Testimony

If you want to know that you know that you know, a price must be paid. And you alone must pay that price. There are proxies for ordinances, but none for the acquisition of a testimony.

Conference Talk:
For more information on this topic read “Knowing That We Know,” by Douglas L. Callister,
Ensign, Nov 2007, 100-101.

Thought:
If you want to know that you know that you know, a price must be paid. And you alone must pay
that price. There are proxies for ordinances, but none for the acquisition of a testimony.

(Douglas L. Callister, “Knowing That We Know,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 100-101.)

Song:
“I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus” Children’s Songbook, p.78, verse 2.

Scripture:
Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have
fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of
myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit;
and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me. (Alma 5:46)

Object Lesson:
Materials needed: A flashlight, a lamp, and a candle.

Display the items on a table. Ask your family what they have in common. (They provide
light.) Ask when they would probably be used. (At night.) Discuss why. Ask your family what
they would do if the light suddenly went out at night. Ask how easy it would be to find a source
of light in the dark. Discuss how knowing where the source of light is and what condition it is in
helps us to be prepared.

Explain that our testimony is like the light. We seldom appreciate or even look for it in the
daytime (good times). We really depend on our testimony during the difficult time in our life.
Discuss why it is important to keep our testimony strong during the good times so that we will
be prepared for difficult times.

(Beth Lefgren and Jennifer Jackson, More Power Tools for Teaching, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], p. 99.)

Story:

I learned a long time ago that spiritual knowledge is described in a different language than is
secular knowledge.

On this I had a valuable experience before I was a General Authority. It affected me
profoundly. I sat on a plane next to a professed atheist who ridiculed my belief in God. I bore my
testimony to him: “There is a God. I know He lives!”

He said: “You don’t know. Nobody knows that. You can’t know it.” When I would not yield,
the atheist posed perhaps the ultimate challenge to testimony. “All right,” he said in a sneering,
condescending way, “you say you know.” Then, “Tell me how you know.”

I could not do it. I was helpless to communicate. When I used the words spirit and witness,
the atheist responded, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” The words prayer, discernment,
and faith also were meaningless to him.

“You see,” he said, “you don’t really know. If you did, you would be able to tell me how you
know.”

Perhaps, I thought, I had borne my testimony to him unwisely, and I was at a loss as to what to do.

Then came the experience. A thought, a revelation, came into my mind, and I said to the atheist: “Let
me ask you a question. Do you know what salt tastes like?”

“Of course I do,” was his reply.

“When did you taste salt last?”

“I just had dinner on the plane.”

“You just think you know what salt tastes like,” I said.

He insisted, “I know what salt tastes like as well as I know anything.”

“If I gave you a cup of salt and a cup of sugar, could you tell the salt from the sugar if I let you
taste them both?”

“Now you are getting juvenile,” he said. “Of course I could tell the difference. I know what salt
tastes like. I know it as well as I know anything.”

“Then,” I said, “assuming that I have never tasted salt, explain to me just what it tastes like.”

After some thought, he ventured, “Well-I-uh, it is not sweet, and it is not sour.”

“You’ve told me what it isn’t, not what it is.”

After several attempts, of course he could not do it. He could not convey, in words alone, so
ordinary an experience as tasting salt.

I bore testimony to him once again and said: “I know there is a God. You ridiculed that testimony
and said that if I did know, I would be able to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually
speaking, I have tasted salt. I am no more able to convey to you in words alone how this knowledge
has come than you are able to tell me what salt tastes like. But I say to you again, there is a God! He
lives! And just because you don’t know, don’t try to tell me that I don’t know, for I do!”

Since then I have never been embarrassed or ashamed that I could not explain in words alone
everything I know spiritually, or tell just how I received it. From such experiences we will surely suffer
some humiliation, but that is good for our faith. And we have an ever-present guide. We will be tested,
but we will never be left without help.

(Boyd K. Packer, Memorable Stories and Parables, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 57.)

Activity:
Give each person a pencil and paper and have them trace their hand. On each finger have them
write something they have a testimony of (such as Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the
Book of Mormon, and current prophets and apostles.) Have each person take turns and share their
testimonies.

Refreshment

Cherry Dump Cake
Throw this dessert together in a hurry.

2 (21-ounce) cans cherry pie filling
1⁄2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 package yellow cake mix
1⁄2 cup butter or margarine, melted
Whipped cream, for topping
Ice cream, if desired

Combine cherry pie filling and almond extract, then pour into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle cake
mix over cherries. Melt butter and pour evenly over cake mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40
minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream. May also be made with a chocolate cake mix. Makes about 12 servings.

(Julie Badger Jensen, Essential Mormon Celebrations, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005] p. 33.)

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