The 5 ways Joseph translated

[_zeezrom]

On SP's thread about JSJr face in hat, this statement was made by one of our fine members of MDB:

I'm STILL not "troubled".....

Head in the Hat as ONE of the 5 or so Methods used to translate the Book of Mormon doesn't bother me at all. It wasn't the only method, and not only that, it WAS NOT the "dominate" method used.

haa haa.... You anti's are a joke.

This is news to me. I didn't realize there were 5 different methods used. Can we talk about them so I can learn?

1. Face in hat, looking at a rock - English words appeared on the rock or in a hologram
2. Crystal goggles fastened to a harness and breastplate - The crystal goggles projected the English words onto the surface of the gold plates
3. Looking at the characters on the plates and having the English words written into the sensory neurons of the brain
4.
5.

Could someone help me with 4 and 5?

Are there more possibilities out there?

Thank you! Your contributions to this thread will help me as I consider ways to translate.

Zee.

[_sr1030]

I would like to see an answer to Zee's question by a knowledgeable LDS.

sr

[_Runtu]

Eyewitness testimony only reports #1.

[_Radex]

This is news to me. I didn't realize there were 5 different methods used. Can we talk about them so I can learn?

1. Face in hat, looking at a rock - English words appeared on the rock or in a hologram
2. Crystal goggles fastened to a harness and breastplate - The crystal goggles projected the English words onto the surface of the gold plates
3. Looking at the characters on the plates and having the English words written into the sensory neurons of the brain
4.
5.

Could someone help me with 4 and 5?

Are there more possibilities out there?

Thank you! Your contributions to this thread will help me as I consider ways to translate.

Zee.

Though this is not translating per se, it has been said that, at times when Joseph Smith was most comfortable and spiritual, he didn't need to look at anything.

[_Runtu]

Though this is not translating per se, it has been said that, at times when Joseph Smith was most comfortable and spiritual, he didn't need to look at anything.

Reference, please, in regards to the Book of Mormon?

[_SteelHead]

Well Oliver tried to translate using a divining rod, so maybe you could add that method?

Though I am not sure exactly how that would have worked..... tapped out morse code? Binary, or ascii perhaps?

I wonder what baud rate he would have been capable of?

[_Joseph Antley]

Well Oliver tried to translate using a divining rod, so maybe you could add that method?

Though I am not sure exactly how that would have worked.....

How Oliver was apparently supposed to translate using his "gift of working with the rod":

D&C 9:5-10: "And, behold, it is because that you [Oliver Cowdery] did not continue as you commenced, when you began to translate, that I have taken away this privilege from you. ... Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me. Now, if you had known this you could have translated; nevertheless, it is not expedient that you should translate now.

Considering the never-ending debate over how exactly the Book of Mormon was translated, D&C 9 is perhaps the biggest piece of evidence and for some reason the most overlooked by those on every side of the issue.

[_SteelHead]

Unfortunately what we now have is the redacted version of the revelation (D&C 8) describing how Oliver was going to translate. The original went something more like:

6 Now this is not all thy gift; for you have another gift, which is the gift of Aaron; behold, it has told you many things;

7 Behold, there is no other power, save the power of God, that can cause this gift of Aaron to be with you.

(Which were: "Now this is not all, for you have another gift, which is the gift of working with the rod: behold it has told you things: behold there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature, to work in your hands" in the Book of Commandments)

8 Therefore, doubt not, for it is the gift of God; and you shall hold it in your hands, and do marvelous works; and no power shall be able to take it away out of your hands, for it is the work of God.

9 And, therefore, whatsoever you shall ask me to tell you by that means, that will I grant unto you, and you shall have knowledge concerning it.

10 Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not.

11 Ask that you may know the mysteries of God, and that you may translate and receive knowledge from all those ancient records which have been hid up, that are sacred; and according to your faith shall it be done unto you.

So again I ask, what kind of baud rate do you get tapping out answers with a divining rod, or how do you go from a divining rod to English?

--Edit--
Ah... I get it. He was going to work it out first in his mind and then use the divining rod as a binary, yes or no. So again, what kind of baud rate as it becomes a binary operation?

[_zeezrom]

I walked around the house looking for hats. All of them failed to block sufficient light to read letters off a rock. I have a Stetson in the attic. I'll bet that would work.

Besides the hat, I have all the raw materials required:

1. Rock
2. Pen and paper
3. Disc with unknown, ancient characters
4. A God in heaven
5. Will power

[_zeezrom]

Well Oliver tried to translate using a divining rod, so maybe you could add that method?

Though I am not sure exactly how that would have worked..... tapped out morse code? Binary, or ascii perhaps?

I wonder what baud rate he would have been capable of?

Thank you! This is a possibility for sure.

Maybe the stick gave off vibrations and you hold it against your face. The vibrations make sounds of English words?