Section: Helaman 7:13
– Helaman 9
Nephi’s speech to the people - pg. 456 – 457
Judges who “belonged to the secret band of Gadianton” try to
incited the people against Nephi – pg. 458
Some people in the crowd defend Nephi, saying that he is a
good man and that the things that he says “will surely come to pass except we
repent…” – pg. 458
Nephi speaks to the people again after seeing that some
people favored him and that some wouldn’t touch him out of fear – pg. 458 – 460
“Nephi Reveals an Assassination” – pg. 460
5 men run off to see if the assassination that Nephi
prophesied actually happened, faint after seeing that it has happened, and are
found and accused of the murder – pg. 460
Nephi is accused of the murder – pg. 461 – 462
“Nephi Reveals the Murderer” – pg. 462 – 463
Section analyzed:
“And now behold, Moses did not
only testify of these things, but also all the holy prophets, from his days even
to the days of Abraham.” (Helaman
8:16)
Nephi does an incredible job of correctly addressing his
audience, focusing the kairos (or context) of the beginning of his conversation
with the people on what they needed to hear.
What the people needed to hear was the authority of what Nephi was saying,
some history that would help them understand where Nephi was coming from, and
some persuasion.
Nephi also established logos during this section, because he
was also persuading the people to believe in his words by appealing to the
people’s ability to reason. Nephi also
had some success in this area, as is mentioned above, because some of the
people defended Nephi after he was accused by the judges of reviling against
the people.
Without establishing himself in this way, Nephi could very
well have just been seen as a crazy person, rambling on about something that
they didn’t understand or that they had never heard before. Some of them, probably, were just apostates
who had chosen to refuse the truth, but there were probably some who had been
deceived. By establishing himself in the
way that he did, Nephi was able to get everyone on the same page, allowing them
to use their logic or logical reasoning in order to make an informed decision.
I'm not sure if I've ever clearly seen Nephi establishing himself. For me, I always paid attention to Nephi's words because I already new that he was a prophet. But it puts it into a better perspective to see and understand that Nephi truly had to fight for the people to listen to him. It shows forth the faith he had to fully carry out the work. It's a neat example, and I'm glad you focused on it.
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