Come on Down! You are the next constestant on........
Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 2:29 pm
Every now and then, either a high councilman or member of the stake presidency or bishopric decides to spice things up and cold call people out of the audience to bare their testimony. I believe this is wrong for several reasons. I'm sure the reasons are pretty obvious to most normal people. Suffice to say, Sacrament meeting should not be a time to stress or worry about being called out of the audience.
Well I think it finally caught up to them this week. The visiting high council man gives a talk about testimony (basically repeating the do's and don'ts about how to give a testimony (no thank-i-monies, no travel-monies, etc) (the absence thereof, by the way, would make for a lot of silence in our ward). Then he decides to pick someone from the audience to give their testimony. He chooses the young 16 year old daughter of very ubber-TBM family. When she hears her name, she looks at her parents for help, and they just nod, basically sayings, Yep, you better get up there. Then she looks back at the bishop and high council man, and mouths the question "Right now?" Yep, come on up young lady. So she slowly gets up there, very hesitant, and again, briefly pauses at the smiling bishop and high councilman to confirm that yes, they really want this. By the look on her face, it was obvious that she was terrified and embarrassed. So she gets up, immediately starts crying, and relates how that lately there has been a problem in her family that has caused her to question her testimony! I'm sure this was not what the HC guy or bishop was expecting. So much for the whisperings of the spirit. So she then relates that the problem is that her brother is leaving the church (an older brother not in the ward) and that it has caused her to evaluate what she believes since they both have been taught the same things. She did throw out an "but i know the church is true" in there at the end, but it was plainly obvious to everyone that she did not KNOW anything of the sort. She cried through the whole testimony, after she got down, and all the way to the car.
Frankly, i'm just stunned that leadership would put such a youth in the spotlight like that. Just what you want to do, humiliate and embarrass the youth. Make then fear coming to sacrament meeting. The whole thing just ticks me off, and really made my wife mad. I give the young lady a lot of credit for speaking the truth though. I'm sure the pressure to give the basic 30 second testimony that the HCM had just spoke about was huge, but she was honest and told the truth. Good for her. I almost want to be called out of the audience to give a testimony. The things I would say. But I would give families time to get the young children out first though.
Well I think it finally caught up to them this week. The visiting high council man gives a talk about testimony (basically repeating the do's and don'ts about how to give a testimony (no thank-i-monies, no travel-monies, etc) (the absence thereof, by the way, would make for a lot of silence in our ward). Then he decides to pick someone from the audience to give their testimony. He chooses the young 16 year old daughter of very ubber-TBM family. When she hears her name, she looks at her parents for help, and they just nod, basically sayings, Yep, you better get up there. Then she looks back at the bishop and high council man, and mouths the question "Right now?" Yep, come on up young lady. So she slowly gets up there, very hesitant, and again, briefly pauses at the smiling bishop and high councilman to confirm that yes, they really want this. By the look on her face, it was obvious that she was terrified and embarrassed. So she gets up, immediately starts crying, and relates how that lately there has been a problem in her family that has caused her to question her testimony! I'm sure this was not what the HC guy or bishop was expecting. So much for the whisperings of the spirit. So she then relates that the problem is that her brother is leaving the church (an older brother not in the ward) and that it has caused her to evaluate what she believes since they both have been taught the same things. She did throw out an "but i know the church is true" in there at the end, but it was plainly obvious to everyone that she did not KNOW anything of the sort. She cried through the whole testimony, after she got down, and all the way to the car.
Frankly, i'm just stunned that leadership would put such a youth in the spotlight like that. Just what you want to do, humiliate and embarrass the youth. Make then fear coming to sacrament meeting. The whole thing just ticks me off, and really made my wife mad. I give the young lady a lot of credit for speaking the truth though. I'm sure the pressure to give the basic 30 second testimony that the HCM had just spoke about was huge, but she was honest and told the truth. Good for her. I almost want to be called out of the audience to give a testimony. The things I would say. But I would give families time to get the young children out first though.