QUOTE: “It is not unusual to have a missionary say, ‘How can I bear testimony until I get one? How can I testify that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the gospel is true? If I do not have such a testimony, would that not be dishonest?’ Oh, if I could teach you this one principle. A testimony is to be found in the bearing of it! Somewhere in your quest for spiritual knowledge, there is that ‘leap of faith,’ as the philosophers call it. It is the moment when you have gone to the edge of the light and stepped into the darkness to discover that the way is lighted ahead for just a footstep or two. ‘The spirit of man,’ is as the scripture says, indeed ‘is the candle of the Lord.’ (Prov. 20:27.)” -Boyd K. Packer, The Candle of the Lord, Ensign, January 1983. [source]
COMMENTARY: If you don’t know it’s true, just say, “I know it’s true” enough times, and voilà: instant testimony. It doesn’t matter that it’s dishonest. What counts is that it’s effective. But what do I know? I’m just another apostate.
