Rhetoric in Conference

Elder Christofferson: Reflections on a Consecrated Life

I was so excited to listen to this most recent session of General Conference. As a missionary, I got to hear about all the things the Church is trying to do to gain the confidence and respect of the public eye, or at least correct false assumptions and traditions. This made me really anxious to see how the way in which the General Authorities teach might change a little to more effectively get their council across to the vast audience of our world-wide church. I was definitely happy with the topics that were discussed in all of the sessions. It is always incredible to see how all of the talks come together even though they do not plan a set theme or outline for what should be discussed at Conference. Elder Chistofferson talked about hard work and consecrating your life to the Lord and he did an excellent job making lots of different arguments using memorable quotes and lots of examples.

One of the opening quotes was "True success in life comes from consecration of time and choices to God's purposes." This helps us understand what our highest priorities are and aids us in realizing that we cannot be selfish if we are to succeed.

The list of five elements of a consecrated life he gave at the beginning to outline the rest of his message were not the usual generic list of attributes. They were very specific and powerful. The five elements of a consecrated life he listed were: purity, work, respect for one's physical body, service, and integrity. It is amazing how General Conference talks are written for a very general audience and usually all have the same formula, or outline, yet they can still reach the audience on such a personal level. This list is an example of something that occurs in most Conference talks, but it is a great tool, because everyone knows what to expect for the remainder of the message.

"A consecrated life is a life of work." Elder Christofferson evokes a sense of duty and passion in the audience and hopefully helps us to understand that in order to become who we want, and more importantly who Heavenly Fathers wants us to be, we must work hard. He then continues to go through his list by helping his audience to see how each point helps us to consecrate our lives to the Lord. "A consecrated life is a life of integrity, purity, respect. . ." and so on. Expounding on the list keeps the thoughts clear, organized and easily remembered by the audience.

One phrase that was said, "Naive is not knowing we are accountable to God" was a great way for Elder Christofferson to start wrapping up his talk. Many people might wonder what the point of working so hard is. There is no reason to work hard if we are the only beings in existence. He helped us to see that every person is responsible for his or her own life and that Heavenly Father is watching everything.

Anyone who is a believer in Christ wants to have, feel and express more faith. That is a very general and powerful desire among believers and in this talk Elder Christofferson shows how living the points of a consecrated life will help our faith to grow. He says, "Honor is the rich soil in the seed of faith thrives." This explains that being pure, working hard, being respectful, serving others and having integrity bring honor to ourselves, our family and the Lord. Therefor, by doing these things in our lives we create a wonderful atmosphere for our faith to grow and help us change.

Elder Christofferson may have used an outline that is used in almost every Conference talk, but it was still very effective. He made it effective by talking about aspects of life that are very important to most people and by keeping things clear and simple. The things he said are very memorable quotes and as a result people can listen to this and feel optimistic and motivated about hard work. It takes a great teacher to help people want to do something they normally despise or have a problem doing.