# Meaning of 'witnessing'?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-witnessing/45087
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [December 11, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-witnessing/45087 "2000-12-11T21:37:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-witnessing/45087/1 "2000-12-11T21:37:18Z")
Just a quickie. The description for one forum says
> [@](#):
>
> This is also the place for religious debates and (if you feel you must) witnessing.
Excuse my ignorance, but what is ‘witnessing’ ?
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2000, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-witnessing/45087/2 "2000-12-11T21:44:54Z")
The terminology is a christian thing. It is the act of proselytizing, or trying to convince someone to convert to your religion by describing how good it is, how it makes your life wonderful. It also involves (for many people) telling others how worthless their life is without your religion, or threatening them with eternal punishment from your deity. (You’ll burn in Hell unless you repent.)
The term comes from the idea that the said christians are serving as a witness for Jesus - they are describing “his influence” in their own lives.
The act of “witnessing”, however, is by no means exclusive to christianity. Pretty much any person with a strong opinion about the worth of their religion and a desire to see others into that goodness can be “witnessing”.
The admonition is to tell people not to start debates about the relative worth of one religion in any forum but GD, as any such thread will necessarily devolve (transmorph, become) into a debate anyway.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2000, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-witnessing/45087/3 "2000-12-12T14:05:00Z")
Another term for “witnessing” would be “testifying”. If you post a post that goes something like, “I just wanna tell the world how much Jesus Christ has done for me,” that’s witnessing. It doesn’t seem to call for a debate, it’s just standing up and saying how much Jesus has changed your life.
Also, threads along the lines of, “Come over here and I’ll explain to you what Christianity means” also count as witnessing. We’d rather have these posted in Great Debates, not MPSIMS, because it usually does turn into a debate.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2000, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-witnessing/45087/4 "2000-12-12T14:59:58Z")
DDG, while that may not _sound_ like a call for debate, it will become one.