable darkness that it nauseates the soul. How can it be?
Sin is degenerative. It progressively deteriorates. It never stays constant, it is always taking us farther into darkness, step by slow step. You may believe that you can manage the sin that you are fostering today, but you cannot. Left to it’s own, sin will gain momentum in your life until the darkness will encompass all you see, do, and think. But there is hope. There is a way to break the bonds of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus knew the truth of sin. He knew the death it held. And it is for that reason He came to banish sin forever. He hung on a Cross, tortured and bleeding. Stricken, suffering, and hurting. All sin requires sacrifice and He willingly became that sacrifice for us. So that through His blood we could have victory over the death of sin.
Today, you can conquer the sin in your life because of Christ. You no longer have to be a slave to sin. Sin that will only continue to take your life deeper and deeper into darkness, death, and misery. Admit that sin controls your life. That you cannot resist it and that it controls your mind, body and actions. Ask Jesus to take control. Ask Jesus to save you from the insanity of your sin. If you call upon Jesus to save you, He is faithful to do so. And as you ask for His salvation, repent. Turn from your sin and follow Jesus. Follow His ways, His example, and follow His rule. The power of Jesus will allow you to break the pattern of sin in your life.
Sin is the ugliest thing we will ever encounter in this life. But the victory over it has been delivered. The victory is in Jesus. Claim the victory today.
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:56-57
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