One thing I have learned since abandoning the church 15 years ago is that some pentecostal churches have members express their belief in an outright emotional way in front of their church congregation.It is not unique for Mormons to do this as Mormons think.

I got up in fast and testimony meeting one Sunday morning as a teenager and bore my testimony without crying.

I did. But it was more than when I was a teenager or young adult. I think it's because teenagers are more emotional and more driven by their emotions to do things. So if you are even going to get up and bear your testimony as a teen, it's probably for an emotion-driven reason to begin with.

I bore my testimony quite often as a girl and I would cry. However, those tears were generally brought on because I was talking about how much I loved my family.

As an adult, I can count two times I've borne my testimony. Once, after my first son was blessed. And the second, in a RS meeting a few years ago. I remember during the second, my faith was so shaken and I did not testify of "the truthfulness of the gospel." I was so confused and in a fog. I was a mess. I'm sure the sisters in that room thought I was a nut job. Sigh.

I didn't and that's probably why some people didn't believe me.

If you don't cry and you're a woman then you don't "have the spirit".

You also don't get the 'cool'jobs in the church. You have to be able to shnivel in public (and not from an allergy) that the "choych is troo and the Priesthood is soo super-ior to you because they went on missions and you're only a woman (who doesn't read or study for herself?) and you LOOOOOVE President Profit etc.

No

I was just emotional, and there was a part of me that had doubts about Mormonism. My reaction might have looked like crying. That was a long, long time ago, and I was young, doing what I'd seen others do. My mother bore her testimony just about every testimony meeting. I'm not proud of it, but it's kind of funny looking back!

I have as an adult but not because of a spritual experience more so on the feelings I had experienced. The last time I bore my testimony was just after my dad had died years ago. I cried for the loss of my father, that was the last time I have been at the microphone.

Durn internet.

Of course. I agree with CA girl, teenagers are emotional to start with. So are new mothers, how can you thank God for a newborn and not be a little emotional?

Interestingly I've just realized I don't ever remember seeing my TBM mom ever bear her testimony in public. She was adamant that the church was true, would not even consider any other possibility, but she was not a public display of emotion kind of gal.
Also my limited experience of church out west vs church here in the midwest is that the whole testimony thing seems to be weepier in the mormonish part of the world. Here in what used to be called The Great Lakes Mission our big weepy types are generally transplants from Utah or Idaho.
Midwestern women don't talk in that baby voice either. Maybe it's a genetic flaw we have from not being born of righteous pioneer stock?

Nope! Didn't have a testimony to cry about.

I remember crying a couple of times as a teenager. Both of the occasions I really remember were when something personally painful had happened just prior to me bearing my testimony.

As I got older, I didn't bear my testimony at all. At the time, I didn't have conscious doubts but most church stuff made me think very cynical things.

I once visited a Christian Scientist service years ago with a friend.

I can't recall the name they used to describe it but it was nearly identical to fast and testimony meeting.

Members would stand up, and give their thoughts about their life and their faith...

No, but there was a 2 year period in time when me and my bud would treat testimony meeting like a open mic standup comedy night, and see who could get the most laughs. It was tricky because you had to throw enough church stuff in to keep from being shut down, and you have to have a wrap up at the end that makes religious sense of the whole mess, that makes the audience think "awww! He loves his family/church leader/etc and thats why he was poking fun at him. So Special!". It was fun for a while. He was better at the "tie ins" and I was better at the "wrap ups".

That is amazing! Wish I'd thought of that, before I swore never to return to that place.

I didn'tget up there much to bear m,y testimony very often. And for the same reasons that I hate selling things, or bragging about myself; it's just unseemly.

But yeah, I turned on the waterworks the few times I got up there. But then, I have fair acting talent, too. Wanted to fit in, after all...

The last talk I gave right before I left was Easter Sunday of 07 or 08. It was on Jesus, and I cried like a bumbling baby -- I'm an atheist. Looking back, I wondered why I did that. I have come to the conclusion that I knew it was false, but felt like I had to do it because I was part of the group. The tears are something like being violated, because you know it's wrong on some level, but feel compelled to do it.

Does anyone else share that sentiment?

Oh yes!

I did. But the one and only time I got up to do the testimonkey thing, I was eight, had just been baptized, and it was very expected after being dunked.

Even then I only cried because it was humiliating to feel so obligated to make a fool out of myself. That's how I regard all testimonkies. Drama llamas given a pulpit.

Nope....never had one to begin with so never had to stand up and lie....

I cried when I bore my testimony... I believed it all, it was important to me, and was a deeply emotional part of my spirituality at the time.

But for the record, I never cried when talking about Joe or any of the leaders, or the BoM... so at least I have that going for me.

As a missionary, all I had to do was recite my scripted, memorized "testimony" on cue, while I, or my companion, parroted unbi-assed, memorized "discussions". We asked leading questions that only fools would agree to answer. Yeah, that was really emotional. Of course the best salesman-missionaries were those who could flood the whole spiritual (ob)scene with "genuine" Glenn Beck-like tears.

All crap!

sometimes it was tied to real although cultivated emotions and other times I felt like Pavlov's dog. Put a mic in front of me and have me say the words "I know" and for some reason tears would come. So weird.

I still get emotional in movies and over stupid stuff but it happens far less these days.

Of course I cried... you were supposed to cry. I cried even harder when I started to doubt because I was so sad that I didn't mean what I was saying (but you have to bear the testimony sometimes to know you have one) and because if I cried, then people would not suspect my unbelief.

I nearly cried in frustration while sitting through awful testimonies. I don't think I ever got up and said Jack Squat.

I remember F&T meetings as the most stupifyingly boring events I have ever had the misfortune to attend....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2012 12:48AM by andyb.

After blessing my daughter whom we had adopted several weeks before after an emotionally difficult experience with foster care. I was very emotional and used this opportunity to say some heartfelt thank you's to some of the people who made the adoption happen...oh and not a word about the church, I did not leave it in the name of Jesus Christ, instead I thanked the congregation.

I cried because I was scared out of my mind to be in front of that many people!

I Never bore my testimony.

I would always cry--real tears--when someone else cried. I'm still like that, but not with testimonies anymore. My wife-beater ex could turn the tears off and on like a faucet. Glen Beck, Henry Eyring, the girls in the dorms at BYU, my sociopath brother, my former bishop--their fake tears seemed so sincere.

I was 13. I started laughing and couldn't stop. Never again.
My punishment exceeded my "sin" by a factor of 50.

TBM Parents SUCK!

I never did. I realized after I left the Church that I never really did the testimony thing correctly. I was one of those, "I'm thankful for ... and I learned a great spiritual lesson today," type of people. But I would never say that I knew the Church was true.

I didn't bear my testimony often, but when I did, I don't think it was the way we were supposed to do it. I wasn't one of those who droned on-and-on about a shopping trip though.

I managed to do it in a way that no one noticed I hadn't done it correctly, because I would only bear my testimony when it was something really good which had come up to relate to people and I'd see people nodding their heads, liking what I said. LOL

The atmosphere in a Fast and Testimony meeting can be supercharged with emotion.

It is easy to get caught up in the crowd mentality. Some personalities are more sensitive to the emotions of those around them and in large emotion-fill crowds have a problem seperating what the crowd is projecting from what is that person's real emotion.

Are you a "softie"? Do you empathize or sympathize with the sad "commercials" for mistreated animals and hungry children?

Don't feel embarrassed if you were ever "feeling the spirit" in church. It is human to want to connect with those around you. It is built into our DNA...it is what caused primitive "man" to form tribes and survive when being alone meant certain death.

Be proud that you have developed your intellect (self) enough to overcome your emotional (self) in dealing with Mormonism. That is why you are here and not in a Fast and Testimony meeting with a burning in your bosom.

One question...Do you think that your experience with the "conartists tactics, thought control, manipulations and illogical beliefs" of the Mormon Church has made you more able to recognize the same kinds of things in other parts of your life (interactions with people on the job, in social settings, in business?

like at girl's camp when they'd go around the circle and, of course, I cried. NERVES make me cry. I thought bearing testimonies was stupid. I'll say it again--even as a mormon, I always felt my beliefs were personal. I always viewed mormonism different than anyone I knew.