I’ve written before about the rabbinic principle of building a fence around the Torah. The idea is that one creates a barrier of rules around the Law to prevent the accidental breaking of the Law. According to some sources, Deuteronomy 22:8 is used to justify this practice: “When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.”
It was, of course, this fence around the Law that led the Pharisees to condemn Jesus; they accused him of not following “the traditions of the fathers.” He didn’t violate the Torah itself, but he was willing to go beyond their fences.
I realized recently the modern day expression of the fence around the Law is the slippery slope. Things that aren’t seen as condemnable in and of themselves are condemned based on what they might lead to. That is, action A isn’t seen as sinful, but it might lead to action B, therefore action A is wrong.
One church was discussing hand clapping during worship. Someone said, “If we allow this, next thing you know they’ll be dancing in the aisles!” That’s the slippery slope.
Problem is, of course, almost anything can be seen as leading to anything else. Are the Wright brothers to blame for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center? Slippery slope reasoning would lay the blame squarely at their feet. Reminds me of the song “Ya Got Trouble” from the musical The Music Man. In that song, Harold Hill warns the citizens of River City that the presence of a pool table in their community was a sign of impending moral corruption among their youth. (If you haven’t heard it, you can find it on YouTube)
One thing does not invariably lead to another. Slippery slopes are great for skiing on, but that’s about it. We need to judge things on their own merits, not conjectured inevitable consequences.
for people a little more modern, point them towards the current series of DirecTV commercials.
Trouble–that starts with T, that rhymes with P, and that stands for Pool!
Good stuff.
–guy
I think that entire way of thinking falls short. No amount of laws no matter the intent will keep people from ignoring God. Jesus IMO when he talked about nothing outside of a person making them unclean but what came from inside.
I continue to enjoy your blog, Tim! I agree that most “slippery slope” arguments are bogus, and are utilized as scare tactics to maintain the status quo of tradition or as excuses for never entertaining a new thought or utilizing a fresh methodology. Also, when someone says, “I don’t have a problem with A, it’s just that it might lead to B,” it is sometimes indicative of the fact that he or she really does have a problem with A.