Origins Of The Temple Recommend?

[katherine the great]

Again from the Didache:

"If you can shoulder the Lord's yolk in its entirety, then you will be perfect;

but if that is too much for you, do as much as you can."

Bernard

Shoulder the Lord's yolk in it's entirety? Are you joking? No one can do that! That's why the Lord tells us to give ours to HIM!

[Scott Lloyd]

Shoulder the Lord's yolk in it's entirety? Are you joking? No one can do that! That's why the Lord tells us to give ours to HIM!

While doing "as much as you can." Just as the quotation says.

[katherine the great]

While doing "as much as you can." Just as the quotation says.

So then why even throw in the first part if it is impossible to do? (which it is.) Just to discourage people? Stuff like that just annoys me. (sorry...)

[Scott Lloyd]

So then why even throw in the first part if it is impossible to do? (which it is.) Just to discourage people? Stuff like that just annoys me. (sorry...)

It's not impossible.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

-- Matthew 11:29-30 (bold emphasis added).

"Shouldering the Lord's yoke" and "doing as much as you can" are two ways of saying the same thing.

[LifeOnaPlate]

You are invited to be yoked with the Savior. Certainly Christ shoulders the vast, vast majority of the load, but we are not invited to ride in the wagon, we are yoked. Some pulling is still required!

[Scott Lloyd]

You are invited to be yoked with the Savior. Certainly Christ shoulders the vast, vast majority of the load, but we are not invited to ride in the wagon, we are yoked. Some pulling is still required!

That's good. Can I use it? (With attribution, of course.)

[katherine the great]

"Shouldering the Lord's yoke" and "doing as much as you can" are two ways of saying the same thing.

I would normally agree, but it says: If that is too much for you then do as much as you can. If they are the same, that makes no sense. It would be like saying, "Scott, run to the store and get some milk, but if that is too much trouble then run to the store and get some milk."

[Scott Lloyd]

I would normally agree, but it says: If that is too much for you then do as much as you can. If they are the same, that makes no sense. It would be like saying, "Scott, run to the store and get some milk, but if that is too much trouble then run to the store and get some milk."

It's a rhetorical device called irony, which is more or less effective, depending on one's tastes. (Poetry and rhetoric are arts, not sciences.)

It's like Nephi saying, "And now ... all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ" (2 Nephi 33:10).

Nephi knew, of course, that accepting the one entailed accepting the other.

[katherine the great]

It's a rhetorical device called irony, which is more or less effective, depending on one's tastes. (Poetry and rhetoric are arts, not sciences.)

Okay.....(that's not what I would normally think of as "irony", but it's not that important to me.)

[Scott Lloyd]

Okay.....(that's not what I would normally think of as "irony", but it's not that important to me.)

Maybe I'm off in my characterization of it as "irony," which, broadly defined, is disparity of expression and intention.

At any rate, I do see it as a rhetorical device, in which a speaker or writer says, if A is unacceptable, then do B, knowing all along that A and B are essentially identical, even though B may seem more acceptable than A.

[LifeOnaPlate]

That's good. Can I use it? (With attribution, of course.)

Most certainly. (I came up with it on my mission during a Maxwellian time.)