In Elder Holland's talk "Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacrament", he is extremely bold, but remains respectful. He does this by breaking down why it is important to remain sexually pure. Many reasons are given to why we need to remain sexually pure. Some of them include: the significance, sanctity, the doctrine of the church, sacrament, damage of the soul when you do commit that sin, etc.
This talk is a fantastic talk for most college students to read. The reason why this talk is so fantastic is because he knows his audience well. He knows that most people who are listening to his talk are BYU college students. Elder Holland also knows that he is talking to people from the ages of approximately 18 to 26. This makes his talk much more personal for people that are in college and in that age range. I was able to connect to this talk more than I was able to connect to other speeches that we read because I knew that it was for my age group.
Elder Holland opens up his talk by saying that he needs Heavenly Father's guidance throughout this talk because it is a very sacred topic. I can just imagine sitting in the Marriot Center and listening to this opening. I bet the room went completely quiet at the intensity of Elder Holland's talk. He then begins his talk very bold and does not 'beat around the bush' at all. He dives straight into the material and speaks simply to ensure that EVERYONE will understand what he is saying.
To me, this is the best way to give talks at church and speeches in school. I personally hate it when people get up at the pulpit and try to impress everyone with their vocabulary and knowledge of the scriptures. I love when general authorities are bold and get straight to the point. One of my favorite talks is the talk "Be Chaste" by Elder Bednar because he is so bold and speaks plainly. So do you dare to be bold as the General Authorities are?
Knowing his audience definitely let him have a tone that would impact our age group tremendously. And like you said, I am pretty sure that he DID in fact, receive Heavenly Father's guidance. He taught by the spirit. Shouldn't we all have the humility to recognize that we need the Spirit's help? And even then, we need to arrive well prepared, like I am sure he was.
ReplyDeleteThe love and concern he expressed for BYU students also helped his appeal remain very personal and applicable to the audience. His remarks were not general warning; they were a focused plea. This enhances the personal significance of his message.
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