In Plato’s Gorgias,
one of the major bones Socrates has to pick with Gorgias and the other
rhetoricians is that they used what they called “skill” to persuade others to believe
something. This wouldn't be so bad, but Socrates points out that the Sophists, in fact, know little but speak
as though they know much. I think that Socrates would have enjoyed Elder David
A. Bednar’s talk “Sweep the Earth as with a Flood” because it is easy to see
that Elder Bednar only knows a lot about what he’s talking about but is an
excellent example in doing what he is encouraging others to do. He uses words
like “disciples” to invoke feelings of duty and responsibility.
Watching Bednar’s talk, it would be easy to get so caught up
in what he was saying that we
completely miss what his words were doing.
It is obvious that his objective was to encourage members of the church to
share the gospel using social media, but the thing that I loved most was how
Bednar used social media to teach us about using social media! Bednar
demonstrated great logos as he spoke about inventions through time and the way
that they can be used to share the gospel. His logos was strengthened as he
shared some meaningful statistics to show how influential social media can be.
I loved how I felt when they played the video of Christ.
Bednar knew his audience and used their love for Christ to drive home the point
that social media can have a powerful impact. It was great because we actually
got to experience the thing we wish to allow others to experience.
As if Elder Bednar didn’t already have great ethos, he showed
that ethos can be borrowed from others as he played sound scripts from President
Hinckley and President Kimball, former leaders of the church who were greatly
respected and adored.
Finally, I love the imagery that Bednar creates with the
phrase, To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood. Not only is it an easy metaphor to
picture in our minds, but the image is a powerful one and it is easy to remember.
