Everett, fear of Hell never made any man good. If God exist, Hell cannot exist. Otherwise God would not be Love but both Love and Hate, because by definition God is the creator of ALL. Your fairly tale is too simple. The morality of our children is a concern but there is an evolution of consciousness going on in our children and our world that is more or less tracking the general scientific advancement of mankind; and one day, generations from today, immorality will evaporate like fog in the sun because it will be obvious to all that happiness happens when we are being, and doing, good.

It is want and poverty, self loathing and reproach that fuels imorality. Even at the highest levels of evil such as Hitler's hate, there is a remedy. He suffered from the illusion that he could compensate for his insecurities by crushing his imaginary enemies, and he used his intellect to pursue his hate. Had he been guided and mentored as a kid, he might have been taught that his dream of 1000 years of German rules was a stupid and pointless ambition; and that the "grand scale" of things is, as it has always been, in the hand of God and not man.

Oh, I do think the hand of God is guiding us all-I grant you that. But I think all our fairly tales about wars with Satan and arch angels and a battle for our souls are just us being silly children. We need to grow up and understand that we are still looking "through a glass darkly"- admit that we don't see the big picture yet. We would be better served standing in the soup line serving the homeless, or letting the guy merge on the freeway; or advocate for the elderly; to vote, drive a smaller car. Our children are smarter than us- that is a good thing.

There is so much arrogance it religious rhetoric that it scares me a little. Christian zelotry is not so much different than the Islamic Jihad mentality- we are right! and we will die for what is right! and we will kill you for what is right! and "I told you so" if you don't believe in Jesus, then you deserve to go to Hell"! etc.

Well guess what? I believe that Jesus was born the son of a virgin, the son of God and the best man who ever walked the face of the Earth. We should listen to what he said and try our best to follow His example. But in your quest to study the bible, study bible history as well and learn where you fairy tales came from- they didn't come from the bible- they came from a misguided interpertation of the bible! The whole "swept away" idea is a flight of fancy yet millions believe it is bible truth. Brother, we still are a bunch of silly kids believing in ghost and monsters. Let God be the "Dad" that sits by your bedside and tells you, "Son, don't be afraid of Hell and Satan because that is a fairy tale. In the morning, the sun will rise to a beautiful day and we will go fishing"

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein