Do you have a testimony?

[memoriesbymichelle]

So I was listening to the radio on my way to work and heard a preacher that I happen to like state that "If you don't have a testimony, then you probably aren't a christian" and I was like Whaaa?

See as far back as I can remember my Grandmother is the one that told me the Gospel story. I believed it right from the gate. I went to a Lutheran church as a kid, but my parents did not attend. I remember my mom dropping me off on Sundays. I'm sure she picked me up too, I just remember the dropping off part. I went to lutheran camp as a kid. When I moved, I didn't attend church for a long time. When I was almost 21 I decided I needed to get right with God before I could go back to church. My cousin invited me, but that was my response. Then after meeting my future husband in a bar, we started going to single's bible studies together. Eventually we moved to Jacksonhole and a couple of months after that we go married. Then we eventually moved back to CA and in April of 1982 I went to Corona Del Mar and got baptized. Oddly enough, my husband did not go with me, nor did any family members. I remember the baptism like it was yesterday. I remember going into the water and I felt like I was being buried and then coming up I truly felt re-born.

But it's not a testimony like alot of people have where they hit rock bottom and then look up, or God meets them one day and they break down cuz they realize how real God is. I believe He is real, I also believe I have a relationship with Him.
I just have never heard that statement that if you don't have a "testimony" you are not saved.

What is YOUR testimony? Do you have one? Curious minds want to know

 

[mjmcmillan]

Bird-cage covers. So help me. Every time I hear something like that on the radio or on TV, a bird-cage cover comes to mind. The bird is chirping away and it drives you nuts, you put the cover over the cage and soon the bird gets quiet.

Given the great value of what's on TV these days (Cable TV-- hundreds of channels and nothing fit to watch) a bird-cage cover has just about become mandatory equipment.

In your case, you've given examples of radio preachers who have no clue what they're saying but they think they're preaching the Oracle of God. It's a pity you can't place a bird-cage cover on the car radio, but it does have an on/off switch and a station selector. Something ought to work.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Bird-cage covers. So help me. Every time I hear something like that on the radio or on TV, a bird-cage cover comes to mind. The bird is chirping away and it drives you nuts, you put the cover over the cage and soon the bird gets quiet.

Given the great value of what's on TV these days (Cable TV-- hundreds of channels and nothing fit to watch) a bird-cage cover has just about become mandatory equipment.

In your case, you've given examples of radio preachers who have no clue what they're saying but they think they're preaching the Oracle of God. It's a pity you can't place a bird-cage cover on the car radio, but it does have an on/off switch and a station selector. Something ought to work.

LOL well on alot of other issues, I actually agree with this guy, so it kind of took me by surprise and of course it made me think.

 

[blackribbon]

Southern Baptist church is big on having at least a conversion date...the day you walked the aisle!

Problem is that I don't remember ever NOT believing. I know in my teen years I had to make the decision to continue to believe...but that is not the same thing in my book.

As for a testimony...hope that my life is that. No, I didn't have to make bad decision and hit rock bottom in order to be a good Christian...so I don't have anything like the radio preacher was asking for. I'm fairly sure that we won't be docked for not have a point where we turned our backs on God so that we could have a good testimony. I'm okay with just living in such a way that no one is surprised to find out I'm a Christian...that my life and heart meet what they imagine a Christian should look like. (I'm not so concerned with meeting the expectation of other Christians though).

 

[mjmcmillan]

Fascinating thought: MBM said she didn't have a testimony, then promptly gave a good testimony in the OP. I wonder how many of us, when approached on the subject, are going to have a similar "Who, me???" response.

I reckon that for many, born and raised in the church, it may be nearly impossible to fix a date when you believed or a moment when you "Hit bottom" and so on because your parents raised you in the faith and you've kept the faith from when you were young. Now, you're asked to compare your testimony against those who have been saved from abusing drugs, alcohol and each other and--- you don't know how to compete since your worst sin was burning a pie. Then some radio/TV preacher comes on and you get the idea that since you don't have a testimony like the guy who was saved from drug abuse, maybe your Christian belief should be questioned.

Nothing of the sort! Rejoice, your parents did a good job teaching you the faith and you've learned it. If Jesus asks you to go and do, you'll go and do. So, what's the problem again???

 

[blackribbon]

My testimony of the day is that God loves His children enough to provide comfortable nursing shoes at an affordable price exactly at the moment they are needed.

 

[MennoII]

My Testimony is that someone had the courage to tell me I was a sinner. When he told me that I kinda hated him and his group for telling me I was a sinner who needed Jesus. It took God a good 4-5 months, to get it thru my head that my trial was not how good I was compare to others, but how good I was compared to God's Law.

After God got it thru my thick skull that I didn't obey His laws as I should, will this just say I understood what Paul wrote in Romans 7:13-25.

24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:24-25

So around Thanksgiving in 1982, someone insulted me, telling me I was a sinner that needed Jesus; and I lied to them and say I acceptted. But God knew my heart; and finally the Holy Spirit; got me to admit I was sinner and ask Jesus to save me on 1 April 1983. I was adopted into the family of God on this date (Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 4:5-7).


LOL; I became a Christian on the Atheist national holiday (Psalms 14:1; 53:1). Probably because during that 5 month I acted such a fool. Hopefully this makes me a fool for Christ's sake (I Corinthians 4:10).

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

My Testimony is that someone had the courage to tell me I was a sinner. When he told me that I kinda hated him and his group for telling me I was a sinner who needed Jesus. It took God a good 4-5 months, to get it thru my head that my trial was not how good I was compare to others, but how good I was compared to God's Law.

After God got it thru my thick skull that I didn't obey His laws as I should, will this just say I understood what Paul wrote in Romans 7:13-25.

24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:24-25

So around Thanksgiving in 1982, someone insulted me, telling me I was a sinner that needed Jesus; and I lied to them and say I acceptted. But God knew my heart; and finally the Holy Spirit; got me to admit I was sinner and ask Jesus to save me on 1 April 1983. I was adopted into the family of God on this date (Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 4:5-7).


LOL; I became a Christian on the Atheist national holiday (Psalms 14:1; 53:1). Probably because during that 5 month I acted such a fool. Hopefully this makes me a fool for Christ's sake (I Corinthians 4:10).

You got saved on April fool's day? Wow! Guess you can't forget THAT date huh?
For me, my grandmother taught me about the bible and Jesus. Funny thing is that I revered her teaching and then a few years ago, I talked with my aunts (her daughters) and found out how aweful she treated them in regard to christianity. I also had realized some years before that, that she had a narrow skewed view of "her religion" because she had "church" in her house ever since I could remember, but she was talking about my cousin's husband being able to come to the "service" but not being able to become a "member" and I was like . And then she went on to say that since Lena died (she and Lena started this "church") no one could become a member. And again I was like . It didn't shake MY faith because I had by that time found the "real" thing, Praise the Lord, but it was really weird to view her in that different light.

But let me be honest here and not lead you to think I have always been a good girl. I was not. In my teens and even in my older years I have done drugs, smoked and other things I'm not proud of. I can even remember doing drugs and talking about Jesus! Still doesn't make it right. It's by God's grace alone that I am still here, and not dead or a heathen.

 

[dayhiker]

I happen to have a time, summer camp, that I accepted Jesus, but to say everyone needs to have a date or memory that is their testimony is to put God in a box and essentially say God has to save everyone the same way He saved me! God always does things in a variety of ways. Sounds like the one who says God only does it this way is the one who doesn't know God to me!

 

[Life2Christ]

Nothing of the sort! Rejoice, your parents did a good job teaching you the faith and you've learned it.

That's what I'm talking about! Testimonies exist because people weren't listening to the Word to begin with.

My testimony in a nutshell: I was a dirty, rotten sinner. I got fed up with my life. God stopped me from a suicide attempt (literally, I'm not even talking about figuratively). I chased God ever since; the nebulous, universal, universalist, hippie God that I KNEW was there. My grandmother said if you want to get close to that God Jesus can take you to him. Jesus?? Are you sure? Ok, I'm sold. Jesus I'm putting all my sinning eggs in your basket. I want God and nothing but.

 

[jimbattle]

I will share my testimony later.

 

[miss-a]

Legalism. "If you don't have a testimony...If you don't tithe...if you lead at least 83 billion people to the Lord, while spinning in a circle in your ruby red slippers and saying 'there's no place like home,' then you're probably not saved." Holy guacamole, Batman!

My testimony is that the Lord has freed me from a whole bunch of that poo.

(Other stuff, too, but I'll save that for another post. Right now I need oatbran, though guacamole would be nice.)

 

[Bass4Jesus]

Mine reads more or less like "The Hound of Heaven," except the dog was tracking me from miles away, and I didn't know it was a dog. I didn't know what it was. I just knew something was back there and its eyes were on me. It took years. I first sensed something in '82.

 

[dayhiker]

Hi Bess4 ... that's a neat little testimony.
Also good to see a fellow New Englander!

 

[TheyCallMeDavid]

So I was listening to the radio on my way to work and heard a preacher that I happen to like state that "If you don't have a testimony, then you probably aren't a christian" and I was like Whaaa?

See as far back as I can remember my Grandmother is the one that told me the Gospel story. I believed it right from the gate. I went to a Lutheran church as a kid, but my parents did not attend. I remember my mom dropping me off on Sundays. I'm sure she picked me up too, I just remember the dropping off part. I went to lutheran camp as a kid. When I moved, I didn't attend church for a long time. When I was almost 21 I decided I needed to get right with God before I could go back to church. My cousin invited me, but that was my response. Then after meeting my future husband in a bar, we started going to single's bible studies together. Eventually we moved to Jacksonhole and a couple of months after that we go married. Then we eventually moved back to CA and in April of 1982 I went to Corona Del Mar and got baptized. Oddly enough, my husband did not go with me, nor did any family members. I remember the baptism like it was yesterday. I remember going into the water and I felt like I was being buried and then coming up I truly felt re-born.

But it's not a testimony like alot of people have where they hit rock bottom and then look up, or God meets them one day and they break down cuz they realize how real God is. I believe He is real, I also believe I have a relationship with Him.
I just have never heard that statement that if you don't have a "testimony" you are not saved.

What is YOUR testimony? Do you have one? Curious minds want to know

Here is my Testimony on how I came to Christ ---

I used to be a person that embraced
atheism/humanism for many adult years and who bought into the cultures
mantra of sexual
hedonism , going for the gusto in life, and doing virtually anything I
felt like doing to satisfy the urges and impulses in an effort to find
ultimate fulfillment , happiness, and joy. Everything I tried was
short lived , destructive to myself and others, and essentially
superficial . A g/f I had at the time started taking me to her
families church and over the period of a year, I started to realize
that life was more than just going on a personal feeding frenzy of
joyseeking , material acquisition, prestige, fancy vacations, and the
like . During this same time period, I heavily investigated the
scientific evidences for our personal theistic Creator , for the Bible
being the most accurate historical document in existence which gives
eye witness evidence to the life, death, burial, and ressurection of
Jesus Christ who claimed to be God in the flesh. I started reading
books by popular notable Researchers/ Scientists / and Philosophers /
and Law Professors such as Prof. Simon Greenleaf who is THE worlds
foremost Law Professor in Court of Law Evidence techniques that put
the New Testament to a stringent mock court trial as encouraged by his
students...and based on the evidence became a Christian from an
Agnostic. As I surrendered bit by bit my life to God and his control
eventually leading me to become a dedicated Christian , I noticed my
heart, will, emotions , desires taking a drastic turn toward the
things of God , living righteously, caring and serving Others, and
loosing my quest for self centered lifestyles. Like so many others
testify, God reconstructed my life from the inside out. This is only
part of what GOd gives to those who choose him over the worlds idea of
living ...in addition, I have the assurance of knowing where im going
after this brief earthly interlude , I have been reconciled to God
thru what Christ has done and my sins are not counted against me (and
there are many) , and the lure of sin (what our culture promotes for
narcissism) doesnt have any power over me. My life is filled with
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness , goodness and physical death for
me will be a welcomed graduation day because there is no unknown when
death comes knocking -- Christ conquered that too on the cross for me
(and you) .

That is how my life has been changed by the real and living Christ.

 

[Doctor Strangelove]

Legalism. "If you don't have a testimony...If you don't tithe...if you lead at least 83 billion people to the Lord, while spinning in a circle in your ruby red slippers and saying 'there's no place like home,' then you're probably not saved." Holy guacamole, Batman!

My testimony is that the Lord has freed me from a whole bunch of that poo.

(Other stuff, too, but I'll save that for another post. Right now I need oatbran, though guacamole would be nice.)

LOL! Seriously, there are some people who have had a dramatic conversion experience - that's great. But I remember being almost interrogated by people I knew who were from a revivalist background who tried to judge how saved I was based on my experiences and since I didn't have a sudden dramatic experience they figured I must not be a "real" Christian. I try to look to the finished work of Christ - that is something I can take comfort in because it is an objective fact - it is something He did for me and there is nothing I can add to it.

 

[Bass4Jesus]

Hi Bess4 ... that's a neat little testimony.
Also good to see a fellow New Englander!

Thanks, man. Shout out back to ya. I used to play in your state from time to time -- Franklin/Wrentham area. Used to buy all my amps at Miconi Music out in Attleboro. Anyway, stay warm, buddy!