Without Jesus Christ life is ultimately futile.

I cannot believe that you personally nor anyone else actually derives meaning through their descendants. I believe they may derive temporary meaning through their children's (and to a MUCH lesser extent grandchildrens) achievements such as academic or buisness sucess etc. This applies to the (X5) grandfather finding meaning by creating offspring back whenever. Listen to any conversation and you will hear the things that give humans meaning: Ones immediate offspring are mentioned often.. one's far off progeny, never. I believe the vast marjority of people derive meaning from culture which by it's very nature is transitory and fickle. (had you been born 30 years earlier it may have been 'the bay city rollers' and not 'the killers' on your profile.) You state that 'life is what matters'. I agree and here I think we have arrived at a central point.. what is life? Is life really just born/grow/breed/die? We may in all likelihood 'have few laughs' along the way but in actuality death is the real focal point of our lives. Does someone on death row have the same quality of life as you and I? (if we set aside the actual prison conditions and the question of his guilt etc) Because just as his impending execution colours his every waking (and unwaking) hour then so does the fact that we, and our children and so on, must perish.. So in the same way that you and I might observe the death row inmate's existence as 'not much of a life' -Our own lives IF WE CONSIDER ETERNITY must take on the brittle and mettalic flavour of defeat and death. Which of course in one of the reasons for NOT considering eternity. Real Life, as God intended it, is eternal. The focal point of the next Life is eternity itself. The focal point of this 'life' is our own demise. As much as animals 'believe' in anything at all they believe in Jesus Christ. A better way to describe it would be they 'recognise' Him. Afterall, He created them. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. The Word became flesh. Adam and Eve were created perfect but they were also given a choice..(or else they would be robots) And that choice really came down to 'Trust my Word or the devils.' They chose the devils and they did indeed 'surely die' both spritually and, eventually, physically. As I'm sure your aware the word gospel means 'good news' and the GOOD NEWS is that God HAS washed away your sins in 'one fell swoop' as you say.. The cross of Jesus Christ! GOOD FRIDAY! He bore YOUR sin, paid YOUR debt. You seem to know your way around the Bible pretty well so you understand that 'blood sacrifices' (the life is in the blood-'lifeblood') were used in the judaic culture as atonement (reconcilliation to God) for the sins of israel.. It had to be a spotless lamb. Christ is our 'spotless Lamb' . His blood alone has the divine worth to pay the debt. Rom 5:14 This passage shows the purpose of the Law! to expose sin! (we've been here before have we not?) They didn't sin from there own perpective because they didn't know it was a sin. (not explicitly anyway) 1John3:9 This refers EXACTLY to the clothing of oneself with Christ, being born-again.. God CHOOSES to see our iniquity no longer. The word repentance simply means to turn from something to something else. So you could not possibly turn from your sinful life to new Life in Christ without repentance.. There may be an emotional element attached to that but that is not what is at the center of the process, it's Spiritual not emotional. Regarding Lot, I can only say that we only compare with what we have at hand.. compared to Hitler I'm a real swell guy! compared to Jesus Christ I am an absolutely hopeless wretch.. Compared to his generation Lot was righteous. In conclusion I assert that life that is not eternal is meaningless and eternal Life can only be gained by the acceptance of Jesus Christ's attoning sacrificial death.