“Indeed, you place them on a slippery slope and make them fall to their ruin.” (Psalm 73:18 CJB)
In the last post, I discussed the effects of cognitive dissonance. Justification is one of the ways we deal with the discomfort of misaligned values and behaviors. When living up to our own standards becomes too difficult, we change our standards. We make compromises that allow us to still feel okay about ourselves.
An immoral person conscientiously rejects morals. In contrast, an amoral person is aware of moral standards but is unconcerned about acting on them. Even those who commit the most gruesome crimes may not see themselves as immoral, merely amoral. This is how we ease the discomfort of cognitive dissonance.
The slide down the slippery slope is gradual. The first time we compromise our standards, we might think: “Just this one time won’t hurt anyone. It’s not a big deal.” The next time we are faced with a similar situation, it feels easier to follow the lower standard by rationalizing: “Well, this is not much worse than the last time. It won’t make much difference now anyway...” This pattern of spiraling continues until we fall to our ruin, often taking down those around us as well.
(Continued in the next post...)
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