Our attempts to follow religious laws and "be good people" paradoxically result in our moral decay as we strive to serve the law and not God. The very laws that promise life tragically result in our spiritual death. By accepting Jesus as our personal savior, we die to sin (and the law) and are reborn into a new covenant relationship with God - akin to marriage - where we can experience God's full grace, mercy, peace, love, trust and freedom.