Convictions and opinions are not the same, are they? Someone has said, “Opinions are many, convictions are few; opinions change often, convictions rarely do.” Opinions live on the surface; convictions go deep. Opinions thrive around the gossipy edges; convictions live near the center of life. One way to tell the difference is to ask, What would you make a sacrifice for- of real money, of significant time, of patient suffering, even of life if necessary? The more you would pay, the closer you move to the conviction end of the scale.

The church, as a body of believers across time- what the Apostles’ Creed calls the holy catholic church and the communion of the saints, also has convictions. We have informed teaching on many issues, but the word doctrine is generally reserved for the few issu…