Randall K. Bennett

General Conference has always been a great time for me to reflect my spiritual and personal progression. In this last General Conference session, on Sunday afternoon, I had the opportunity to go to the Conference Center and actually watch the session in person. My favorite speaker, Randall K. Bennett, uses imagery, juxtaposition, and anaphora to motivate his audience to heed warnings and pursue eternal life.

Painting a picture of his experience of not heeding the warnings of a rip current, Bennett explains that he did not listen to the warnings, even though he had seen the signs. He describes the scene in such a way that makes us, his audience, feel that we were there. Doing so increases our understanding and trust in him, giving him the ability to teach us a lesson. He states that a lifeguard on duty had seen him enter the water, knew that he would drift seaward, and decided to wait out where the current stopped so that he could save him. Bennett extends his gratitude, comparing this situation to that of our Heavenly Father. Our Father knows the mistakes that we will make and will not interfere. Rather, he will be there when we call for "help" so that he can save us from our sins.

Many times throughout his talk, Randall K. Bennett uses juxtaposition in order to make certain words stand out. Stating that we "cannot make eternal decisions without eternal consequences," he purposely utilizes the word eternal to define two contradicting subjects. Doing so, he helps us understand that the important eternal decisions that we make will play largely into the eternal consequences that we receive. Avoiding bad consequences only comes by making good decisions.

Near the end of his talk, Bennett states that "we all face adversity. We all have temptations. We all make mistakes." Displaying rhetoric here through the use of an anaphora, he is able to unify his audience into one large group to help us understand that no one is perfect. After doing so, he is able to instruct us on ways that we can improve and make mistakes less often. Without using rhetorical devices throughout his talk, Randall K. Bennett would have had a lot more trouble trying to get his message across. Rhetoric helped him earn trust, keep his audience interested, and portray his message by engaging his audience in the problem at hand: eternal decisions.