[Alamo-Girl]

Rats, I should have added that I use that metaphor to illustrate the hopelessness of man after the fall. He could never be good enough, he had to be born again.

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. - John 3:5-8

God's Name is I AM.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Amen! It's hard to top John as the most eloquent of all the Gospel writers. He so clearly delineated the fact that there is the natural world and the spiritual world; the natural man and the spiritual man. Black/white.

"And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." -- 1 John 5:19-20

[Quix]

Absolutely true, imho.

We cannot fix ourselves. We certainly cannot perfect our own faith.

He does ask us to cooperate, imho.