For the lack of 10 righteous men, an entire city was destroyed. If 10 is the bare minimum for giving a corrupt city its second chance, that leaves me unsure of the number required for a nation.

Most of the biblical scholars among us have probably already figured out I am referring to the city of Sodom, which met its destruction in Genesis. Those same scholars could tell you that the original number was 50 righteous people, or “innocent ones,” before Abraham kept bargaining to reduce the number for the sake of his nephew’s hometown. Yes, I know that I crudely used the term “men” instead of what many would consider more inclusive language. But in this era where our descriptive titles for each other seem so fluid, I feel a new-found freedom of expression and can only hope that our tolerant but ever-changing social standards will not declare me a primitive sexist.  I can only hope.

I also hope that those of you who are more studied than myself will grant me a few lines to make a couple of points to those with college degrees and professional certifications they value more than actual education. Genesis is, of course, among the first five books of the Bible, which are referred to collectively as the Torah. The Torah was given to the Hebrew people by Moses before they entered the “promised land.” The term Torah itself means “teaching,” and so with my simple-minded view of things, it seems logical that the first point to be asked about any part of it should be, “what is the lesson here?” or perhaps, “what is God trying to tell us or warn about?”

Possibly a point worth remembering is that although only about 19 chapters into Genesis, mankind had already managed to come through some pretty harsh and deserved consequences. One was a flood that brought about a reboot for all humanity. One might hope that among the lessons to be gleaned from Sodom’s fate would be what had caused their destruction as well as how to avoid the same for ourselves.

The simplicity of my mind and thoughts is well-established, so I will spill mine on this subject to allow you more sophisticated ponderers to hurry about revising them to fit a more socially and politically accepted narrative.

It seems that man (I know, there are plenty of women involved here too. But my simple ways change slowly) has a strong tendency toward his own pride, comfort and to allow evil to become normalized in his society.

He has been given safeguards against these. There is a divine, natural moral order to the universe. It is based in reality and natural consequences. It also reflects a divine purpose that God has for his creation and man’s role in it. When that order is marginalized, ignored, or rejected completely, Truth itself has been abandoned. I have speculated before on these pages that the honest and sincere quest for Truth and our role in regard to it might well be a major part of our purpose in this world.

Perhaps one of the more immature things we can do is dismiss plain and simple reality. Doing so individually usually has severe consequences. To do so as a society invites massive destruction.

Our society, our nation was founded on a Judeo/Christian tradition. It is a moral order that has traversed a few thousand years, growing and expanding its insight and revealing its universal wisdom with the twists and turns of western civilization. Crisis after crisis, this tradition offered the most successful model in human history for achievement, order, and social stability. It offers these benefits for both the devout and unbelieving.

It is based in the responsible practice of Liberty by individuals and the natural results from any irresponsibility. The foundational unit of this order is the family. Any attack on that unit is a direct assault on an individual’s Liberty as well as their very existence in that divine moral order. It is an evil.

Perhaps the most irresponsible thing we can do in a society is not to see an evil for what it is and then oppose it. Of course, seeing it, naming it would then require us to both reject that evil and work tirelessly and sincerely for its removal. For many (too many), that is often a step too far.

Sodom was not destroyed because there were evil people and evil happenings within its walls. There will always be evil for us to battle. That is one of the burdens and responsibilities we have – if we are to maintain and prosper under that moral order.

Sodom was destroyed because the evil had been allowed to become the standard, the normal. And evil does not sit still. It grows and changes to forms even more destructive to an individual created in a divine image for difficult but substantive, glorious purposes. Genesis tells us that God’s heart was “saddened” by the evil that men allowed and practiced before He ordained the flood generations before the time of Abraham. Evil had become normalized. Perhaps His sadness of heart was like that of a parent whose child has not only become rebellious but destructive of their own lives. Perhaps it was even much, much deeper.

It might seem to some that there is an endless circle at play here which cannot be broken. That circle is caused by our own weakness and the relentless intrusions of evil which are intended to not just bend us away from the divine will at a given moment but to destroy the path back to it.

History is filled with cultures that rose, prospered, and fell brutally. Culture does not reflect race, color or gender. It is about values, what is valued, respected and lived by. When those values are altered, watered down or abandoned, the culture is dying. It is sick.

The truth is that the seemingly endless circle has been broken several times because that moral order was taken to heart by man. And when it was, both his understanding and humanity grew. Liberty is individually based because religion is. Each individual is blessed with a free will to decide their own spiritual path. Without that, their “faith” would be by rote and not of the heart.

But that blessing of choice is to choose good over evil and work for that good, that Truth. To not do that carries consequences because evil is a demanding master. It hates choice and will imprison any individual any way it can. That divine moral order gives people the ability to direct their own lives in a positive, productive direction.

There are no herds of individual “truths” wandering the universe which can be accepted on the momentary whim of a self-absorbed mind. There is Truth. It is consistent in both its rewards and its demands. It and reality walk hand in hand.

To deny reality is delusion. A society that normalizes delusion is well on its way to normalizing evil because Truth is no longer the goal. Those who do not speak out about these delusions do not just allow evil, they silently condone it.

There has been a consistent reluctance of professional, commercial conservatives to admit to a culture war between theological good and evil, which for decades has been laying a groundwork for the destruction of the values and institutions most fundamental to our national culture and purpose. They have failed us. But that hardly excuses us for failing ourselves. We are now a point of decision.

I will not retrace the story of Sodom’s destruction for you here. Most, I hope, have at least a basic knowledge of what happened. But I do not believe that all the men of Sodom were evil. But they allowed evil to become normal and unchallenged. As a result, that evil touched every level of society.

The crowd that gathered outside of Lot’s house to demand for the young men to be sent out contained all ages, youth, adult, middle-aged and elderly. They were unchallenged by anyone in the city. I am sure there were some “good” men in the city who would at least not take part or who silently condemned it (but never out loud). Perhaps they were concerned about being seen as “too divisive,” and that would prevent some hoped-for “middle ground.” Maybe they just closed their mind to how evil has no middle ground. They might even have seen those who wanted to speak out or make changes as “wacko birds,” “yahoos,” “real turkeys,” or “crazies.” Before long, such people either lost hope and changed themselves or became silent, thus surrendering the whole to evil. There are consequences to remaining among people either given over to evil or tolerant of it.

One might wonder, how close were they to having those 10 men? If just 10 had spoken up and remained firm, would all those been spared?

Some time ago, I spoke here of Carthaginians and child sacrifice. I have not researched extensively enough to know if along their path to that horrid practice they mutilated their children, used them economically, politically, and sexually to numb the people’s consciences and test their compliance. Perhaps they did. Perhaps one characteristic of a society growing evil is that they abuse the weak instead of protecting them?

To prevail, evil conditions people and the delusional becomes normal. When this becomes too ingrained, there has to be a reset if man is to put his feet back on the way to Truth.

I am still unsure of the number of “innocent ones” needed to stop the just destruction of a nation. That might cause some to believe I am answering that it is “too late for America” to borrow from a question presented by someone with a far clearer mind than my simple one (not to mention a bad hip). They would be wrong. My simple answer is that it is up to us.

We were recently told by one who is taking his own lumps for loudly and consistently calling for reason and wisdom in the face of delusion that “True things prevail.” I believe that also. They do, over time. In many ways, the schedule is up to us, our clarity and our strength of will to declare what is right.

But I also believe that most good things come from the outliers. An evil society or an evil in society cannot be changed by those who continually compromise without the course being altered. But it can be impacted by small groups. Most good is initiated by small groups.

The end to human slavery in our nation came about because of small groups organized mostly through religious groups who maintained a course toward freedom for all while even those with “good intentions” at the top of society struggled with one stumbling compromise after another. It was a grassroots movement of imperfect people who would not be quiet. They suffered for it. But they prevailed. They simply would not accept that evil, even if it had existed for thousands of years. It violated the moral code. And because of their insistence, we moved a little closer to Truth.

Those outliers who helped to end American slavery refused to be among the 10 who remained silent and inactive. By being silent and inactive, each of those 10 doomed everyone else. It was a cruel act on their part as well as a cowardly one.

So is it too late for America? Not if the founding on a moral tradition is kept alive and insisted on by individual efforts and determination, finding like minds, and being active and vocal. This was intended to be a grassroots nation. It was also intended to be one of knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. When that reality is abandoned, we lose the ability to direct the course of our own lives within natural law. If our children and their children never have that ability as completely (or at all) as our fathers, it will be due to the cowardice and “convenience” of those who can not quite bring themselves to be part of just 10.