I had a conversation with a friend recently, and she said she was hoping to "witness" her friend soon. When I asked her for a definition, she couldn't articulate what it meant to her. I gather that it has something to do with a conversion experience, or the "first time really believing in God", but those are just speculations. Can anyone define this term more accurately for me?

A witness is someone who has, who claims to have, or is thought, by someone with authority to compel testimony, to have knowledge relevant to an event or other matter of interest. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what he or she knows or claims to know about the matter before some official authorized to take such testimony.

A percipient witness or eyewitness is one who testifies what they perceived through his or her senses (e.g. seeing, hearing, smelling, touching). That perception might be either with the unaided human sense or with the aid of an instrument, e.g., microscope or stethoscope, or by other scientific means, e.g.,a chemical reagent which changes color in the presence of a particular substance.

A hearsay witness is one who testifies what someone else said or wrote. In most court proceedings there are many limitations on when hearsay evidence is admissible. Such limitations do not apply to grand jury investigations, many administrative proceedings, and may not apply to declarations used in support of an arrest or search warrant. Also some types of statements are not deemed to be hearsay and are not subject to such limitations.

An expert witness is one who allegedly has specialized knowledge relevant to the matter of interest, which knowledge purportedly helps to either make sense of other evidence, including other testimony, documentary evidence or physical evidence (e.g., a fingerprint). An expert witness may or may not also be a percipient witness, as in a doctor or may or may not have treated the victim of an accident or crime.

A reputation witness is one who testifies about the reputation of a person or business entity, when reputation is material to the dispute at issue.

In law a witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jury, before an administrative tribunal, before a deposition officer, or in a variety of other proceedings (e.g., judgment debtor examination). Sometimes the testimony is provided in public or in a confidential setting (e.g., grand jury or closed court proceeding).

Although informally a witness includes whoever perceived the event, in law, a witness is different from an informant. A confidential informant is someone who claimed to have witnessed an event or have hearsay information, but whose identity is being withheld from at least one party (typically the criminal defendant). The information from the confidential informant may have been used by a police officer or other official acting as a hearsay witness to obtain a search warrant.

Thanks Deppi, but I'm not looking for what a legal witness is. I'm looking for what "witnessing someone" means in a Christian context.

it's one of those abstract notions that fake churches came up with. The real Jesus isn't confusion, is crystal clarity.

This post was edited by the_rest on May 19 2014 11:17am

To "witness" to someone means to share the gospel with someone. It's a term that the evangelical church came up with many years ago that is used when you are sharing the gospel with a person(s). The literal definition of "witness" is to see something take place. So when one witnesses to another, you are seeing something take place in their life because one cannot remain neutral to the gospel.

so does it mean beating someone into religion (or at least annoying him untill he goes to church) ?

now does Jesus force you to read The Gospells ? at His time there were no gospells, but all the people who cared enough, went to him to see him Preach. The apostles didn't force them. Actually they suffered hunger, and Jesus multiplied for them some bread and fish.

This post was edited by the_rest on May 25 2014 07:35am

No. It means exactly what I said, which is to tell someone about the gospel of Jesus. And actually, at that time there were texts that all pointed to Jesus. The Torah (first 5 books of the bible) were even written before Jesus came, and everything points to Christ. Jesus actually commanded his disciples to go and make disciples unto all nations.

Matthew 28: 16-20 (Jesus is giving the disciples The Great Commission) Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the sonl and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

And to answer your other question, no, Jesus doesn't force us to read the bible. When we truly experience Jesus in a life and heart changing way, we should have a desire to know the real person of Christ, and experience him and his character through the text.

So would you describe it as observing the event of conversion to Christianity? Trying to get a bit more of a concrete handle on it than your very helpful but more poetic description.

Sorry about that. I was an English major for a while.
Witnessing is essentially telling someone about Jesus. That's about as simple as I can make it. You're not necessarily observing the event of someone converting to Jesus, however, you are witnessing the even of them making a decision. Because at that moment, that person is either deciding to be for, or against Jesus. So either way, a decision is being made, and you are observing that event.