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So I get to church and realise that it’s F&T meeting. UGH!! These can be real downers sometimes in our ward, and they can be pretty strange as well. One thing that struck me this past Sunday was the testimony of our second counsellor. He started talking about the flooding we’ve had recently and how supplies from SLC weren’t allowed accross the border. Then he went on saying that our stake president a few months back had pushed for the stake to put together a bunch of hygene kits and blankets. He then said that, at the time, he thought it was rediculous and these blankets will be sitting around for years collecting dust. He said that he was wrong and, here’s the part that woke me up, that he guessed the SP was inspired sometimes. After that, I listened to every word he said. Here’s a breakdown:
He was thankful for the Gospel
Never mentioned “The Church”
Never mentioned Joseph Smith
Never mentioned the BOM
This was strange to me as I have never, ever, heard a leader speak this way. I opened my tablet and wrote a note to my wife asking if she thought that he was “dissaffected”. She confidently said yes, she thought that him and his wife both were but have found a way to make Church work for them. Needless to say, I payed a lot more attention to what people were saying the rest of the day.
I’ve said often that I believe there are FAR more members who walk their own unique path than most people realize – especially those who are struggling in some way. I believe strongly that well over half of the active membership has at least one issue where they disagree with the “standard Sunday School answer”. They simply deal with it in a non-confrontational way. Sometimes it is what is not said the speaks the loudest, but I try not to jump to too many conclusions. I have yet to hear a testimony like that, but I’m listening for them. Not because I want to find someone who is ‘disaffected’, but because I often feel like testimonies are so manufactured and similar. I actually toyed around with the idea of getting up this last Sunday, but I didn’t. I don’t have a testimony of anything really, at least not in the sens that others expect me to. Maybe by next month I’ll be feeling brave enough to get up and simply say that I’m grateful for Jesus Christ and for the things that the He taught while he was on the Earth and that trying to be more like Him makes me a better person. Thanks for the story, MM. Like I said in a previous post, I had a great F&T meeting as well this past Sunday. As I’ve had my faith epiphany (I don’t call it a crisis), I’ve found that my ears pick up on subtle differences when members speak, and sometimes the choices of words speak volumes. I’m in the bishopric in my ward, and I almost never say “I know” in speaking or testifying – I almost always use “I believe,” or “I hope.” And I almost always limit my testimony to the doctrines of salvation – God, Christ, the Atonement, Faith, Love, Forgiveness, etc., – and not the “appendages” to the Gospel like the BoM, the current prophet, etc. Maybe I’m more in tune to such things, but now that I’ve become more honest in how I testify, I notice the ways others testify and can often pick up on unorthodox tendencies.
Glad you enjoyed it, mate.
We had a sister missionary report her mission in HC last Sunday and she was asked to give her testimony at the end and all see testified to was the atonement, no church, JS or BOM. I didn’t want to read too much into it. I think was a little nervous.
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