Moses, Jesus and Billy Graham have all identified two general areas where each of us should direct our being in two step fashion. Simply, they are these:

First - Vertical; towards God! (The First and Greatest Commandment)

a. First give Him our Heart (Christian Piety)
b. Second, our minds (Christian Study)
c. Third, our hands and feet (Christian service)

Jesus, said, “…with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.”

Second - Horizontal, towards humanity (the 2nd Commandmant)

This Blog was created because a brother in Christ conducted his own analysis of the Bible (mostly from Christ’s sayings) and concluded that everything is reduced to the horizontal –or - #2, above.

A group of us spent more than one year, one day a week for two hours, reviewing and hashing-out his perspective and everyone concluded that God’s highest priority is the soul of everyone he creates.

Yet the member we met with found himself at the James’ passage which emphasizes works. We found that we went full circle with our friend, however, he revealed that he is obsessed with his own failure and inadequacy to perform sufficient works, and he began to place ours under his microscope.

We pointed to the thief on the cross, a believer who went to Paradise; but one who had no opportunity to perform any works. He couldn’t be water-baptized, couldn’t distribute a Bible or a sandwich…he just believed.

So the blog was started with an effort to illustrate, through scripture and images from religious art, that the action role is entirely God’s – as it pertains to Redemption; hence Isaac’s Redemption. The progressive examples of individuals and groups taking no action of their own, yet being redeemed, continue to be featured on this site.

Yet, as I reviewed it last week, I found an anymous post from someone who wanted to counter the faith redemption Bible examples [God-only redemption stories] and try to empower man with his own control by citing James.

The thief on the cross and Isaac stand as Biblical examples of two men who did not save themselves. Each was spared. At the moment of their redemption, neither is recorded as having done anything with regard to the second commandment espoused by Moses and Jesus.

My redemption came 2,000 years ago through the blood of a blameless Lamb of God, through nothing I did. As I strive to attend to the requirements of the First and Greatest Commandment, I am mindful of the second.

But as to redemption, man is incapable of saving himself!

Of Course Mortal Man Will Seek for Chinks in the Armor-clad Bible. How else can a man displace God's Word with his own?

There is a very real paradox when one's ordained Pastor says or writes that he is reading a book that sets forth the notion that the Bible (66 Book, Protestant Bible) is a flawed document because it was written by "flawed" men.

The major reason for the paradox is that ordained pastors are presumed to be Bible exhorters; not Bible critics, certainly not Bible-flaw seekers.

As a Gideon, I had to publically proclaim Protestant Bible inerrancy.

But I have taken the note which was sent to me by my open-minded pastor and I have considered its ramifications. Unfortunately, they lead to a false loop containing circuitous reasoning.

Accepting the premise, for the sake of a discussion, if something touched by man is always "flawed" because of the very "flawed" nature of man; then to whom do seekers turn in order to find the truth, the way and the life? By lowering the stautus of the Protestant Bible, do ordained pastors find elevation? Should we stop reading the Bible and start reading the book my pastor is reading...or just sit down at the pastors feet so he can translate the essence of the book for our digestion?

If the ways and vagaries of man are changing and the Bible is regarded as "fixed" or closed; why would a pastor challenge anyone to consider concepts from a 21st century "flawed-man" written book that challenges the premises of the Bible?

I can only conclude that a dynamic exists that may be the reverse of a wise statement issued by John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin:

John3:28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, Iam not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. John3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: butthe friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him,rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this myjoy therefore is fulfilled. John3:30 He must increase, but I ®must¯ decrease. John3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he thatis of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: hethat cometh from heaven is above all. John3:32 And what he hath seen and heard, that hetestifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. John3:33 He that hath received his testimony hath set tohis seal that God is true.

I can only conclude that any man's efforts to diminish the Bible is an effort, by "man," to self-increase.

We should subordinate ourselves to the Bible.