Article April 7, 1986 Issue

"Ye are my witnesses"

THEODORE N. COOK

Throughout the Scriptures, and indeed throughout the history of civilization, a good deal of importance has been placed on the role of the witness. Many systems of law rest on the integrity of witnesses. Legal documents are often required to be witnessed. In both Old and the New Testaments the word witness is key to significant statements and demands. The Ten Commandments proclaim, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."^{Ex. 20:16.}

A witness is one who attests to a fact or an event. A witness is one who gives evidence, one who has personal knowledge of something. A witness is also one who testifies in a cause or before a judicial tribunal. But there is an assurance in the Bible that points to a far deeper and more meaningful significance of witnessing and giving evidence. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God."^{Isa. 43:12.}

The most basic kind of witnessing is witnessing to God. Such witnessing is natural and perpetual, since man is actually made in the image and likeness of his Father-Mother God. Since God is infinite Mind, the one intelligence, man is the image, the infinite idea or expression, of that perfect Mind. Man is spiritual, not material, and coexists with God, Mind, who holds him in unbroken harmony, beauty, and perfection. In proportion as we understand and demonstrate the truth of our spiritual being as God's expression, God's witness, we bring more of this divine harmony to light through our individual lives. And so there is a sense in which our daily lives bear witness to the fact that man is the witness of God.

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