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A young man in my ward got up and gave a really awesome testimony. I was smiling from ear to ear, and made sure to find him later and thank/encourage him. His testimony was one of the last ones. Several adults had gotten up to bear their testimony, including several people in youth and primary presidencies. They were all pretty typical. Many of them talked about struggles and feeling inadequate as some part of what they said.
So this really cool young man got up (this is really his style, from what I have seen). He says (paraphrasing) that he doesn’t see all those people who got up before him as “failures.” They (the youth leaders) have been a big inspiration to him growing up, in small ways. So in that, they have done a great good, which he appreciates. He said “It doesn’t matter if we fail and fail a thousand times in life. As long as we do some good along the way, and bring good to other people, and just make it through life, then everything will be OK. What is important is the good we do, even if it is just a little, not how many times we fail at it.”
It really came across as a counter to all the usual hand-wringing about perfection and guilt. I really like this young man a lot.
That’s awesome. What a great perspective. Our Bishopric was reorganized last week, and our new Bishop shared a really cool testimony. In essence, he quoted from “Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy” (one of my favorites) and talked about being a “lower light” to bring people to the ultimate light of Christ. He then shared openly the retention stats for Priests in our stake and talked about how we have to make everyone feel more welcome and accepted in the Church, since so many people who feel different or not part of the majority end up leaving because they don’t feel loved and accepted.
He is stereotypical Mormon in appearance (a successful doctor with 8 young children, adored Choir Director married to the Primary President, good-looking, musically gifted, etc.), so it was wonderful to hear his first testimony from the pulpit be about loving and accepting those who are different.
Oh, and last Halloween, he came to the church party in full face paint and tight jeans as Gene Simmons. Have I said I really like this man?
Wow Brian, what a great kid… I like him too! This reminds me of a Mother’s Day talk that I will never forget. I typically hate SM on mother’s day. A bunch of speakers getting up and sharing how perfect and wonderful their moms are. It usually left me feeling like a bad mom and somewhat depressed by the time the meeting is over. On this particular Sunday (about 8 years ago) Pres. Faust was visiting our ward. His daughter is my neighbor, and he was attending his grandson’s mission farewell that day. He wasn’t on the program, but had asked if he could speak at the conclusion.
He stood and said that he had a message for all of us mothers out there. He basically said… “You are all doing far better than you give yourselves credit for. You may never receive the recognition you deserve from your family, but know this… our Father in Heaven is aware of all your efforts and is eternally grateful.” He then reiterated the fact that we are all doing better than we think. This was so nice to here and exactly what I was needing that day. I have always remembered it.
Old-Timer wrote:Oh, and last Halloween, he came to the church party in full face paint and tight jeans as Gene Simmons. Have I said I really like this man?
LOL. That is awesome!
It is, of course, all good if people find useful and good meaning in the church that leads them to live good lives. I doubt anyone with a soul would be against that. But the church’s claims are too bold to allow me to give any countenance to this kind of airy-fairy happy approach to “testimonies” that are delivered, especially by young members who likely have no clue of the problems inherent in the church’s history. I remember all too well being driven to testify on fast and testimony Sunday that (while starving) “I believe the church is true and that JS is a true prophet of God.” Geez, that was hard-core propaganda. curt, is there nothing in the young man’s testimony that you think is worthwhile? Why is it important to you to diminish or dismiss this young man’s message and call it “airy-fairy”? How do issues with the Church’s history (or even truth claims) have anything whatsoever to do with what he shared? I think it’s extrememly important for you to examine your reaction to this post – NOT that we can’t share negative experiences or vent, but rather for what it says about your perspective – your “spiritual eyes”, if you will pardon that phrasing. In this particular case, the issue isn’t the Church in the slightest; it’s you and your reaction to everything about the Church – even good things like this.
If your reason is, essentially, “That’s not what I was taught or experienced,” I understand the frustration. However, even that doesn’t change the nature of what this young man shared – and it certainly doesn’t explain fully the bitterness and derision toward him in your comment. I really think it’s important for you to tackle your reaction to this post – privately, first and foremost, and here if you desire to do that.
FWIW, the young man in this story comes from a broken home. His mother is only partly active, and has some issues, as far as I know. I don’t know the details. I didn’t mention these facts when I originally told about the experience. I felt he was thinking about people in his life when he talked in a compassionate way about making mistakes in life. I would also suspect he really gets a lot of positive attention from his youth leaders, and values that connection with other good role-model adults he gets being active in church. So at least in this case, I felt it was a real and sincere “testimony” from life experience.
Hmmm? I think people, myself included, often overreact when they realize, at least in the individual’s mind, that the church is not all it claims to be and that in essence, that the church has been “lying” to us this whole time. I know that I will often judge Mormons much harder than I will, say my catholic neighbors. I mean seriously, I would tend to be skeptical of this man’s testimony too, but I wouldn’t bat an eye if my catholic neighbor said something like this, in fact, I would be very happy for him. This is something I have been working on, and all NOMish people need to be careful of. I “KNOW” that the LDS church is NOT the one an only true church on the earth. But just because I “KNOW” something, doesn’t make it true. Just because I say so, doesn’t make it “true.” It’s no more “true” than some kid getting up and saying he “KNOWS” the LDS church is the one and only true church.
What the hell is “TRUTH” anyway?
I need to accept that perhaps the LDS church is a viable pathway to god, even though I don’t accept it. We expect the LDS members to give us that wiggle room (most will not I admit), so the least I can do is give them a little bit too.
Does that make sense to anyone. There are a billion Muslims who KNOW their religion is the one and only true religion on the face of the earth. But that doesn’t make it true. There are 13 million mormon’s who claim they belong to the true church. Doesn’t it make true. I claim to be following the right pathway and I occasionally still use the word, KNOW — doesn’t make any of it any truer just because I say so or 1 billion Muslims say so.
I believe that’s profound, cwald – and I particularly like the following: Quote:We expect the LDS members to give us that wiggle room (most will not I admit), so the least I can do is give them a little bit too.
I think it’s appropriate to modify the Biblical statement, “We love him, because he first loved us,” to, “They accept us, because we first accepted them.”
However, just as not all whom he loved love him in return, not all whom we accept will accept us in return – as you said in the quote above. Our job is to accept them anyway, since, “If ye love them only which love you, do not even the publicans also?” (or however the exact wording goes)
Brian, Thanks for sharing that testimony. It was awesome. Just like this young man had a dsyfunctional family at home, he recognized the good in the dsyfunctional church family as well. People are such a mixed bag and I think sometimes we expect too much ‘perfectionism’ from the church members because we are taught that is our ultimate goal. I can relate to this young man because my mom was so mentally ill after WWII in Germany. The wonderful substitute mom’s I had in Young women’s groups, got me through some hard times. A few years back I heard a teen girl give a talk on the Book of Mormon in SM. She was so refreshing because she said said that she really thought it was the most boring book she had ever read first time through. Her dad was in the high council and was there. I think the hardest thing for me in the church was not feeling like I could express my fears and doubts or difficult questions without them thinking there was something wrong with me.
A Chinese guy got baptized here a few months ago. He stood up and gave an amazing testimony, but he’s not always dressed according to the code… So much for the idea that clothing = testimony. Or something like that.
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