church. Jesus is the one mediator between God and humanity. Every human being has direct access to God through Christ. Every Christian is her or his own priest in that he or she is authorized to go directly to God for forgiveness of sins and to search the scriptures with confidence of being guided by the same Spirit that inspired those who wrote the Bible. Every Christian is a priest to others in that he or she is a member of a royal priesthood and responsible to Christ for ministering to others. Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State "Religious Liberty is the nursing mother of all liberty. Without it all other forms of liberty must soon wither and die. The Baptists grasped this conception of liberty in its full-orbed glory, from the very beginning. Their contention has been, is now, and must ever be, that it is the God-given and indefeasible right of every human being, to worship God or not, according to the dictates of his conscience; and, as long as he does not infringe on the rights of others, he is to be held accountable to God alone, for all his religious beliefs and practices." —George W. Truett Mainstream Baptists and the Bible The Bible from a Mainstream Perspective. No human understanding of the Bible can be so exhaustive and authoritative as to merit use as an “instrument of doctrinal accountability.” Mainstream Baptists think it more prudent to leave every believer free to interpret the Bible according to the dictates of a conscience that is guided by the Holy Spirit. Though Mainstream Baptists insist on thinking for themselves, there is a broad consensus among them concerning the scriptures. Mainstream Baptists love and respect the Bible. It is a holy book in that it holds a separate and unique place. It is the story of God's love. Each of us is part of that story. By identifying with this story, our lives receive meaning and direction. While Baptists love and respect the Bible, they do not worship it. The Bible is the written word of God. In and of itself it is paper and ink, words and sentences, and has no life. The Bible is not the supreme revelation of God—It points to and must be fulfilled and completed by God's Living Word, Jesus Christ. As the only mediator between God and a person, he gives