Listen @ http://www.brendanflannagan.com/what-is-a-testimony/The word testimony remains synonymously fixed to the Christian world. We ask for testimonies, give testimonies, read about testimonies, and hear testimonies. But, what is a testimony? While a vast array of speeches, presentations, and personal interactions may all be billed in the category of “testimony,” we desire to uncover the origin and purpose of a testimony. In Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, the word for testimony is martureó. The word, appearing over thirty times in the New Testament, originates not in Christianity, but in the Greek courts of law. Testimony literally means to give evidence, or bear witness, and composes the root of the English word martyr.Indisputable evidence forms the basis of any genuine testimony. If the evidence can merely be dismissed as untrue or fails to find collaboration outside the presenting witness, then the testimony is void and discarded. But, if the evidence cannot be denied, then the jury must accept the truth of the witness. Yet, one option remains to reject a genuine testimony: the witness must recant. So, enters martyrdom.Tertullian, a famed church father, said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Martyrdom and Christianity form an inextricable link. Yet, the prominent feature of Christian martyrdom is not how they died, but what they died for. At the heart of the Christian testimony rests the Scriptures. They are God’s irrefutable evidence given to the Christian church to prove His case.A witness in a court of law may retain a degree of emotional tenor (they witnessed the crime!), but ultimately their testimony hinges on the truth of the evidence. The testimony of the apostles depended not on their personal experiences, but on how Christ fulfilled the Scriptures. The Scriptures formed the core of their Christian testimony. In his second letter, Peter propounds the immeasurable value of the Scriptures. He previously witnessed the transfiguration of Christ, God speaking from a cloud, and Moses and Elijah (dead men) walking and talking with Christ (Luke Finally, Jesus Christ depended on God’s objective truth to assert His person. He used the Scriptures to establish and undergird His entire testimony on earth. Certainly, He performed miracles, but they existed only as signs to fulfill the Scriptures and point to His divine person. Jesus implored the people to search the Scriptures to discover His identity, saying, “Search the Scriptures!...it is these that testify about Me (John Finish Reading @ http://www.brendanflannagan.com/what-is-a-testimony/