Depravity
Slippery slope: Study finds little lies lead to bigger ones sfgate
Neuroscientists at the University College London's Affective Brain Lab affectivebrain put 80 people in scenarios where they could repeatedly lie and get paid more based on the magnitude of their lies. They said they were the first to demonstrate empirically that people's lies grow bolder the more they fib.
The researchers then used brain scans to show that our mind's emotional hot spot — the amygdala — becomes desensitized or used to the growing dishonesty, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience .
While we take the (early, unverified) conclusions of physical changes in the brain with a grain of salt, the fact that ones conscience becomes desensitized (or hardened/seared) the more we intentionally sin is well attested to in the Bible. We sin naturally but the longer we do it, the "better" we get at suppressing the conscience's warning of our guilt. Just a couple examples include Ephesians 4:17-19 and 1 Timothy 4:1-3. Also consider the source of, and desire to, sin comes from the very core of who we are: Jeremiah 17:9. Finally, take to heart the dire warning of Christ of those who are known for lying (indeed, all who remain unrepentant until the end, with one possible fruit of an unrepentant heart being lying): Revelation 21:7-8