Not To Be Confused With
Hearsay is unverified secondhand report; testimony is a witness's own account. History and faith both rest on testimony — but good testimony is traceable to its source, unlike hearsay.
Hearsay passes along a claim without access to the one who could verify it. It differs sharply from the New Testament's emphasis on eyewitness testimony (“that which we have seen and heard,” 1 John 1:3). Weighing a source means asking: who actually saw this, and how do we know?
Examples
- “I heard that the early church didn't believe in the Trinity” — repeated without a traceable source is hearsay, not evidence.