Testimonies of the Bloggernacle

Conference Center Pulpit A friend asked whether I was aware of any good collections of testimony or “Why I Believe”-type posts in the Bloggernacle. Nothing really sprung to mind, so I thought I’d issue a call for people to share their favorites here. I’ll compile a running bullet-point list below of the suggestions.

  • By Common Consent: Pillars of My Faith (by Tracy M)
  • By Common Consent: Tesserae of My Faith (by Steve Evans)
  • By Common Consent: Elder Christofferson: The Power of Covenants (Posted by Brad)
  • Times & Seasons:  Grace in the Morning (by Nate Oman)
  • Times & Seasons: Why Do I Believe and What Do I Believe (by Kaimi Wenger)
  • Times & Seasons: What if… (I Didn’t Believe in God) (by Jim Faulconer)
  • Times & Seasons: Wilfried: My Conversion (by Wilfried Decoo)
  • Times & Seasons: My Conversion Story (by Julie Smith)
  • Times & Seasons: Adam Greenwood: My Conversion (by Adam Greenwood)
  • Times & Seasons: Gordon: My Conversion (by Gordon Smith)
  • Times & Seasons: Gina’s Conversion Story (Posted by Julie Smith)
  • Times & Seasons: Jim F: My Conversion (by Jim Faulconer)
  • Times & Seasons: More Thankful Every Day: Conversion Week on T&S (by Russell Arben Fox)
  • By Common Consent: Three Kinds of Wards (by Kristine)
  • The Exponent:  To Some It is Given (by mraynes)
  • The Exponent: Why I Stick with the Church (by Caroline)
  • The Exponent: Minimalist Theology (by Linda)
  • The Exponent:  A Simple Testimony (by Kelly Ann)
  • Mormon Scholars Testify: MormonScholarsTestify.org (by various scholars)
  • The Exponent: Sacrament Talk: Do You See This Woman (by Deborah)
  • Hopefully Mormon: Hopefullymormon.blogspot.com (Post Secret-type testimony site)
  • By Common Consent: My Mormon Thanks (by M. Norbert Kilmer)
  • By Common Consent: My Mormon Thanks, Part II (by Mark Brown)
  • Mormon Mentality: What Next (by DKL)
  • Keepapitchinin:  Joseph Smith, Again for the First Time (by Ardis E. Parshall)
  • By Common Consent: My Testimony, Christmas Morning 2007 (by John C.)
  • By Common Consent: My Testimony, March 31, 2007 (by John C.)
  • Feminist Mormon Housewives: Becoming Like Christ (by Stephanie)
  • New Cool Thang: My Conversion Story (by Matt W.)
  • New Cool Thang: More of My Conversion Story (by Matt W.)
  • Mormon Mentality: My Heavy Boat (by Brian Gibson)
  • By Common Consent: Be Not Afraid (by Brad)
  • Dave’s Mormon Inquiry:  Does Blogging Make You a Better Person? (DMI Dave)
  • BYU Studies: Irony & Grace (by Frederick Mark Gedicks)
  • Feminist Mormon Housewives: My Mormon History: Mormon, Feminist, Housewife (by fmhLisa)
  • Mormon Matters: What Bothers Me and Why I Still Believe (Adam F)
  • Mormon Matters: Keep Pedaling (Arthur H)
  • A Bird’s Eye View:  Bomb: My First Time (by Jordan)
  • Patheos: Frau Ruster and the Cure for Cognitive Dissonance (by Roger Terry)
  • Times & Seasons: This I Believe (by Kaimi Wenger)
  • Times & Seasons: Comment on God’s Plan of Grace (by manaen)
  • Our Thoughts: My Faith Crisis Story (Kim) (by Kim Siever)
  • Our Thoughts: My Faith Crisis Story (JM) (by JM)
  • Our Thoughts: My Faith Crisis Story (Sally) (by Sally)
  • LDS Alive in Christ: Jared-My Experience with the Savior (by Jared)
  • Feminist Mormon Housewives:  WHM – Mothering Sunday (by Kristine)
  • Feminist Mormon Housewives: Why I Believe (by LisaB)
  • Feminist Mormon Housewives: My Mormon History, part 1 of 2 (by Shelah)
  • Feminist Mormon Housewives: My Mormon History, part 2 of 2 (by Shelah)
  • 44 comments for “Testimonies of the Bloggernacle

    1. I really liked Nate Oman’s “Grace in the Morning” post.

      I also liked the raw honesty of Kaimi Wenger’s “Why do I believe and what do I believe” post from a while back.

      I also remember very well a comment that J. Stapley once made in response to a “Why I Stay” post — it was just a couple lines, but it resonated with me at the time and so I still remember it:

      “I have written elsewhere that one of the fundemental aspects of the Mormon narrative is to remain, to stay when others walk away. It has been that way from the beginning, though the details have changed.

      I stay because there I have had some experiences that I feel are real and these experiences affirm my faith in Jesus Christ and a belief in the restored gospel. The restored gospel is beautiful.”

    2. T&S did a series in November 2005 for the week of Thanksgiving. I posted the links in the comments but it looks like the T&S spam filter ate it. Admins?

    3. MormonScholarsTestify.org is a great new website (an initiative of Daniel Peterson, Scott Gordon, and Tanya Spackman) with new testimonies coming up almost daily. It has a WordPress backbone but the site looks like a regular web site. I don’t know if all the scholars there participate in the Bloggernacle, but I do recognize many of them from here and there online.

    4. Although it won’t give Marc another bullet point for his OP, may I please put in a word for the many of us who may not have borne a standard “I know the Church is true” testimony, who nevertheless bear testimony in idiosyncratic ways? I may have spoken directly of parts of my testimony in only three or four posts, but my entire blog stands as my testimony, from the posts where I bear other people’s witness through reporting their lives on down to the seemingly silly advertisements and puzzles that point to the lighter side of who we have been as a people. I think no one could read Keepa very consistently without recognizing that a seldom-directly-voiced testimony is the common thread.

      I think that without any effort I could name two dozen commenters and bloggers for whom the same is true.

      Just wanted to put that out there. Don’t want anybody thinking the ‘nacle can boast only the handful of testimonies bulleted above.

    5. How about My Boat from a few years back? Can’t remember where it was, but that is one of my all time favorite bloggernacle posts.

    6. All – Fantastic links. Keep them coming. I’ll try to keep the list above updated.

      Ardis – Most definitely. Never meant to suggest that this would be anything more than a sampling of the goods available in the bloggernacle. Clearly, we’re missing much by overlooking all the stellar comments that get thrown around week in and week out.

      John C. – Your first few aren’t quite what I had in mind for this post, so I won’t be linking to them above. Thanks for the last two though.

    7. I just read through a few of these testimonies. I just wanted to say I am thankful for all you people here. You are a remarkable group, and you buoy me up and inspire and entertain and sustain me sometimes. I rarely comment, but wanted to thank you all for sharing what you do on these blogs.

    8. Marc–

      I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this post. The testimonies I’ve read so far have made my day.

      Our testimony is a gift from God, our gift to Him is the love we show one to another (Mosiah 18:21).

      The greatest day of my life was when the Savior left the ninety and nine and found me. I’m looking forward to entering His presence in a coming day!

    9. “John C. – Your first few aren’t quite what I had in mind for this post, so I won’t be linking to them above. Thanks for the last two though.”

      Amen. Bloggernacle is high school enough without claiming that the Holy Ghost made us do it.

    10. .
      Mine from 2005.
      .
      I reverently stand by every word and gratefully report joys I hadn’t imagined then.
      .
      I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. – 2 Nephi 33:6

    11. Cough – note to Marc, in a post where you encourage folks to post links, check the Akismet filter every so often. :)

      I just freed three or four comments. Sorry, commenters, if our spam filter thought you were a spammer. You’re free now.

      (Weirdly enough, mixed in with the usual spam for porn, gambling, and drugs, we got spam comments for among other things a crane repair site. Crane repair. Who knew?)

    12. Thanks Kaimi and sorry anyone who got filtered. I think I’ve updated the list to reflect everything shared up to this point.

    13. It is so wonderful to see testaments of faith being spread throughout the world by way of the internet. Bless these writers for seeking to shed truth and light on a medium that is so clogged with false doctrine. What worries me, though, is to see our doctrines cast like pearls before swine on sites by people who have left the church. Isn’t there anything the church can do to keep our doctrines, such as the temple ceremony, from being published for the world to see? [] Can anyone stop this?

      -G. B. Hatch

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