Many of our church-related problems can be traced to a single source. That is, the use of our own biblical perspectives and spiritual experiences as the standards for everyone else.

We seem to be increasingly insistent that others share our viewpoints on truth and embrace the social and ecclesiastical positions we hold — even if they are of less than eternal significance.

Of course, we Baptists have never subscribed to the idea that you can believe or do anything you want as long as you are sincere. Good doctrine and consistent moral behavior are important.

The danger comes when we elevate our own dark-glass understandings of orthodoxy — well beyond what the church has long held as essential — and use them to damage or dismiss those who dare to disagree.

This growing obsession with orthodoxy in Baptist life also wrongly suggests that to cooperate with, or be accepting of, those who might differ at some point is to compromise truth and be less than bold in one’s conviction.

In two clear ways, those are faulty conclusions.

First, there is the arrogant assumption that one’s own position on doctrine and practice is always correct. This leads to placing our personal interpretations in concrete where they are no longer open to needed reexamination.

This rigidity is often reinforced by the dangerous assumption that truth is always confirmed by a majority vote — though history is full of dreadful examples to the contrary. Our own Baptist story is replete with occasions where truth has arisen from an insightful and brave few.

Second, an over-emphasis on orthodoxy that calls for uniformity of thought and practice creates a serious misunderstanding of boldness. Embracing the truth of the Christian gospel and sharing that good news with bold proclamation is essential to our mission.

 However, standing firm in our beliefs has more to do with a willingness to sacrifice and endure hardships than it does with seeking doctrinal purity by dismissing those who might differ with our interpretations.

Some people excuse their attitudes of superiority and acts of exclusion with pious claims of boldness. They speak of being bold in their conviction as they dismiss or discredit those who will not align themselves fully.

That is not boldness; it is belligerence.

Gracia Burnham knows the difference. She and her husband, Martin, along with 18 others, were kidnapped from a resort in the Philippines by Muslim terrorists in May 2001. The missionary couple endured what she called “indescribable suffering” for more than a year of jungle captivity.

Then in June 2002, Martin was killed when the Philippine army sought to rescue them. Gracia was wounded but freed.

In a recent Internet interview, Gracia recounted those painful events and how deep faith has enabled her to carry on after such severe suffering. She also has relieved herself from the bondage of anger and hostility toward those who took away her freedom as well as the life of her husband.

It is very interesting, however, to note that as Gracia grew in her faith through these trials, she clearly discerned those things that are now most certain in her life.

“I used to have all the answers,” she recalled. “Oh my, I had my theology straight, and I knew what I was all about and what God was all about.

“I don’t have all the answers anymore. I’m much less dogmatic … I give people a lot more grace than I used to, and leave room for other opinions than mine in Christendom.

“I don’t think I have all the answers, but I know God — who has all the answers — a lot better than I’d known him before.”

Now there is a personal perspective on faith and practice that is worth our emulation.