Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. – Proverbs 14:29

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 29, 2025): Proverbs 14

Over the past few years, I have participated in a denominational discussion. What I mourn on both sides of the argument is the lack of understanding. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, it seems that only retribution exists. I believe we should exist somewhere in the middle, between the two extremes of the argument. And my belief has always been that as Christians, regardless of what the issue might be, we need to seek understanding of the other. We need to speak to each other, not to convert, but just to understand where the other stands on the issue. But understanding never follows anger; in fact, anger blocks understanding. And right now, in my denomination or association of churches, it seems that all we have is anger.

We are Baptists. At the heart of our Baptist roots is the belief that we should be non-creedal. It doesn’t matter how good the creed might be. We know from our history that creeds have been used for negative purposes. Creeds and identity statements made the baptism of adults an illegal act not that long ago. In anger, believers in adult baptism were drowned, often with the accusation that if you want to be baptized, we will baptize you. Similarly, the refusal of Baptists to baptize infants was ridiculed.

The Baptist believers responded by insisting that the only creed we need is the one presented in Scripture. We will follow the understanding we gather from the Bible; we need nothing else. We are truly a people of the book, the Bible. Southern Baptist Scholar Grady Cothen argued that “no one had to have a checklist of beliefs, that there’s no theological template that must apply to each church.” So, we give no allegiance to any creed. We might recite the Apostle’s Creed once in a while, but we are also free to disagree with what it says. I remember long arguments I have had with friends over the phrase in the creed that indicated Jesus “descended into hell.” We understand where the idea originated, but some also believed it misrepresented scriptural truth and therefore should be rejected. But not everyone had to agree to be part of the Baptist community because, as Baptists who are essentially non-creedal in nature, we are free to have that discussion.

Carmen Anderson of Second Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, explains it as follows. I honestly wish I could phrase it better.

This non-creedal stance is a testament to our long-held belief that each believer has a personal, ongoing relationship with God. We believe that the individual Christian is competent before God, not before man. Christians must think for themselves and come to their faith through their own free will and discernment using Jesus as their guide. No one entity is allowed to make that determination for us. It’s the reason our early Baptists were persecuted for insisting in believer’s baptism. Infants were not to be baptized in our denomination because they couldn’t think and decide for themselves. We are to be accountable to God, not to the church or any other group that attempts to dictate how everyone should believe. Therefore, we remain a non-creedal denomination (Carmen Anderson).

Anger is a shortcut. Anger says that if we disagree, I don’t have to understand you because we all know that I am right and you are wrong. Anger argues that understanding requires patience, and we don’t have time for that kind of garbage.

Where does it end? Part of the problem with anger is that it often fuels itself, burning until there is nothing left in our lives.

In the midst of our disagreements, we need to pursue understanding, which means that anger cannot be present. And in the process of learning more about those around us, we might catch a glimpse of what God is doing in the world around us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 15