Beliefs > Question & Answer > Questions about Jesus Christ

Question

If God loves us why does He let us suffer?What is a testimony? Does it comprise of a 'sure knowledge' ? If so, is it possible to lose it? Was Jesus born illegitimately?

Response

A testimony is a difficult thing to clearly define in the short space, but I will try. A testimony is a knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they will be. This testimony grows and expands over time. When we are children, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We learn from our teachers and our parents that He was crucified and resurrected. As children, we believe these things because we have faith in the people who have told us. There is something inside of us that tends to "believe" even from our youngest years. When we are older, that testimony changes slowly until it becomes more and more knowledge. We have a chance to study and examine and ponder these things. We study scriptures, we pray, we receive answers to our prayers, and we see that all around us is evidence of the existence of God and the beauty of His creations. We revere and reverence Him for it. Our belief grows to a greater belief as we come to have a clear understanding by study, prayer, and by becoming very serious students of the scriptures, both ancient and modern-day. We learn through continual prayer that the Lord is there and that His teachings are as we have learned them. The sure knowledge that you speak of comes with the passage of time for most people who humbly, sincerely and patiently desire it. However, once received, a testimony can fade if notconstantly strengthened and nourished by righteous living, study of the scriptures, and continual prayer. One time an individual was challenged on this very subject and criticized as to the possibility of "knowing" that any of Christ’s teaching were actually true. After all, how could he know about something that came two thousand years ago? In his explanation as to how he knew, he asked the doubter how any of us know anything. He said, "For instance, you know what an orange tastes like. You’ve eaten an orange in your life time?" The man said, "I’ve eaten many of them." My friend said, "Please, tell me what an orange tastes like." Of course, the man was not able to give sufficient justice to the description of the orange. It was only something that one could know for sure by tasting the orange. So it is with our testimony. We may not be able to verbalize it very well, but there is a peacefulness and a reassurance that comes to the heart and the mind concerning those things. You also asked in another e-mail if our Lord was born illegitimately. In simplicity, he was not. His mother, Mary, a virgin, was selected by our Father in Heaven, He who has all knowledge, all power, and who created all things including the one who would become the mother of His only begotten Son in the flesh. There was no illegitimacy in this, but rather a sacred and wonderful blessing both to Mary and to all of us. Because God is God, He does not operate under the finite rules of men, but does all things according to eternal law. We can only reverence the exceptional circumstance of Mary’s selection by God, and thank a loving and just Heavenly Father for providing us with a Savior who would lead us back to the presence of that Father from whom we came. Sincerely, Donny Osmond See related multimedia presentations

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