God’s gifts in the written Word are so rich that they can continue to give light and life as one digs again and again into the same Scriptures." Sin. While human beings were intended to bear the image of God, all humans are sinners for whom that image is distorted. Sin estranges people from God and corrupts human nature such that we cannot heal or save ourselves. Salvation through Jesus Christ. God's redeeming love is active to save sinners through Jesus' incarnate life and teachings, through his atoning death, his resurrection, his sovereign presence through history, and his promised return. Sanctification. The grace of sanctification draws one toward the gift of Christian perfection, which Wesley described as a heart "habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor" and as "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked." This emphasis in Methodism has led to the heralding of the motto "Holiness unto the Lord". Sacraments. United Methodists recognize two sacraments: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Other rites such as Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Funerals, and Anointing of the Sick are performed but not considered sacraments. In Holy Baptism, the Church believes that "Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. It believes that Baptism is a sacrament in which God initiates a covenant with individuals, people become a part of the Church, is not to be repeated, and is a means of grace. The United Methodist Church generally practices Baptism by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion and uses the Trinitarian formula. United Methodists also recognize as valid baptisms performed in several other Christian denominations. The Church practices and encourages infant baptism; when persons baptized as infants mature, they may confirm (or reject) the baptismal vows made on their behalf as infants by families, guardians, and congregations through a process of Christian education called Confirmation. The United Methodist Church affirms the real presence of Christ in Holy Communion, but does not hold to the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation. The Church believes that the bread is an effectual sign of His body crucified on the cross and the cup is an effectual sign of His blood shed for humanity. Through the outward and visible signs of bread and wine, the inward and spiritual reality of