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Okay.What do you say to my contentionthat anessential part of being human is being responsible and that to deny us a part, albeit highly derivative -- so much so that we say Christ does the work, is to deny what makes us humans?

I'm not asking this contentiously (or not meaning to, anyway. It's a problem I've been working on since 1973.

No, it doesn’t deny “what makes us human”, it recognizes that we are indeed human. It also recognizes that through Adams sin we were separated from God and have no ability within ourselves to remedy that. Through God’s grace alone He has brought us back into communion with Him.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

If you understand how God made the covenant with Abraham you understand how it is He who does it all. Remember that He put Abraham into a deep sleep and God Himself acted as both sides in the making of the covenant.