Salty Scandals

Jesus called His followers “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). One characteristic of salt, especially in Bible times, is its usefulness as a preservative. This is the idea behind God’s willingness to spare Sodom & Gomorrah for just 10 righteous. Those 10 would have been enough grains of salt to preserve these 2 cities with all their inhabitants. But God only found 4 grains, and 1 of them apparently had lost her saltiness – at least the right kind of saltiness (because she turned into a pillar of the stuff) – thus, she was "cast out as good for nothing."

I think one of the ways this works is that Godly behavior raises the standard for society. In a town with a high percentage of faithful Christians, even the nominal unbeliever probably feels compelled to behave himself. I.e., if the unbeliever’s Christian neighbors treat their wives splendidly, don’t yell at their children, put in a good day’s work, and celebrate their Sabbaths, then the unbeliever will be afraid of the scandal that would result if he cheats on his wife, abuses his children, or steals from his boss.