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Well, it’s that time of month again. Any ideas to help pass the time on fast Sunday? I generally dislike the rameumptom thing very much and would rather not listen. I have gotten bored with my thankamony bingo sheets. I have occasionally heard some wonderful testimonies from some nom type folks…but those are really far between. After you take the sacrament, find a reason to leave for the bathroom……then, sit in a room an read the scriptures for a while — Kindle or e-Reader with the scriptures on it passes for respectable in the actual meeting itself if you have to sit there due to family (no one has challenged me on it when I do it). Also, try viewing the meeting as if everything is symbolic. Paraphrase testimonies in your own mind substituting “I know the Church is true” with “this person really likes the Church”. “This person has reason to believe…etcetera”. At times the whole experience looked like an alien social meeting to me, particularly when I realized I could no longer believe as a traditional believer. It made the whole thing look different to me — and more tolerable — for a couple months. By now most people here know I will provide other threads that deal with the topics mentioned in new posts, so here I go: “I’d like to bear my testimony, I know this church is …” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=290&hilit=fast+testimony+meeting “Tetimony” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1837&hilit=fast+testimony+meeting “Knowing the church is true” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2441&hilit=fast+testimony+meeting “Fast & Testimony Meeting” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2625 haha, you are the search master Ray. I’m not really so mean to people in my mind while people are up there. The meeting does get annoying sometimes though….even for someone who doesn’t have hard questions.
I had a chuckle over this topic. As a missionary I always dreaded bringing investigators to fast and testimony meetings. It just gives members a chance to go off, or seem too robotic. I liked to refer to testimony meetings as “open mic” Sundays for the congregation to do as they please. No other church does this that I know of. I have benefited from probably 10% of the testimonies that are ever given during fast and testimony meeting in my entire lifetime. Very recently my ward had a special meeting to discuss the bearing of testimonies, and how it should not be a travelogue, and that it should not be a thanksgiving gratitude session. Nevertheless, I’m sure people will just continue in the way of the average Open Mic Sunday at the local meeting house. Our church is weird in this regard. Truly we are peculiar people with crazy tendencies. I just can’t wait til I hear a young woman start to cry and tell how she loves all her friends because of their experience at girl camp, and how it changed her life. Boy Scouts changed my life; I hate camping now, so there. I learned how to do blue darts, play numerous card games, and play pranks. I don’t think a camping trip in scouts ever helped my testimony to grow, except for the fact that scouts was one of the few areas where non-members could come to church and do church activities without feeling they were a weird Mormon or something.
haha, I was too sore this morning from an extra long game of racquetball yesterday so I wimped out. I like to stir the pot and point out that we aren’t much different than the BOM folks on the rameumptum thing. On a high note, I got to spend the morning teaching my son letters and numbers so he’ll be able to read on his own in a few months. We had a really wonderful testimony meeting today. So much of it depends on the local leadership and their willingness to teach, model and insist on spiritual meetings and testimonies. As I listened to people saying that they know the Church is true, I couldn’t help but think of everyone here – and hope that your participation here allows you to understand the sincerity of their words when truly not expressed thoughtlessly. The people today in my ward were stating something deep and meaningful for them – that the LDS Church works for them, that it helps lift them and draws them closer to God. “The Church is true” is an easy shorthand for that special feeling for many people. I found myself consciously thinking of our conversations here and yearning that things like this NOT be over-analyzed and intellectualized to the point that they lose the underlying meaning most people hold when those words are said.
Fwiw, I mentioned the death of Sister Chieko Okazaki and explained her analogy of the “crazy quilt” – that a quilt can be warm and beautiful and comforting even if none of the individual pieces is exactly the same. I mentioned my “knowledge” that God loves each and every one of us, even though we all are different in many ways – even important ways.
I have to admit that besides a handful of testimonies today, it was quite remarkable. I actually went up today, and just stood in silence and only could say a few things. I just couldn’t speak. Everything I wanted to say flooded through my mind at a hundred miles per hour while I was seated down. I guess that was it, the spirit bore witness to me of things that I know to be true now. I guess I didn’t really need to bear my testimony out loud; I bore it in my heart, and since God knows all, I know he “heard” it and by then it really was unnecessary to get up and share it. So, when we think people don’t have testimonies for not getting up in front of people and bearing it; I know that is a false misrepresentation of truth. The fact that people aren’t getting up, but are sitting silently in their seats is a testimony for having a testimony and perhaps a testimony against Remeumptum Sunday altogether. Just because someone doesn’t profess their faith outwardly doesn’t mean they have no faith inwardly. This was the lesson I learned today. The worst testimony in our ward last Sunday was from an area seventy (not our area), and the best was from a girl in her mid teens wearing jeans with short hair. Our F&T meetings in this ward are usually pretty good.
We had a very positive and spiritual testimony meeting. I bore my testimony about how we are all children of God. That He loves us so much that He sent His eldest and most obedient son to blaze a trail for us. Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice in giving his life so that we as stumbling, flawed, awkward individuals could be made re-unified, at-one, and whole with the Father. I know that there is life after death because on the third day Jesus rose from the dead and was resurrected. He is the proof of life! I know that he lives still. He stands at the head of our church and inspires our leaders just as He inspired a confused boy by the name of Joseph Smith. Those of God’s children that are confused, lost, or hurting in our day can reach out to the living Christ and be comforted.
Perhaps I have an overinflated sense of my own impact, but it seemed that our testimony meeting was much more Christ centered after that. For me, bearing my testimony occasionally is an important part of participation in the ward. I also feel that it is good for my kids to see. Of course, when I looked down from the podium to see what my kids were doing -they didn’t appear to be paying the slightest bit of attention (from what I could tell they seemed to be crawling on the floor). Perhaps my bearing my testimony had a negligible effect on others and the bigger impact on myself.
Old-Timer wrote:By now most people here know I will provide other threads that deal with the topics mentioned in new posts, so here I go:
“I’d like to bear my testimony, I know this church is …” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=290&hilit=fast+testimony+meeting “Tetimony” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1837&hilit=fast+testimony+meeting “Knowing the church is true” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2441&hilit=fast+testimony+meeting “Fast & Testimony Meeting” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2625 This is what I like about this forum. Sure, you can be reminded that the topic has been discussed, but you can also go forward and discuss it again after the reminder.
I think there is value in discussing old topics again:
1) They are fresh to new comers or new members.
2) The opening poster not only wants information, but interaction, which you don’t get in an old thread.
3) People’s perspectives change, even if they participated in the old thread. I love going back and seeing what I wrote a year ago on the same topic to see if it’s the same or if I have changed my mind.
Amen, SD. I NEVER provide older posts in order to stop new conversations; I do it simply so people can see what has been said about it previously.
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