Maggie's Farm

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Tuesday, April 5. 2011

Testifying

Re Testimony Sundays, at AVI:



Jonathan thought this was the coolest church service ever. Having only been to Lutheran services to that point, the idea of church where people would get up and cry and talk about their alcoholic parents and being beaten, going to school in awful clothes, having only bread and milk for food for a week - or alternatively, having husbands that went off for "affairs," - we had covered in our Ten Commandments teaching that "adultery" was stealing someone else's husband or wife, and I think he dimly grasped that something like this was up - and the police coming to your house or being teased at school... well my goodness, this is the most interesting church we have ever been in, Dad. Can we come back next week?


If somebody wants to testify in my church, warn me in advance. I ain't coming. In my opinion, it's for private.

Posted by Bird Dog at 18:49 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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Is that church, or a reality TV show?! Count me out too.
#1 Big___Al on 2011-04-05 18:53 (Reply)
Funniest thing I've ever seen in church was a wedding we attended at an evangelical fundamentalist Christian church. Wedding is proceeding normally when the good Reverend decided he had the need to do an altar call before the exchange of vows.

First time I've ever seen a congregation completely and totally baffled. :>)
#2 Tom Francis on 2011-04-05 19:11 (Reply)
"If somebody wants to testify in my church, warn me in advance. I ain't coming. In my opinion, it's for private."

I'm with you!

We Papists have a perfectly functional and private system for getting stuff of our chests:

It's called "confession".
#3 JJM on 2011-04-05 20:26 (Reply)
Can I get an "Amen!"?

I always cringe at the church service that turns into an Oprah confessional.

And while we're on the subject: I'm not a fan of clapping after the choir sings. It's NOT a show, people!
#4 Eric (Link) on 2011-04-05 21:07 (Reply)
we attend what most here would call a fundamentalist Christian church. folks sometimes do need to be reminded by the pastor what a testimony is: a declaration of the great things God has done. it's not to air the potentially gory, boring, private, [insert adjective] details of one's life.
#5 rayinCT on 2011-04-05 21:17 (Reply)
For atheists like myself, all of these things make for entertaining adventures. And if you are of an age, you can stand outside the tent with the teenagers as they comment on the well worn spiels.
#6 chuck on 2011-04-06 01:52 (Reply)
Well, you atheists and teenagers can hang out all you want and debate the meaning of life. I don't believe in either of you.
#6.1 Big___Al on 2011-04-06 05:41 (Reply)
Personal choice, folks. Some find affirmation of faith in being quiet, others in talking and listening. I'm pretty sure G-od hears both.
#7 Sgt. Bob (Link) on 2011-04-06 09:09 (Reply)
Christe Eleison!

Yall call that church?

Sounds more like AA meeting.

Church is for glorifying God where i go.
#8 Leag on 2011-04-06 14:16 (Reply)
thank the gods I'm an Anglican.
#9 Wirraway on 2011-04-06 15:45 (Reply)
That ain't "Testimony".

Testimony is how The Lord Jesus managed to reach you and Save you. Your personal sins, or the things that you have been sinned against in, are between you and Him.

That's how I tell the difference. If someone claims to have come to Jesus, and then spends a half hour telling me about how badly they have been abused, I know they are faking it. Because if they really know and accept Jesus, none of that matters any more. Once I had found a "New Life in Christ", the old one was done.

So there's no need to revisit it, unless you are playing the audience. Apologies to anyone who feels the need, but it happens regularly, and I can see it when it does.

Once I knew Salvation, it was no longer about me at all.

And since I'm hardly a Preacher, I've been on this soapbox too long already.

That's all I'm going to say about it.
#10 jefferson101 on 2011-04-06 20:02 (Reply)
It's an Americanized church- it's all about THEM. True worship is about glorifying God. So sorry that their pastor is not leading them in the Word. Run back to that Lutheran church!
#11 molloaggie on 2011-04-08 00:20 (Reply)

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