Since I was a small child I’ve recited The Apostle’s Creed in church.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar, the Creed is essentially a synopsis of the essential tenets of the Christian faith, intended to be professed in corporate worship as a shared declaration of belief. It’s world-altering big picture stuff touching on the reality and trinitarian nature of God, the identity, life, mission, and resurrection of Christ, the existence of the Trinity, the concept of eternal salvation, the function of the Church, and the return of Christ as judge.

And while I’ve said the words consistently throughout my life in thousands of gatherings, I’ve often been less than fully convinced of at least one bit or another at any given moment yet unable to reveal it, especially in the presence of my peers where my conspicuous silence would have outed me instantly.

After all the Creed is a moral litmus test, a spiritual bellwether; a verbal line in the…