Ann Coulter had an interesting article that I was finally able to read today :-)  It ends:

But we’re all rotten sinners, incapable of redemption on our own. The liberal answer to sin is to say: I can never pay this back, so my argument will be I didn’t do anything wrong.

The religion of peace’s answer is: I’ve just beheaded an innocent man — I’m off to meet Allah!

I don’t know what the Jewish answer is, but I’m sure it’s something other than, “therefore, what I did is no longer bad behavior” — or the Talmud could be a lot shorter.

The Christian answer is: I can never pay this back, but luckily that Christ fellow has already paid my debt.

It is always interesting when you compare religions.  Christianity is definitely unique in the fact that our salvation is totally independent of our own personal actions.  It is completely based on something someone else (Christ) did. It is only because He lived a perfect life that His righteousness can be imputed to us; and it is only because He died and rose again that our sins can be imputed to Him.