Church Officially Redefines the Word "Translate"

[_Craig Paxton]

On LDS.org the church now links scripture searches to include the Joseph Smith papers project. During a recent search for D&C 10 I was forwarded to the D&C copy found in the JSP. It is in this chapter the the Mormon god tells Joseph that H=he has lost his ability to translate the Book of Mormon due to his losing the 116 pages. By clicking on the highlighted word "Translate" one is led to a new official definition of the word which redefines the word Translate into the following definition...

To produce a new text through a revelatory, rather than scholarly, process, by the “gift and power of God.” In the Book of Mormon, the ancient prophet Mosiah translated records into his own language using “interpreters,” or “two stones which was fastened ...

See:http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/revelation-spring-1829-dc-10 click on highlighted word "Translate"

No longer are TBM's to view translate as transforming from one language into another word for word...now translate means to produce a new text through revelation...that should pretty much sew up that hole. Rather convenient.

I love how words lose their original meaning in Mormonism when the evidence doesn't support the definition of the word. And when that happens...just change the meaning of the word into something more squishy and malleable...there problem fixed.

[_No_Hidden_Agenda]

Well that makes perfect sense; redefining words until they fit the hard truths is totes legit!

Next time my wife gets on my case for watching too much football I explain "the game" should be defined as "coming unto Christ". I'm not watching football, I'm having a come to Jesus moment.

[_Tim the Enchanter]

The link also includes an expanded summary, which includes this sentence:

On 6 April 1830, a revelation stated that Joseph Smith would be known not only as a revelator, but also as a seer and a translator.

So, in the first sentence, they say that to translate means to use the revelatory process, equating translating with revealing. Then, a few sentences later, they say that Joseph Smith would not only be a revelator, but also a translator, distinguishing revealing from translating.

Meanwhile, according to Merriam-Webster:

trans·late verb
: to change words from one language into another language

: to explain (something) in a way that is easier to understand

: to have the same meaning

This is what the world understands the word translate to mean and this is definitely a scholarly, as opposed to a revelatory, endeavor.

[_Bazooka]

Drawing the target after the arrow has landed....

[_canpakes]

I love how words lose their original meaning in Mormonism when the evidence doesn't support the definition of the word. And when that happens...just change the meaning of the word into something more squishy and malleable...

Apparently, the Church has 'translated' the meaning of the word, 'translated'. ; )

[_mostlygizzards]

To quote Muhlestein - "Another bullseye!"

[_Nevo]

No, the Church hasn't redefined the word "translate."

The definition on the Joseph Smith Papers website describes what "translate" means in Joseph Smith's writings. It isn't proposing a universal definition.

Obviously, Joseph Smith's "translations" were not translations in the ordinary sense of the word. He was not trained in ancient languages. The scriptures he produced are revelatory texts, translated (lit. transferred) through "the gift and power of God."

[_Craig Paxton]

To quote Muhlestein - "Another bullseye!"

[_Craig Paxton]

No, the Church hasn't redefined the word "translate."

The definition on the Joseph Smith Papers website describes what "translate" means in Joseph Smith's writings. It isn't proposing a universal definition.

Obviously, Joseph Smith's "translations" were not translations in the ordinary sense of the word. He was not trained in ancient languages. The scriptures he produced are revelatory texts, translated (lit. transferred) through "the gift and power of God."

In other words translate means translate except when it doesn't mean translate then it mean translate...got it?

[_Nevo]

Joseph Smith sometimes used words in distinctive ways. The glossary on the Joseph Smith Papers website helps modern readers of 19th-century Mormon texts understand the peculiarities of Mormon usage by defining terms "as they were used at the time." I don't see anything particularly sinister in this, but I guess others do.