Rhetoric and Missionary Work

Rhetoric is the art of convincing an audience through communication. From the very beginning of the Book of Mormon - the title page - one very quickly sees that quite truly rhetoric has a very solid place as a principle in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to be more specific – missionary work generally and within the Book of Mormon.

To begin this exploration we will start with the title page of the Book of Mormon where Moroni writes, speaking of the Book of Mormon: “…to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever - And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God". If convincing an audience through communication is rhetoric, then the Lord uses the Book of Mormon as his style of rhetoric, or convincing, the world that “Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth”. (Introduction to the Book of Mormon, last paragraph.)

Another verse in the Book of Mormon illustrates the same idea – that rhetoric is prominent in missionary work, through the Book of Mormon:

“And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things [the Book of Mormon] should be preserved; for behold, they have…convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.
“Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect traditions of their fathers; yeah, these records and their words brough them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.” (Alma 37:8-9)

Rhetoric is used by the Lord every time the Book of Mormon is read, for the Book of Mormon was written for “the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God”, and the “[convincing] many of the error of their ways” so that they may find the truth: the restored gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith.