Tickling the Dragon’s Tail
Louis Slotin was a young Canadian physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. This was a top-secret government project for the rapid development of an atomic bomb. Slotin conducted numerous experiments with uranium cores. The tests involved bringing nuclear material closer and closer together until it reached very near critical mass, while being careful to stop just short of an actual event. Once a person passed the point of no return, he could ignite a nuclear chain reaction.
Since the United States government and Army were in a race with Germany to produce an atomic weapon, there was great pressure to move faster than was safe. This meant taking chances which might help end the war a bit sooner — at a time when thousands of Allied troops were dying each day in the bloodiest war the world had ever seen.
Accelerating the experiments, while bypassing safety precautions, was known to be extremely dangerous. Physicists who were willing to take shortcuts — in effect, to play Russian roulette with their lives — were in great demand. Louis Slotin was one such daredevil. He shocked some of his colleagues by what they saw as foolhardy actions. They referred to such conduct as “tickling the dragon’s tail”.
One day Slotin went too far, and before he could interrupt the chain reaction, he had received what turned out to be a fatal dose of radiation. He suffered terribly and died nine days later. Slotin was one of several dedicated (or foolish) scientists who paid the ultimate price for getting too close to the “dragon”.
Stay away — from dragons, and from sin!
Those who undertook such experiments were like pilots flying missions over enemy territory. They were generally considered heroes for their willingness to take extreme risks. But, whether brave or foolhardy, the risks they took may be a spiritual lesson for us all. It is one thing to risk your natural life for family or friends, or even country. But it is another thing altogether to risk your spiritual life for some immediate pleasure:
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. (Proverbs 4:14)
Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’ (1 Corinthians 15:33)
The life of the wicked has far more power to corrupt the righteous than the life of the righteous has to correct the wicked. It is much easier for the healthy person to become diseased, by contact with the sick, than for the sick person to be restored by contact with the healthy.
The company of those who are worldly and indifferent to God can be very dangerous. In mixing with sinners, the believer is putting himself into a situation where — sometimes openly and sometimes very subtly — he will be tempted to abandon his principles. If the believer will not put aside his conscience while in their company, then he can expect to be scoffed at, and made fun of.
Good men are not usually as concerned to bring their companions to Bible truth as bad men are to lead the good ones astray. Many a person, after having his heart changed by the Word of God, has been fatally ruined by mixing with those who viewed his faith with suspicion or contempt, and enjoyed trying to tempt him away from his path.
The slippery slope
Setting one foot on this downward path with the wicked will be like the first tentative step upon a slippery slope. It may be impossible for a man to get back to where he started once that crucial first step is taken.
And if the first step proves safe, it is just as silly to think that the second step will also be safe. That next step may be the beginning of the end! And even if it isn’t, the third step may be the fatal one.
It is ridiculous to think we can play around with sin — or tickle the dragon’s tail — because we assume we have a built-in resistance. Our only safe course is complete avoidance. And if it happens that we have already taken that first step in a wrong direction, then the warning is doubly serious: ‘Stop! Don’t go one inch further!’ It may yet be possible, if only barely, to escape that slippery slope.
Why is sin so dangerous? Because it is deceitful.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you will be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)
Sin is deceitful because it masquerades as innocent pleasure, a meaningless pastime. And if the first step into a particular kind of sin proves enjoyable, the deceitfulness of sin begins to take over, and the next step is easier. Sin becomes an addiction, and ultimately the sinner is lost irretrievably if they’re not truly repentant. We must always be on guard, and never forget that sin is a lying serpent with a deadly bite, or a dragon that can consume its prey in the blink of an eye.
for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. (2 Peter 2:18-22)