Thank you for this.
Trying to get this message out is the main reason I freep at all.
So many secularists, atheists, hedonists, liber(al)tarians, "fiscal conservatives" and the like don't get it. I can understand ThugDemocrats not getting it; they LIKE the idea of hell - like the description of Satanism in a thread yesterday about the UK Navy allowing "registered" Satan worshippers in the Navy.
Personally, my beliefs don't encompass a person who is an evil competitor of the Supreme God, but individuals become "satan" to the degree that we rebel against God out of envy. And such rebellion is expressed by rejection of God's laws, which moral absolutes are virtually the same in every religion in the history of the world - even non-theist philosophies such as Buddhism. For instance, the Golden Rule is extant all over the world - and if people don't live it, they're worse than animals.
Many people have this fantasy that a person can toss sexual morality out the window and still have morality in other areas of their lives. Not true. Sexual immorality leads to exploitation, selfishness, and hardness of heart, which leaks into every other aspect of life.
I have written more than once (on those 10 Commandment threads) about the universality of the 10 Commandments. We rejects such basic moral laws at our peril. I can only shake my head, fearing, yet knowing that God is in control of His creation. It is up to each small, faithful soul to do our parts, no matter how seemingly tiny or unimportant. I know that ultimately, universal justice (which is not really separate from mercy) will be done.
A lion cub feels safety in the big jaw and sharp teeth of his mother as she carries him to safety, while the monkey or antelope feels its death.