Pokatator wrote:My perspective is from individual testimonies of the rank and file at F/T meetings. I have actually tracked the numbers, listening for references to Jesus Christ, they are few and far between except for the closing.
I have to agree with Pokatator. This was something I had noticed even in my Chapel Mormon days but when I was first going through the pain of learning Joseph's Smith's history, I realized even more how much focus was on him instead of Christ. I began to look for members to mention Jesus, but he was sort of thrown in at the end among their ramblings of love and praise for Joseph Smith and the church. I began to stay home from Sacrament on testimony day because it had bothered me so much. I have been in several Wards and it's usually the same. It's not that Christ's name is always left out, but he is mentioned so casually that it's almost not noticed. There are the occasional members who try to focus their testimonies on Chirst but they were rare in my experience. My father was one who always left out Joseph Smith from his testimony (intentionally) and focused it on God and Jesus. He always stood out from the rest.
What was even worse was that the year I had started reading Church history, it was the same year they were celebrating Joseph Smith's 200th B-day. This made attending church even more challenging for me. In Primary, the President was doing an activity in December for the kids. She asked them to name the special person who had a birthday in December, and then named all his wonderful qualities. When the kids raised their hands to answer "Jesus Christ" she had to tell them "no, I am thinking of someone else...." (the entire focus for December, well the year really, was on Joseph Smith) The kids looked so confused with Christmas and all. I wanted to barf.
Many testimonies will include a story or two of something "spiritual" that happened to the member that month, confirming that God answered their prayers. Tears most often are a part of testimonies. There is usually a family that gets up every single month, and there is always a fanatical TBM or two that have some crazy spritual experience to make the meeting entertaining. When one of the wackier members gets up, the missionaries must feel uncomfortable with the investigators watching.
The most awkward time of testimony meeting is when nobody gets up and it's silent.
One of the most memorable meetings for me as a teenager was when a well loved faithful member, good husband and father, who got up and stated "I don't KNOW the church is true, but I have faith and believe it's true." It bothered some of the other members so much that a few of them got up and tried to tell him that they "KNOW that HE KNOWS it's true." Pretty funny. I was impressed with the man's honesty as a young girl.