Anne Rachel

Telling a story (which can be heard second handed) versus giving a testimony or being a witness is different. As the church is facing intense persecution, stories would not be able to encourage them, as testimony and witnessing to the people would. The church hearing from John, a disciple of Christ, whom journeyed with Him, would believe him, and not second guess what he says is true. They know that John had the personal encounter with Jesus, thus they would be more encouraged by what he says, because they also know that John went through similar persecution. Jesus having suffered persecution himself, and risen from the dead, His life is the greatest testimony therefore it encourages us that when we follow Him, we will also experience being risen from the dead, when He comes again. Most of the time we're afraid to be clear witnesses in our culture where we aren't persecuted, because of fear of rejection from our friends, or when we do not know our faith in Jesus Christ. We usually give ourselves many excuses like, we don't know the bible well enough, I have my family to take care of, I don't want to be shunned etc.