My Testimony
May 31, 2007 by DH
Filed under Mormoncopia
A few explanations
A testimony is something that one knows is true by the confirmation/revelation from the Holy Ghost. A confirmation from the Holy Ghost comes in many different ways and is described differently from person to person. (See Galatians 5:22 in the Bible for some ways it is manifest.) I personally describe it as if I have the chills or when you get the shivers and your body trembles slightly. I feel an almost burning like sensation that runs from head to foot and makes my body react as if I have the chills. Though difficult to put into words (As you can see from my weak attempt.) it is an undeniable feeling and absolutely necessary for one to have a true testimony.
The “logic chain” in my mind goes like this: if the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God then this is the one and only true church on the Earth today. (There is a huge difference between the only true church and the fact that I firmly believe that many churches have a great deal of truth and countless good people. My church holds a monopoly on neither truth nor good people.) This knowledge that the BOM is true is essential to have a real and personal testimony of the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With this in mind I share my personal testimony…
Like so many people that I encountered while serving my mission in Ecuador, one might make a statement like the following: “But of course you believe that your Church (and all that it envelops) is true, your parents were members when you were born and that is how you were raised and taught. How do you know you are not wrong? Furthermore, how are you so sure that you are right when that is all you have been taught your entire life and you have never really investigated or looked into other churches/religions seriously?” I considered (and still do) this a fair question/reasoning as what they often said to me is absolutely true. I was born and raised a Mormon and even raised for a good chunk of my youth in Utah-aka Mormon central. I admit that growing up I did not have a true testimony of the veracity of my Church nor its teachings. That is not to say that I ever doubted it but did not have my own personal confirmation from the Holy Ghost. I simply went to church each week and lived its teachings because that is what I was taught to do. I gained my own testimony of the BOM around the age of 16. I can remember staying up late each night reading the BOM long after everyone else had gone to bed. I had read parts of it before because others had asked me to, but I had never read it on mine own simply because I wanted to. The promise contained in the BOM itself is that one has to read it and then pray to ask God the truth. By reading and praying you can receive a personal confirmation that it is true by the Holy Ghost as I already explained. I remember that my schedule at that time included seminary at 6:45am (which meant I got up around 5:30 each morning) then off to school, basketball practice, home for a bit and then summer football practice indoors until roughly 11 pm at night. I would come home and then read until midnight or 1 am and then go to bed to repeat the same schedule. Despite my tiring schedule I can remember my great desire to keep reading each night. Night after night I read the BOM. Long before I finished it I knew that it was true. I had felt the Holy Ghost time and time again and had no doubt that it was the word of God. When I finished the book I knelt and prayed to ask if it was true (despite already knowing it was true.) and felt yet another confirmation that it was indeed true.
Since that experience I can honestly respond that I know for myself and not just because my parents taught it to me that the BOM is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church. My testimony in these basic things have led to my testimony in the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, the restoration of the priesthood and its power, that Jesus is the Christ my Savior and Redeemer, that God lives and many other truths. I have had my own confirmations time and time again since that experience and these are things that I shall never doubt.
