A lot of people were upset at President Packer's recent conference talk. But how many of them do you think heard Elder Andersen's talk "Never Leave Him?" In his talk, Elder Andersen uses rhetorical questions, imagery and allusion to create emotional appeal to caution Latter-day Saints against taking offense. He shows that no one is immune from being offended.
In the first paragraph Elder Andersen asks a rhetorical question: “Will ye also go away?” This sets the emotional stage for his talk, causing his listeners to evaluate their own faithfulness and wonder if they would abandon the Lord. At the end of his talk he lets listeners decide the answer, as he answers the question, interestingly enough, with another: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”
He also uses several awesome pieces of imagery to call on emotions—one of the most striking being: “If we are not watchful, our injured, childlike spirit will retreat back into the cold, dark crust of our former bloated ego, leaving behind the warm, healing light of the Savior.” This brilliant use of words brings personal examples to mind—many Latter-day Saints know someone who has had hurt pride and turned on the Lord like a wounded animal when he could have healed them. It makes me think of how Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings" turned away from the light to hide in a cave, becoming a shadow of what he once was.
Elder Andersen also creates emotional appeal through allusion when he says, “The words of the Apostles from another setting come quietly into our mind: ‘Lord, is it I?’” Most Latter-day Saints know he refers to the Last Supper, when the Lord’s apostles wonder who will betray him. This throwback to history reminds listeners that they, too, are vulnerable, and must school their feelings carefully.
As Elder Andersen appeals to the emotions of Latter-day Saints through his use of self-evaluative questions, imagery and allusion, he encourages them to safeguard against offense, and shows the benefits of remaining faithful to the Lord. If everyone had taken this talk to heart, how many do you think would have been offended at President Packer? Zero, maybe?
Miriam,
ReplyDeleteI think Elder Anderson is absolutely right; We need to remember that God is the ultimate authority and I think that we should approach every conflict with the spirit so we can remain calm and be guided to react in the appropriate way.
I thought you might be interested in reading a post about President Packer's talk from a blog written by a Mormon guy who struggles with same sex attraction. It is amazing to see what an incredible testimony he has despite his trials. He is the perfect example of letting go of offense.
http://gaymormonguy.blogspot.com/2010/10/president-packers-talk-from-gay-mormon.html
Thanks! That was amazing! I'm impressed with how he accepted and even defended statements that could have easily hurt and offended him. I can take a lesson from that myself. The world needs more people like him in it!
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