NOMish Testimony Last Sunday

[_consiglieri]

I bore a NOMish testimony last Sunday at church and thought I would share it here.

It was in the context of sharing a story about a Book of Mormon I had given away the previous week. I will try to recreate what I said below as I said it from the lectern.

________________

Good morning, everybody, My name is Consiglieri! (I used an enthusiastic tone of voice throughout so as to help people wake up and also to distinguish my comments from the soporific five-minute homily I was following.)

I wanted to share an experience I had this past week giving a copy of the Book of Mormon to a lawyer friend of mine named Jim Abernathy (fake name used here, natch). Jim is very interested in the foundational texts of different religions and has read a lot of them, and asked me if I would get him a copy of the Book of Mormon so he could read it.

I was at church last Sunday and saw the cardboard box out in the foyer (pronounced “foh-yay”) with the sign saying “free stuff” and while rummaging through, found a Book of Mormon. I grabbed it and took it home with me.

Last Monday, I took it to work to give to Jim. I didn’t put a photo of me and my family inside. I didn’t write my testimony on the front page. I didn’t mark up a bunch of scriptures. I was going to make this as easy on me as possible.


That’s my version of a cross between the Book of Mormon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. (I surveyed the audience to find only a sea of quizzical looks.) Nobody here has seen The Treasure of the Sierra Madre? It’s a classic. You really need to see it!

(Here I heard chuckling coming from behind me and turned to see our bishop laughing and telling me he got the joke.)

So anyway, I had Jim read that verse and told him the whole chapter goes on in a similar vein. He said he liked that verse and reiterated how he thinks God doesn’t restrict his knowledge to only one group of people.

That made me think of Alma 29 and I told him that there, the Book of Mormon says that in every nation, God gives as much of his knowledge . . . and here Jim completed the sentence for me . . . “as they can handle,” he finished. Jim really liked that idea, too.

Jim said that he feels like when he reads religious texts, he can feel it when there are things that are true because they sort of resonate with him.

Which made me think of Moroni 10:4, of course. Now, Moroni 10:4 is the single most famous scripture in the whole Book of Mormon and everybody knows it. Which is why it was funny when I turned to it and had him read it, and he remarked that I must really know my Book of Mormon. I tried to hide a smile here.

This whole conversation was going like it was scripted. Jim might as well have been named Mr. Brown.

You know what he asks me next? He asks me why it is that I believe this book. I paused for a second because I sure hadn’t planned on bearing my testimony during this encounter, but how could I not when he asked me point blank?

So I told him I prayed my way through the Book of Mormon when I was 18 and received an extraordinary experience while doing so. He asked me if I would describe it, which I did.

He looked at Moroni 10:4 again and asked me if I felt that was the Holy Ghost bearing witness to me. I allowed as to how I did.

Jim says he is going to read this book and asks if I would mind if he calls me with any questions he has. Of course, I say not at all.

Well, I don’t know if God was behind all of this or not, but I thought it was a remarkable experience and I wanted to share it with you.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
_________

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_Fence Sitter]

You and I have different concepts of NOMish. To me, that was OOMish.


by the way it is pronounced For-Yay because when you finally get out of another boring meeting it is where you mutter an inaudible YAY!!!!!

[_zeezrom]

Nobody here has seen The Treasure of the Sierra Madre? It’s a classic. You really need to see it!

Okay. :)

[_consiglieri]

You and I have different concepts of NOMish. To me, that was OOMish.


by the way it is pronounced For-Yay because when you finally get out of another boring meeting it is where you mutter an inaudible YAY!!!!!

You didn't like the way I emphasized the expansiveness of God's interactions with humanity?

And backed it up with the Book of Mormon?

That is what I call a sermon within a story.

And my "yay!" upon leaving another boring meeting is frequently audible.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_moksha]

You didn't like the way I emphasized the expansiveness of God's interactions with humanity?

--Consiglieri

I think it is NOMish Consiglieri. When you can include God with the rest of the 99.9991% of humanity, it not only takes on a NOM quality, but can get you followed by a pickup truck with a gun rack in Sanpete County, Utah.

[_consiglieri]

Good thing I am a fur piece from Sanpete, then!

[_LDSToronto]

Well, I don’t know if God was behind all of this or not, but I thought it was a remarkable experience and I wanted to share it with you.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

lol - Nice!

[_consiglieri]

This closing was particularly funny because after I sat down, another brother stood up and said that while he was on vacation, a lot of coincidences happened that couldn't have been for any other reason than God.

He chose not to detail the coincidences to allow us to judge for ourselves, nor what miraculous occurrence was accomplished as a result.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_RockSlider]

This closing was particularly funny because after I sat down, another brother stood up and said that while he was on vacation, a lot of coincidences happened that couldn't have been for any other reason than God.

He chose not to detail the coincidences to allow us to judge for ourselves, nor what miraculous occurrence was accomplished as a result.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

And I assume he knew how to property chapel Mormon close (where you failed)

"I say these things in the name of JC ... amen"

[_consiglieri]

Oh, yes, he totally had that part down, too!