*This is the first post (of three) in this series where I discuss my thoughts about the Scripture essay in Adam S. Miller’s book, Letters to a Young Mormon. You can find posts the other two posts here and here.
A few years ago I heard about this book called Letters to a Young Mormon by Adam S. Miller. I bought the book, read a couple of the essays in it and then forgot about it. My husband randomly thought about this book the other day. He picked it up and ended up reading the entire little book in one sitting.
After he got done reading, he told me that there were a few of the essays that he really liked and that I should read. One of those was an essay called Scripture.
I really liked how the author passionately talked about the scriptures and why it is important for us to study them. I had so many thoughts and insights after reading this essay so I thought I’d break my thoughts up into 3 posts.
This first post is about the importance of translating the scriptures into our own personal languages and making sure that we are translating repentance.
Ok, guys, I tried really hard to paraphrase this, but I just couldn’t. Adam’s explanation is just so much better than I could come up with on my own. Why reinvent the wheel, right? So here is a good chunk of the Scripture essay…
“The restoration restored scripture. God showed himself to Joseph Smith first as flesh and bone and then as ink on paper. When he appeared in the sacred grove, Jesus quoted scripture. When he appeared in Joseph’s bedroom, Moroni quoted scripture and then sent Joseph to unearth more. Joseph translated the Book of Mormon. and then he retranslated the bible. And then he revealed the Book of Abraham. Then Joseph went back and started again. He never stopped working on his translation of the bible. And then he revealed the Book of Abraham. Then Joseph went back and started again. He never stopped working on his translation of the bible. Brigham Young even seemed to suggest that, if Joseph were still alive he might try a fresh translation of the Book of Mormon.
Joseph always expected more revelations, and “translation” was one vital name for the hard work of receiving them. For Joseph, translation was less a chore to be done than a way, day by day, of holding life open for God’s word. Translating scripture is a way of renewing life. In translation we lend our lives – our minds, our ears, our mouths – to the local resurrection of old texts, dead words, and lost voices. We put down our stories and take up theirs. And as we give voice to them, they, for a time, rejoin us in the land of the living.
Joseph produced, as God required, the first public translations of the scriptures we now share. But that work, open-ended all along, is unfinished. Now the task is ours. When you read the scriptures, don’t just lay your eyes like stones on the pages. Roll up your sleeves and translate them again. Every morning and every night, we are each commanded to sit down at our kitchen tables, spread out our books and notes and papers and pens, and, with a prayer in hand, finish what Joseph started. It is not enough for Nephi to have translated Isaiah into reformed Egyptian or for Joseph to have translated Nephi into King James English. You and I must translate these books again. Word by word, line by line, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, God wants the whole thing translated once more, and this time he wants it translated into your native tongue, inflected by your native concerns, and written by your native flesh. To be a Mormon is to do once more, on your own small scale, the same kind of work that Joseph did.
To succeed, you’ll have to pray always. You’ll have to study it out in your mind. You’ll have to listen to the beating of your heart. You’ll have to consult the best books. You’ll have to take careful notes. And then you’ll have to bring all these raw ingredients to bear on how God wants you to retranslate the next verse you’ll read. Led by word and Spirit, you’ll be empowered to do it and when you’re done, you must ask the Lord if- for you, at this time, at this place – you’ve done it right.
You’ll know if you’ve done it right if, as a result of the work, you repent. “Say nothing but repentance unto this generation,” the Lord told Oliver Cowdery when he came to help Joseph translate the Book of Mormon (D&C 6:9). This is your charge too: translate nothing but repentance. When you’re reading them right, the scriptures will bring you up short. They’ll call you into question. They’ll challenge your stories and deflate your pretensions. They’ll show you how you’ve been wrong and they’ll show you how to make things right.”
I just love so many things about this section of the essay. I like how Adam says that “for Joseph, translation was less a chore to be done than a way, day by day, of holding life open for God’s word.” I think that it’s easy to feel like scripture study is a chore, just something to check off the to do list. But if we think about our task as a task of translation, it becomes more exciting, more individual.
I love the idea that when we study the scriptures we should be translating them again – into our own personal languages. Interestingly, I was just looking up the definition of dialect and ran across the word “idiolect.” Idiolect is defined as “the speech habits peculiar to a particular person.” So we should be translating the scriptures into our own idiolects. The term idiolect probably doesn’t even describe this deeply enough because we’re not only talking about literal, vocal speech habits. I think that our own personal languages are made up of spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical dimensions. The term “idio” means “distinct; private; personal; own” We each have our own distinct, private, and personal languages – no one’s is the exact same.
I also love how Adam points out that we will know that we are translating the scriptures correctly if they move us to repentance.
I personally feel that all learning should lead us to a desire to improve and/or to develop our personal/spiritual gifts that we can then use to bless our own lives and the lives of others. And this is particularly true when we learn through the scriptures. The scriptures should motivate us to improve, to change for the better, to repent.
A couple months ago I listened to a podcast from my life coach, Jody Moore. This podcast is called Automated Blessings from God and Jody talks about how she feels that obeying the commandments (she discusses 5 in particular), gives us automated blessings. (I highly recommend this podcast episode by the way. I loved it.)
In this podcast, one of the commandments that Jody discusses is scripture study. Here’s what she says… (again, why reinvent the wheel? I’m just going to post the part that I transcribed from her podcast…)
“So, when we read our scriptures, I think that the reason this is so powerful for us, is because of what behavioral scientists call “cognitive dissonance”.
So cognitive dissonance means that our brains want to see our behaviors line up with what we believe is right or true or good. If our behaviors don’t line up with our beliefs, then we are going to experience cognitive dissonance, and that is going to be uncomfortable, and so human nature is that we will either change our behaviors, or we will change our beliefs until the two align. So, as human beings here on earth, we are imperfect. So we are not going to live perfectly. We are not going to make perfect decisions all the time. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to make some really foolish, ridiculous choices, even, at times. And then the brain is going to feel dissonance. And then we are going to have to decide, “am I going to change that behavior? or am I just going to change what I believe?”
Either way, it’s kind of a painful, challenging process. But if I am consistently reading my scriptures, and it can also mean listening to conference talks from our church leaders, or anything that is spiritual, that reinforces my beliefs. Because Heavenly Father knows, that we’re not always going to act in perfect alignment with our beliefs. But if I keep reinforcing my beliefs, by studying what I learn, by reading examples of how important, true, and powerful it is in people’s lives, by reading the scriptures and studying it, then likely I will change my behaviors to line up with my beliefs, rather than the other way around. Brilliant. Right?”
So consistent scripture study helps us to spend more time strengthening our beliefs, and the more we reinforce those beliefs in our minds and hearts, the more our behaviors and our beliefs align. I love this idea, especially combined with translating them into our own personal languages and making sure that we are translating repentance – that our personal translations are motivating us to repent and become better.
