Google Phone & Interpreters
Jeff Downs a wonderful friend, wrote an very instructive email to several of us saying:
“I am a big believer in taking Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery at their word when it comes to the translation of the Book of Mormon. That is, they used the Urim and Thummim that had been provided with the plates in order to make a TRANSLATION. Reading words off of a stone is not translating; it is reading words off of a stone.
However, I always wondered what Joseph actually saw when looking through the Urim and
Thummim at the golden plates . . . until I upgraded my phone. I share this simply as something to consider.
I have a feature on my Google phone some of you might know about (forgive me if I am slow to the game). I find it fascinating. I can look through the camera and my phone will instantly translate whatever writing it sees. It’s pretty remarkable. So I performed a little test. I wrote out 1 Nephi 1, in simple everyday language:
Nephi’s original words (without biblical language):
I am Nephi. My parents were good people and my father took the time to share
some of his vast knowledge with me. I have suffered many hardships in my life.
The Lord, however, has blessed me throughout my entire life and I have been
blessed with understanding regarding God and his mysteries. Because of this, I
am writing down what has taken place in my life and sharing what I have learned.
I took those simple thoughts and ideas and ran it through Google Translate:
Below you will see what I wrote above translated into Hebrew (I picked it to stand in for my
Reformed Egyptian). I then looked through my phone’s camera to see how it would translate.
To the right is a screenshot of what I saw:
What if this is how the Urim and Thummim worked? Joseph would see a basic translation of the text and would then clean it up so the idea and thought of the text could be understood in our day and time and using a style (King James English) that Christians could relate to and instantly connect with Biblical scripture. If this is what took place, it involves more than simply reading individual words off of a stone for someone to write down. But having a basic translation of text isn’t enough. As one person in a podcast I listened to has pointed out, Joseph would still need to render:
● Metaphors, symbolism, poetry
● Colloquialisms, slang, neologisms (the coining or use of new words)
● Consider the social context of the target language audience–how will the text be
understood by contemporary readers?
● How much to elaborate or expand the text to convey correct meaning in the target
language to contemporary readers?
● Variations inspired by the Holy Spirit
In other words, it took genuine effort and work on Joseph’s part to produce the final product we have today:
I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in
all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my
days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea,
having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God,
therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.
This is simply one idea of how the Urim and Thummim COULD have worked using a mortal tool as an example. I could be way off base, but it is something to think about. But, please, let us never belittle the task Joseph had to accomplish. He was much more than a reader, he truly was a TRANSLATOR” Jeff Downs [Color and bold added]
I was so impressed, I immediately responded to Jeff. I think he has come up with something important which helps us in today’s world more able to understand and value the Interpreters, and Joseph as the Translator, not the Transcriber.
Wow Jeff:
How can a group of peer reviewed intellects come up with something like this? I realize they are looking at the historical documents where David Whitmer, Martin Harris and Emma Smith [late in life], all said Joseph used a stone in a hat. The only reasons they would have said that, in my opinion is the anti-Mormon book “Mormonism Unvailed” said in 1834 that Joseph used a rock in a hat. Or, they were guessing, or they were making something up.
The scribes like Emma and Martin, surely knew Joseph had a stone he had found, and they could have seen like in this picture above, that he had a hat, but they most likely didn’t know what was in the hat, correct?
No where does it say by any scribe, I literally saw Joseph put a stone in his hat and I saw the words on the stone in his hat. In the picture above, Emma can’t even see the gold plates as they were partially covered with a linen. Joseph had the breastplate on under his shirt* and the spectacles were attached to the breastplate, with the hat blocking out the view of the spectacles.
*“That of which I spoke, which Joseph termed a key, was indeed nothing more nor less than a Urim and Thummim by which the angel manifested those things to him that were shown him in, vision; by which also he could at any time ascertain the approach of danger, either to himself or the record, and for this cause he kept these things constantly about his person.” Lucy Mack Smith Journal More in my blog here:” Rian Nelson
Temporal and Spiritual
Interpreters
The Lord’s Instrument
“In a short period man has so improved his communication techniques as to hear voices around the world. A few years ago, even with earphones, we could decode only part of the static over the newborn radio. Our first television pictures were very local and very amateurish. Today, we see in our homes a fight in Madison Square Garden, a football game in the Cotton Bowl, the Tabernacle Choir in Chicago, an astronaut on his way to the moon. Is it hard to believe that with such accomplishments by puny man Omnipotent God has precision instruments with which to enlarge the knowledge of those who have the skill to use them? Is it difficult to believe that the Urim and Thummim could be such a precision instrument to transmit messages from God to his supreme creation — man? Can God have limitations? Can atmosphere or distance or space hold back his pictures? Would it be so difficult for Moses or Enoch or Abraham or Joseph to see a colorful, accurate, moving picture of all things past and present, and even future? The Creator said to Moses, “ . . . look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands; but not all, for my works are without end.” (Moses 1:4.) (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, Pg.53)
THE 2 QUOTES THAT SHOULD STAND ALONE
-2- In the October 1834 Messenger and Advocate [the Church newspaper in Kirtland, Ohio], Oliver Cowdery wrote: “These were days never to be forgotten to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated, with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon‘” (Messenger and Advocate, 1:14; Also known as Letter I Oliver Cowdery to William W. Phelps, 7 September 1834).
