Testimony Bearing

Testimony meeting day has inspired me to make some comments.  I did not want to give my opinion of testimony bearing.  I have quoted church leaders on what they have taught about bearing testimony.

One of Many Testimonies of Brigham Young. 

Undertaking to prove that the Book of Mormon is true learning and worldly wisdom "... it would have been to me like the smoke which arises only to vanish..."  He said, "I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, ..." (Deseret News, Feb. 9, 1854)

A Testimony is:

• Not an exhortation.
• Not an experience
• Not an expression of gratitude or love 
• Not a public confession
• Not a sermon or a talk
• Not a long explanation of how you know 
• Not a public confession
• Not saying "I have a testimony" 

Elder Jay E Jenson of the Seventy  October Ensign 2005

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “[I] worry that too many of our members’ testimonies linger on ‘I am thankful’ and ‘I love,’ and too few are able to say with humble but sincere clarity, ‘I know.’”         “Pure Testimony,” Ensign, Nov. 2004

“learn to express a brief, heartfelt testimony of our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the truths of the restored gospel” (First Presidency letter, Feb. 14, 2013)

"We should remember that bearing a heartfelt testimony is only a beginning. We need to bear testimony, we need to mean it, and most importantly we need consistently to live it. We need to both declare and live our testimonies."  Elder David A Bednar of the Twelve Apostles    October Ensign 2009

“Three great truths must be included in every valid testimony:

• That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world (D. & C. 46:13)
• That Joseph Smith is the Prophet of God through whom the gospel was restored in this dispensation; and 
• That The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the ‘only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.’ (D. & C. 1:30)” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 785–86).