Testimony is Evidence

[SteveII]

All that people telling stories helps us to establish is that people tell stories.  Nothing within those stories is capable of certifying or establishing the accuracy of their contents. [1] Even by your own description of evidence, Steve, testimony doesn't count.

Here, try;

-I just ate a homemade quarter pounder.  Two slices of roundtop whole wheat and two slices of american cheese

There's my testimony.  What facts above help you to establish the truth of something, and what truth have you established by reference to that testimony? [2]

1. Your characterization is the least possible value of a testimony when that is not how the world actually works. Words are not capable of conveying truth value in isolation, so the witness and the context provide tangible and necessary inputs in determining the weight of testimonial evidence toward a conclusion. 

2. Your testimony tells us something. At the very least, you tell stories. But we do end up with a reason to believe you had a nice lunch (where we did not prior to your testimony). Further, from the content/context, we can ascertain that you probably don't have a good reason to lie, so the truth of the matter is moved further down the proof continuum. Will only your word for the contents of your lunch ever be "beyond a reasonable doubt"? No. For that, you might drag in the clerk who sold you the ingredients and a neighbor who saw you through the window cooking it, or the UPS driver who saw you come to the door with half in your hand. Even after these other testimonies, will it be absolute proof of the truth of your claim? No. Every one could have been mistaken or deceived.

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You are confusing the word evidence with the word proof.

They're kind of one in the same there buddy.

Proof  http://www.dictionary.com/browse/proof?s=t
noun  
1. evidence sufficient to establish a thing as true, or to produce belief in its truth.

Evidence   http://www.dictionary.com/browse/evidence?s=t
noun  
1. that which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof.

No, they are not. That's why we have two different words and they should be used correctly. My post compared the two words. Your pasting from the internet dictionary does not.