@nugger @moomin @yockeypuck I was attempting to reference Paul's writings more, but Genesis will work fine as well. I will note that my upbringing was in the PCA (Southeastern American Presbyterian, but leans heavily towards Calvinism).
On the imago dei: If not the spark of creativity (lacking in certain tribes), if not the yearning to know the universe (lacking in most non-Aryan tribes), then what is the image of God? Where does it stop? Does the Australian Aboriginal possess it? The semite?

On the power of christ: I have heard that before as well, and there is my problem with christianity. A great deal of its attractiveness to me was its claims that the holy spirit gave you the power to decide not to sin and help (through the power of the holy spirit).
Throughout my upbringing, it was explained to me that without christ, you were spiritually dead and incapable of choosing to not sin, once you "accept" you are free from the punishment and can "choose not to sin" but will still struggle to be righteous, and when he comes back, you will not need to choose to not sin because you will see the better alternative in its full glory and always choose righteousness.
Anyways, it all went fine until I got into lust, which as I am sure you are well aware of, is a particularly destructive sin. I began praying for the holy spirit to help me overcome it, but struggled more. I sought wisdom in the church, and the church told me to read my bible more often. I did, nothing changed. I tried having a daily quiet time, and making it as much about my relationship with god (not about the routine) as I could.