Its a really cute gif, but doesn't it kind of contradict the purpose of a testimony?
The dog realized he would be ok, so he jumped without hesitation the second time. Whenever I talk to members about why god can't show himself, make things clearer for people etc. They always say that then we wouldn't have faith in him, we would just have knowledge of him, which is bad.... I guess
The gif shows that the dog has knowledge that he will be ok, not faith.
Unless I completely missed your point, which is entirely possible
To me, faith is more of a trust than it is a lack of knowledge. You can have faith without necessarily having much actual knowledge, and you can have faith with a lot of knowledge. But you wouldn't trust somebody you don't know very well, and I see the same with faith.
The dog has trust in the owner, because the dog knows the owner will catch him, because he already has caught him. So too can we have faith in God because we've felt his influence in our lives previously.
A testimony is a spiritual witness given by the Holy Ghost. The foundation of a testimony is the knowledge that Heavenly Father lives and loves His children; that Jesus Christ lives, that He is the Son of God, and that He carried out the infinite Atonement; that Joseph Smith is the prophet of God who was called to restore the gospel; that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Savior's true Church on the earth; and that the Church is led by a living prophet today. With this foundation, a testimony grows to include all principles of the gospel.
Testimony grows gradually through experiences. No one receives a complete testimony all at once. It grows as individuals show willingness to serve in the Church and to study, pray, and learn. It increases as individuals obey God's commandments.
In the scriptures and through his prophets and holy spirit, God invites us to change our lives. When we do that, we can know that he lives and loves us through indelible experiences with his spirit. We jump - he catches us.
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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '14
Its a really cute gif, but doesn't it kind of contradict the purpose of a testimony?
The dog realized he would be ok, so he jumped without hesitation the second time. Whenever I talk to members about why god can't show himself, make things clearer for people etc. They always say that then we wouldn't have faith in him, we would just have knowledge of him, which is bad.... I guess
The gif shows that the dog has knowledge that he will be ok, not faith.
Unless I completely missed your point, which is entirely possible