Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian Book

Testimony: Talking Ourselves Into Being Christian
by Long, Thomas G.

The title says it all: we do in fact talk ourselves into belief. As in, when we speak what we think we believe, the act of speaking (or writing) reinforces that belief. Educationally, this is the affective domain in action where, through processing out loud, we receive immediate feedback, of which I'm most intrigued by the internal feedback. That is, when I say something out loud, there's a little piece of me that says, "Yes, that's well articulated; I like how that came out," or, "There's something missing… I don't think I have it all together."

Therefore, if it is true that faith is reinforced through processing it beyond ourselves, sharing what we believe in spoken and written words, it is necessary to make space for this to happen. Personal quiet times are good as an initial step, but if this book is true and we never process what we believe out loud, our belief will remain diminished.