A few questions about your experience with personal testimonies:
Are personal testimonies routinely given in formal or informal meetings?
What topics are related in the testimonies (getting saved? getting healed? etc?)?
How significant are testimonies to you? Is it important for you to hear them or to give them?
Do you accept all testimonies as legitimate?
Do you ever find someone’s testimony as implausible?
Have you ever known anybody to be confronted because they gave a suspect testimony?
Do have any other comments about testimonies?
Thanks.
Testimonies
Testimonies
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Re: Testimonies
Not at my current church. We hear reports back from mission trips and stuff like that, but don't really consider that a "testimony" in this context.SamIam wrote:A few questions about your experience with personal testimonies:
Are personal testimonies routinely given in formal or informal meetings?
Mostly, "look at how good I am now compared to all the horrid stuff I used to do". The more horrid, the better.What topics are related in the testimonies (getting saved? getting healed? etc?)?
Important as a witnessing tool. Not much benefit to me other than that.How significant are testimonies to you? Is it important for you to hear them or to give them?
I think some are exaggerated.Do you accept all testimonies as legitimate?
Yes.Do you ever find someone’s testimony as implausible?
NoHave you ever known anybody to be confronted because they gave a suspect testimony?
Even Mormons have them.Do have any other comments about testimonies?
D.
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Sam-I-Am,
I am generally skeptical in regard to any benefit from testimonies as popularly given. People get carried away with telling anyone and everyone how great it has been to be a Christian, how they were instantly relieved from a terrible sin or healed from cancer, &c. Then I wonder what effect this has on the one who is not healed, the one who has a terrible battle with a besetting sin. How does the testimony make them feel? That God does not love them? That they are somehow to blame (as they are often accused of being)?
What if someone got up and said "I have followed Jesus all my life, always been faithful and loved others. I had polio when I was 12, my dear father died when in my twenties, had major surgery in my thirties, my husband died in my forties with two teens still at home, I had breast cancer in my fifties, and Alzheimer's in my sixties, and was assaulted along the way." Do you think this true "testimony" would be popular among the testimony crowd?
A testimony I appreciated was that of our former pastor. Before he became a Christian, he had a terrible fear of death, with nightmares about it. After he became a Christian, the fear was gone.
I am generally skeptical in regard to any benefit from testimonies as popularly given. People get carried away with telling anyone and everyone how great it has been to be a Christian, how they were instantly relieved from a terrible sin or healed from cancer, &c. Then I wonder what effect this has on the one who is not healed, the one who has a terrible battle with a besetting sin. How does the testimony make them feel? That God does not love them? That they are somehow to blame (as they are often accused of being)?
What if someone got up and said "I have followed Jesus all my life, always been faithful and loved others. I had polio when I was 12, my dear father died when in my twenties, had major surgery in my thirties, my husband died in my forties with two teens still at home, I had breast cancer in my fifties, and Alzheimer's in my sixties, and was assaulted along the way." Do you think this true "testimony" would be popular among the testimony crowd?
A testimony I appreciated was that of our former pastor. Before he became a Christian, he had a terrible fear of death, with nightmares about it. After he became a Christian, the fear was gone.
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A Berean
Google "John Todd" or "Alberto Rivera". Todd came to my church when I was in high school. Everyone bought his story. Even gave him money.Michelle wrote:Can you give any examples? I think (know) that often I'm gullible...
D.
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Yikesdjeaton wrote:Google "John Todd" or "Alberto Rivera". Todd came to my church when I was in high school. Everyone bought his story. Even gave him money.Michelle wrote:Can you give any examples? I think (know) that often I'm gullible...
D.
(Aside: I can't seem to get away from Jack Chick these days!)
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A few questions about your experience with personal testimonies:
Are personal testimonies routinely given in formal or informal meetings?
Both; but the ones I hear in formal meetings are usually read or practiced so they seem less sincere. I prefer informal conversation.
What topics are related in the testimonies (getting saved? getting healed? etc?)?
Getting saved seems to be the main focus. I like stories about what God is doing in people's lives, except sometimes nothing much is happening
How significant are testimonies to you? Is it important for you to hear them or to give them?
I like to listen to people's stories, so I like to listen to testimonies. It's not really that important.
Do you accept all testimonies as legitimate?
Hmmm...I'm pretty gullible...
Do you ever find someone’s testimony as implausible?
Again, gullible
Have you ever known anybody to be confronted because they gave a suspect testimony?
No, but it probably would be a riveting episode to observe.
Do have any other comments about testimonies?
I like them, usually. The last sevice I attended at the last church I attended regularly, there were two people who gave salvation testimonies. They forgot to mention Jesus. Both of them. It really bugged me, so I never went back.
Are personal testimonies routinely given in formal or informal meetings?
Both; but the ones I hear in formal meetings are usually read or practiced so they seem less sincere. I prefer informal conversation.
What topics are related in the testimonies (getting saved? getting healed? etc?)?
Getting saved seems to be the main focus. I like stories about what God is doing in people's lives, except sometimes nothing much is happening
How significant are testimonies to you? Is it important for you to hear them or to give them?
I like to listen to people's stories, so I like to listen to testimonies. It's not really that important.
Do you accept all testimonies as legitimate?
Hmmm...I'm pretty gullible...
Do you ever find someone’s testimony as implausible?
Again, gullible
Have you ever known anybody to be confronted because they gave a suspect testimony?
No, but it probably would be a riveting episode to observe.
Do have any other comments about testimonies?
I like them, usually. The last sevice I attended at the last church I attended regularly, there were two people who gave salvation testimonies. They forgot to mention Jesus. Both of them. It really bugged me, so I never went back.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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We had a husband and wife testimony given on Easter Sunday. It is something our church does on that day annually. I did not know this couple personally so when two people came to the stage and stood at opposite ends of the stage, I thought we were about to hear two unrelated testimonies.
The woman gave her's from a typed out script. She read it all but it came across very believeable and sincere. It was quite long but that was because she gave her whole life history about once having never known the Lord and then coming to Him by way of one of our members who is an ex-pastor and now a counselor for a major company in our city. She told about herself but also included her husband in the mix and how they both had been involved in all the the things of this world.
Then the husband spoke. His was all given off the cuff. He is an uneducated person and told his story well.
It was not a time of crying and emotions like that but it was a time of joy in hearing how this couple in their thirties had found the Lord while on seperate paths in their lives. First the wife came to know Christ and then the husband about a year later while being driven home when released from a rehab center.
They both have been very faithful in their attendance and work within the church and there seems to be a wonderful support group for them.
I am not one to usually go in for testimonials but this one was well accepted by me.
The woman gave her's from a typed out script. She read it all but it came across very believeable and sincere. It was quite long but that was because she gave her whole life history about once having never known the Lord and then coming to Him by way of one of our members who is an ex-pastor and now a counselor for a major company in our city. She told about herself but also included her husband in the mix and how they both had been involved in all the the things of this world.
Then the husband spoke. His was all given off the cuff. He is an uneducated person and told his story well.
It was not a time of crying and emotions like that but it was a time of joy in hearing how this couple in their thirties had found the Lord while on seperate paths in their lives. First the wife came to know Christ and then the husband about a year later while being driven home when released from a rehab center.
They both have been very faithful in their attendance and work within the church and there seems to be a wonderful support group for them.
I am not one to usually go in for testimonials but this one was well accepted by me.
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I have always enjoyed hearing people's stories, and how they came to know Christ. It is especially edifying if they go on to describe some of the curtrent working of God in their lives since their conversion.
Though I have only seen Michelle once in the past thirty years, she and I attended the same church in our childhood (her brother was my best friend for several years). From my years in that church, I do not remember anything from any sermon that the pastor gave. However, I have distinct memories of certain testimonies given there which had a positive impact in my Christian life at the time.
One of those testimonies was of a couple who shared (during a big "Stewardship Sunday" thrust), how that they had begun tithing, even though their finances were very tight. Their testimony was about how the Lord had taken care of their every need, once they began giving the first "tenth" to God.
I suppose I actually heard a number of such testimonies over the decade that I was in that church (it seems that there was a Stewardship Sunday" every year). These testimonies helped to shape my world-view, in seeing God as a present reality who could be trusted to attend to the necessary details, if we put Him first. Long after I left that church, I received further encouragement along the same lines from the testimonies of George Mueller, Hudson Taylor and others, whose lives convinced me that the same principle held true even when one gives more than a tenth to God. Thanks to these testimonies, I was encouraged to choose a course of life which has yielded a multitude of testimony-worthy experiences to encourage others.
Another testimony that got my attention was that of a missionary returned on furlough from Africa, who reported to the church of the work God was doing on the field. The only thing I remember specifically about this testimony was the dramatic case of a demon going out of a woman. This story woke me up to the reality of the demonic realm, and, by extension, to the dynamic involvement we as Christians have with the reality of the spiritual dimension.
Just before my family moved to Orange County, where I got involved in the Jesus Movement, while still at the Baptist Church, the high school group had some guys from Teen Challenge come in and give their testimonies for the youth group (as I recall, these same guys also came to a school assembly and told their stories at our public high school).
I had lived a sheltered life, and, in 1969, had never met anyone who admitted to having used illegal drugs. These visitors told stories of how they had begun with marijuana, and progressed, eventually, into heroin addiction. These young men had been saved through the ministry of Teen Challenge, and had been delivered from their drug addictions without experiencing withdrawal, and were now zealously telling everyone about Jesus.
Michelle's brother and I had certainly never used drugs, and we were the most evangelistic members of the youth group, but we did not have the dynamic zeal of these visiting witnesses. I was very impressed with them, and especially with one of them who spoke of having spent nine straight hours in prayer without having sensed the passage of time. I really wished I could have that kind of a prayer-life, which I did not!
Of course, over the next few years in the Jesus Movement, almost everyone I knew had been an abuser of illegal drugs before their conversion, so "drug-a-monies" like these were eventually "a-dime-a-dozen." However, at this early stage, hearing these men from Teen Challenge, I realized, for the first time, how Christ could dramatically save sinners and deliver addicts by His supernatural power.
I realize now, of course, that these guys were "full-gospel charismatic/Pentecostals"—which I was only too soon due to become as well, but their testimonies, when I first heard them, primed me to expect the kind of dynamic working of God in the lives of troubled and desperate sinners that I was soon to witness on a daily basis in the kind of street and coffeehouse ministry in whioch I came to be involved.
I am always very thrilled to hear testimonies. I admit that I, too, am fairly gullible—though less so than in the past. I believed John Todd's testimony when I first heard it, in 1978. However, his having been exposed as a fraud, I was more cautious when the Alberto story began to circulate, and never bought it. I was totally taken-in, however, by the false testimony of Mike Warnke (the alleged satanic high priest who became a Christian evangelist).
I try to be discerning about testimonies that I hear, but I do tend to give the brother or sister the benefit of the doubt. I have definitely heard some testimonies that have raised red flags of doubt over the years, but I can't remember specifics.
Though I have only seen Michelle once in the past thirty years, she and I attended the same church in our childhood (her brother was my best friend for several years). From my years in that church, I do not remember anything from any sermon that the pastor gave. However, I have distinct memories of certain testimonies given there which had a positive impact in my Christian life at the time.
One of those testimonies was of a couple who shared (during a big "Stewardship Sunday" thrust), how that they had begun tithing, even though their finances were very tight. Their testimony was about how the Lord had taken care of their every need, once they began giving the first "tenth" to God.
I suppose I actually heard a number of such testimonies over the decade that I was in that church (it seems that there was a Stewardship Sunday" every year). These testimonies helped to shape my world-view, in seeing God as a present reality who could be trusted to attend to the necessary details, if we put Him first. Long after I left that church, I received further encouragement along the same lines from the testimonies of George Mueller, Hudson Taylor and others, whose lives convinced me that the same principle held true even when one gives more than a tenth to God. Thanks to these testimonies, I was encouraged to choose a course of life which has yielded a multitude of testimony-worthy experiences to encourage others.
Another testimony that got my attention was that of a missionary returned on furlough from Africa, who reported to the church of the work God was doing on the field. The only thing I remember specifically about this testimony was the dramatic case of a demon going out of a woman. This story woke me up to the reality of the demonic realm, and, by extension, to the dynamic involvement we as Christians have with the reality of the spiritual dimension.
Just before my family moved to Orange County, where I got involved in the Jesus Movement, while still at the Baptist Church, the high school group had some guys from Teen Challenge come in and give their testimonies for the youth group (as I recall, these same guys also came to a school assembly and told their stories at our public high school).
I had lived a sheltered life, and, in 1969, had never met anyone who admitted to having used illegal drugs. These visitors told stories of how they had begun with marijuana, and progressed, eventually, into heroin addiction. These young men had been saved through the ministry of Teen Challenge, and had been delivered from their drug addictions without experiencing withdrawal, and were now zealously telling everyone about Jesus.
Michelle's brother and I had certainly never used drugs, and we were the most evangelistic members of the youth group, but we did not have the dynamic zeal of these visiting witnesses. I was very impressed with them, and especially with one of them who spoke of having spent nine straight hours in prayer without having sensed the passage of time. I really wished I could have that kind of a prayer-life, which I did not!
Of course, over the next few years in the Jesus Movement, almost everyone I knew had been an abuser of illegal drugs before their conversion, so "drug-a-monies" like these were eventually "a-dime-a-dozen." However, at this early stage, hearing these men from Teen Challenge, I realized, for the first time, how Christ could dramatically save sinners and deliver addicts by His supernatural power.
I realize now, of course, that these guys were "full-gospel charismatic/Pentecostals"—which I was only too soon due to become as well, but their testimonies, when I first heard them, primed me to expect the kind of dynamic working of God in the lives of troubled and desperate sinners that I was soon to witness on a daily basis in the kind of street and coffeehouse ministry in whioch I came to be involved.
I am always very thrilled to hear testimonies. I admit that I, too, am fairly gullible—though less so than in the past. I believed John Todd's testimony when I first heard it, in 1978. However, his having been exposed as a fraud, I was more cautious when the Alberto story began to circulate, and never bought it. I was totally taken-in, however, by the false testimony of Mike Warnke (the alleged satanic high priest who became a Christian evangelist).
I try to be discerning about testimonies that I hear, but I do tend to give the brother or sister the benefit of the doubt. I have definitely heard some testimonies that have raised red flags of doubt over the years, but I can't remember specifics.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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In Jesus,
Steve
Steve
Thanks to all for your comments. I will confess to being skeptical of personal testimonies. I willingly accept a 2000 year old testimony written in a book but am dubious of a verbal testimony about last week. Go figure.
Perhaps the ones I heard in my youth were too trivial. (Was the God of heaven really concerned that the fellow from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes broke into the starting lineup?) Perhaps they were too contrived. (Could the preacher's son really have been leading such a depraved life of sin before he got saved?) At the end of the day, I heard little in a testimony that enhanced my faith. Mostly, it made me wonder if the testifier was on the level.
Maybe I would have considered more dramatic testimonies in a better light. I am not too impressed by a non-verifiable claim, like quiting drugs withdrawal free. Again, just makes me wonder if the testifier is on the level. Nine hours of prayer without the sense of passing time also makes me wonder. Was he exagerrating the length of time? Did he sense the passing of time more than he was letting on? Is there a particular virtrue in such extended prayer? Is a nine-hour trance something God would want me to experience and why?
Can I be a Christian in good standing and totally disregard personal testimonies?
Thanks.
Perhaps the ones I heard in my youth were too trivial. (Was the God of heaven really concerned that the fellow from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes broke into the starting lineup?) Perhaps they were too contrived. (Could the preacher's son really have been leading such a depraved life of sin before he got saved?) At the end of the day, I heard little in a testimony that enhanced my faith. Mostly, it made me wonder if the testifier was on the level.
Maybe I would have considered more dramatic testimonies in a better light. I am not too impressed by a non-verifiable claim, like quiting drugs withdrawal free. Again, just makes me wonder if the testifier is on the level. Nine hours of prayer without the sense of passing time also makes me wonder. Was he exagerrating the length of time? Did he sense the passing of time more than he was letting on? Is there a particular virtrue in such extended prayer? Is a nine-hour trance something God would want me to experience and why?
Can I be a Christian in good standing and totally disregard personal testimonies?
Thanks.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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