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I can’t stand the tears thing, it’s so Mormon. No other church does that bearing testimony – most of the time – even if they are joyous. Actually, Sam, I’ve seen it in multiple situations, religious and even non-religious. It’s nowhere close to uniquely Mormon. I don’t get it, you’re supposed to be happy, not miserable, and they usually don’t come across as tears of joy either, but someone forcing themselves to give a “standard” testimony. My eyes tear up occasionally when I’m talking about things that mean a lot to me – regardless of the nature of it. Thus, it happens sometimes when I’m bearing my testimony – but not other times. It also happens at work sometimes, when I’m talking about people I’ve been able to help attend college and the changes that has made in their lives. I don’t see it as “spiritual”; it’s purely emotional in my view.
I’ve been encouraged to go see a woman who lives about 20 miles north of me to have a reading. For $25, she reads your body and tells you what is wrong with your health. I spend more than that in co-pays for the doctor, PT, etc. I’m beginning to think “WTH, Why not?” I recently finished helping my parents sell their house of 18 years. They used to have a basset hound who couldn’t leave a certain spot in the front room alone. I was convinced she could see it was haunted. It wasn’t a malevolent spirit, nevertheless, it was real. I think pets can often see spiritual things we cannot. Oh–RIP, Jenny Doodle!
SamBee wrote:I don’t get it, you’re supposed to be happy, not miserable, and they usually don’t come across as tears of joy either, but someone forcing themselves to give a “standard” testimony.
I do not cry crocodile tears when I bear my testimony.
I do not cry all the time either. Sometimes I speak with pensiveness or conviction.
Tears is a complex process. Sometimes I cry because “Oh God I don’t want to be up here but the Spirit asked me to bear testimony on this thing and hurts to talk about it.” Sometimes it’s out of such immense gratitude for what the Lord has done for me. Sometimes I’m reliving the emotions of the trial I conquered. Sometimes it’s from the reaffirmation that wow, God really does love me. Sometimes I’m filled with so much emotion, including feeling the spirit, and the only socially acceptable thing to do is to let your voice shake, to let your body quiver, and to cry, even when you are talking about a thing of great beauty. You can’t break out into song or raise your voice or dance. You can’t play an instrument, or create a piece of art, or write a poem. So, instead, people cry.
In my youth I saw tears as a sign of weakness, pathetic even. I’ve learned that there’s nothing wrong with honest tears. People cry, so instead of judging them and accusing them of falsehood, just accept it as a thing that is. To do otherwise causes you unnecessary suffering.
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