Mastery Augmented By the Spirit

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a religion in which rhetoric plays a massive role. The scriptures are full of literary devices, parables, parallels, chiasms, as well as the more conventional: similes, metaphors, and hyperbole. The spoken words of the Savior Jesus Christ and His latter-day prophets contain the same rhetorical value. However, their means of communication contain an additional dimension: the involvement of the Spirit. A mastery of conventional rhetoric is important, and the Spirit is available to compensate for any unintended insufficiencies that arise during righteous communication.

To begin with, let us look at the Savior, a prime example of how rhetoric can be used to teach the gospel. Christ was not one to use excessive verbiage or decorative language, one reason being that he knew we would be studying his every word. Therefore, if he were to include meaningless comparisons or imperfect metaphors and similes, centuries down the road, his latter-day disciples would be unable to come to a proper understanding of his words. His primary goal was to convey information of eternal importance to his followers as clearly and as efficiently as possible.

However, when circumstances dictated, he spoke in figurative terms. He often used parables when he needed to teach principles for which there were, and are, multiple layers of meaning. He did this because those who heard him would be judged according to the knowledge they had received in this life, regardless of whether or not they completely comprehended that knowledge. When speaking in parables, Christ was providing those who were looking for deeper insights an opportunity to study further, while those who were merely scholars of his moral principles found satisfying fables that would lead them to do right.

This method of storytelling is effective because the parables can be remembered easily and the stories can be transcribed. The knowledge can then be passed by written word or word-of-mouth without any major losses to the content of the story. They all contain very few players; the actions are simple; the settings, pedestrian and recognizable; and the morals, logical. Because of this powerful choice in style, the Savior’s parables have remained solid anecdotes of moral values for the last two millennia.

Today, where language is often abbreviated, truncated, and otherwise adulterated for the sake of time and space, parables retain their meaning and impact. President Thomas S. Monson, whom members of the Church regard as the ambassador of the Lord to the Church, is known for his talent for storytelling. His stories, all derived from personal experiences, are simple and memorable, yet convey deeply profound insights and counsels pertaining to the gospel and how disciples of Jesus Christ should act. Many are the children, youth, and adults who have walked away from a semi-annual general conference session with a book full of notes, but only the stories from Pres. Monson still lingering in their minds.

When looking at rhetoric and its role in the gospel, we must also not downplay the role of the Holy Ghost. This is an unusual modifier to the channels of communication between the audience and the speaker. When a speaker communicates valuable information to a listener, be it of a spiritual or temporal nature, the Spirit can make up for any insufficiencies on either end of the relationship. It can cause certain information to have greater impact, even though on paper, it might appears negligible. It is a supernal tool in communication, not merely a temporal literary implement that can be applied at will; consequently, one must be living in a manner so as to invite its presence. The Holy Ghost is directed by God, who sees the end from the beginning and knows all the details that must fall into place to help us get from our current position back to his presence.

When it comes down to it, the whole purpose of communication is to help someone get somewhere. In spiritual rhetoric, the goal is to edify the soul and bring to Christ; verbal rhetoric, enlighten and motivate to change. Having identified these parallels, we can see how important it is that we maintain the same pure motives and familiarity with the practical applications of rhetoric as the Master and the prophets if we ever hope to become effective communicators.