Today in class, and a little bit on the first day, Brother Griffin discussed the miracle of the translation of the Book of Mormon, and particularly about Joseph Smith. I think that is a good place to start in my blog.
The method in which the Prophet Joseph Smith translated the Gold Plates into the Book of Mormon is something that people really struggle with and is often something that undergoes a good amount of ridicule. Today, Brother Griffin talked about the translation of the Book of Mormon, but discussed it in a way that I had never thought about before. Brother Griffin decided to focus on Joseph Smith and how he was truly led by God when he translated the book. Brother Griffin brought up 2 Nephi 27:19 - which says:
"Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned; and the man that is not learned shall say: I am not learned."
With this verse, Brother Griffin pointed out that this verse was foreshadowing Joseph's future translation of the Gold Plates. Something very interesting that Brother Griffin pointed out was that in the verse, is that the verse is discussing how Joseph Smith wasn't a learned man. Brother Griffin continued discussing this idea and brought in Joseph Smith's journal (learn information about it here and here - which was written after the translation of the Book of Mormon - and Brother Griffin used this as evidence of how Joseph was not very "learned". When you look at a journal entry by Joseph Smith, particularly page 4, you can see how his writing was not very advanced. Brother Griffin brought this up to show how Joseph Smith was writing the book from revelation. This idea can be seen in the second half of the of 2 Nephi 27:20 - which says:
"Then shall the Lord God say unto him: The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee."
In the second part of this verse "wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee.", Brother Griffin pointed out that it seems more like the Lord was saying that Joseph will not be reading the words and translating them, but instead he will be reading the words that the Lord will give him. This verse furthers the ideas of Joseph, not being "learned" and was probably instead writing everything from the revelation he was receiving from the Lord.
Brother Griffin built of this idea off the idea of Joseph not being learned and receiving the info for the translation directly from God, and I liked that he supported this by comparing Joseph's journal writing to 1 Nephi 1 and how the writing of 1 Nephi 1 is so much more educated and meaningful than the way that Joseph writes in his journal.
Another thing that I took from the class that really was interesting was looking at 2 Nephi 27:20 and the apart about the "learned shall not read them". This could be seen as the scriptures saying that the educated will not believe, and I think that could be a look to it. But also I think it could be seen as people who choose science over religion. As an art history major, there are many instances where this occurs in how art has progressed. In the beginning - like Medieval art - artists would create very religious works of art. This continued up until the Renaissance, but the shifted in the Baroque period. In the Baroque period there would be religious artworks but they would also have ones that they almost completely removed religion (besides some symbols in the images), but It wasn't until the Enlightenment period, which was full of science and discovery, that they started to replace images of religion with ones that are much more based in science. When we were discussing the idea of the "learned" not reading, I immediately thought of An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768) by Joseph Wright Derby. In this image, Derby has removed the hand of God and has replaced it with science. This image almost references that the scientist is the new God with the depiction of a scientist being able to control the life of the bird through the use of the air pump. Although I don't think this painting is really bad, it seemed to have a similar connection to 2 Nephi 27:20 that I found particularly interesting.
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| An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768) by Joseph Wright Derby. |
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Caroline
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