Making a whole offering...

Our greatest gift given is who we are.
The fact that God created us, His children, to be just like Him.

In Elder Jeffrey R. Hollands, " Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacramets," he speaks and addresses the young adults of the world, specifically those of the LDS belief, because of the dramatic impact that this body of people can have on the world, and in their life.

Holland addresses to us, because of how the subject appeals directly to the decisions we are forced to make. Above all, Holland focuses on our souls and the sacrament. Two very intimate, important, and sacred elements of our life.

The doctrine of Jesus Christ teaches us of the sanctity of sexual relationships within the bonds of marriage. This was taught from Adam and Eve, to our day in 2014. Holland wanted to explain this very point, how this act, which is so very sacred and holy is related to the sacrament.

When we partake of the sacrament, we make an offering to God, of all that we need to give up in order to abide by His commandments. We do the same in our relationship in marriage. We make an offering, to one another, not temporally but eternally.

Each week, we renew promise that was made only once before in our life at the time of baptism, but yet are privileged to remember this in every Sunday church meeting. In the same matter, we are sealed once, but can partake in the special opportunity to do ordinance work for the dead as often as possible.

The sacrament and unity in marriage are extremely and closely related. Holland uses this metaphor to help us gain a greater appreciation for the solemnity of this covenant and commandment.

In the same sense, we can not fulfill with the commandment of the Sacrament and creating human life, alone. Holland explains that the man and the woman were created for each other, and not meant to be alone. They are very one in the sense. The two must exist together. And to complete with God's purposes to bring about life.

Just like the Sacrament, we can not complete with this sacred ordinance alone. Spiritually we renew with our Heavenly Father, but physically we do it with a priesthood holder. This is a beautiful process, as it teaches us that we must be humble, to realize we can not do all things alone, we must rely on others, and together we can complete the purposes of God.

Holland uses metaphor and symbols to teach such an intimate and infinite principle that very much so applies to our physical and spiritual being. 

The Weak Things of the World

Ask a Latter-Day Saint how they gained a testimony of the Gospel, and more likely than not you will hear a story akin to Brigham Young’s, who said “when I saw a man without eloquence, or talents for public speaking say, ‘I know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the Lord,’ the Holy Ghost proceeded from that individual (and) illuminated my understanding….” The testimony that Brigham Young heard was given in the common rhetorical pattern of Mormon orators. They focus on simple doctrines, and glory not in themselves, but in the Lord. While generally well educated, Mormons are exhorted not to boast in their learning, and to choose instead to earnestly invoke the spirit as they preach “Christ crucified.” This can be made more poignant in smaller settings that allow probing questions and silence to invite the presence of the Holy Ghost.

When analyzing Elder Holland’s talk, Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments, we see the Mormon theory of rhetoric in practice, combined skillfully with many sophisticated rhetorical elements. Holland’s talk is structured around a simple alliterative list, enabling easy recall and application by the audience.  Before beginning his doctrinal exposition, Elder Holland establishes his ethos by citing many statistics to illustrate the breadth of the problem he is going to address, and then he makes an allusion to the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob who decried sexual immorality. Following this he appeals to logos, using simple logic to explain how sexual relationships are related to Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments. 

In addition to the form in this talk, Elder Holland uses powerful phrases to drive home various points. He uses the parallel and inverted phrase “We are imperfect and mortal, while God is perfect and immortal” to illustrate both our similarities to and differences from our Heavenly Father. At other times, he uses powerful figurative language such as “Moral Schizophrenia” to describe the worlds depravity. In another instance, he uses a repeated prefix “unspeakable, unfathomable, unbroken”, to drive home the sacred nature of our procreative power.  Despite these relatively sophisticated phrases, Elder Holland’s talk remains approachable to most average readers, and throughout his message he maintains the focus on “Christ crucified”.