Where to start....TRANSLATION

[Palerider]

So LDS Living has as their headline to this video that R. Nelson is giving, a new use of the word translation. They state that he gives a "powerful and deep "translation" to the word and concept of repentance."

http://www.ldsliving.com/Church-Video-P ... dium=email

First, with all of the confusion swirling in the church right now about what a "translation" is and what it is not, it seems very odd that they would pick this particular word to describe R. Nelson's take on what repentance consists of.

Are they setting up the membership to understand LDS "translation" in a different or nontraditional way? Will that help membership when they discover the BofA is not a translation of papyri in the traditional understanding of that word?

Or are they trying to make R. Nelson a larger totem in the LDS lineup of influential prophets, rather than being a simple water carrier for Joseph?

Do I hear the church bureaucracy shouting, "We have a prophet today who translates just like Joseph did!"????

Further, the "translation" that R. gives regarding repentance comes off as childish and very literal. I feel dumber for having listened to his explanation of the Greek words used to describe repentance.

There is so much more depth that could have been given which would have increased our understanding and strengthened the resolve of anyone who might be in the repentance process. And yet in spite of his intentions Nelson manages to make the principle smaller in it's breadth and depth than almost any I have heard before. I fail to see how changing the way we "breathe" would help someone to repent....

How sad to see someone who keeps looking at the greatly enlarged and deformed self image in the funny mirror at the circus keep believing it's true. It gives him such an incorrect vision of his true stature. And yet he is supported by all who are around him that this mirror is the only one he should gaze into. I hope he enjoys this extremely short time of watching everyone in his closed world grovel for his favor and attention. And what great feat has he performed to deserve this glorious status?

NOTHING..... he simply outlived the competition. A marvel of healthy living and most importantly,......genetics.

That's what it takes to be called as a prophet in modern times.

Genetics. No translation necessary....

[Corsair]

Yes, I was also really bothered by this LDS Living article. This feels entirely like an attempts to add a definition to "translation" that exonerates every problem in LDS scriptures where a material claim has been made. Anachronisms are no longer valid problems because Joseph Smith "translated" this ancient record into modern (well, 16th century KJV) English so some details of the ancient past are not beneath consideration.

It's also amusing to see porn as the new reincarnated target of moral approbation. It never really went away, but after the LDS church released "69 porn videos" (careful! don't Google that directly) I suppose we should not be surprised. Except that a lone video on "translation" of the Book of Mormon via "rock in the hat" was also released in that flood of prurient material.

It makes me want to quote the classic movie, "Airplane": Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.

[moksha]

Are they setting up the membership to understand LDS "translation" in a different or nontraditional way?

Yes. Once members have abandoned their previous understanding of the word "translate" they will be able to brush off non-Mormon claims of the Book of Abraham translation being bogus.

Stay tuned, for more new word redefinitions are on the way.

[Not Buying It]

Yes, I was also really bothered by this LDS Living article. This feels entirely like an attempts to add a definition to "translation" that exonerates every problem in LDS scriptures where a material claim has been made. Anachronisms are no longer valid problems because Joseph Smith "translated" this ancient record into modern (well, 16th century KJV) English so some details of the ancient past are not beneath consideration.

It's also amusing to see porn as the new reincarnated target of moral approbation. It never really went away, but after the LDS church released "69 porn videos" (careful! don't Google that directly) I suppose we should not be surprised. Except that a lone video on "translation" of the Book of Mormon via "rock in the hat" was also released in that flood of prurient material.

It makes me want to quote the classic movie, "Airplane": Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.

Porn is the perfect red herring for the Church. It’s gotta distract its members from the growing recognition of problems with its truth claims somehow, and they could hardly find anything better suited to that task than porn. Tons of guys look at it, the Church has convinced all of their wives it’s the worst thing they could ever do and is pretty much the same as cheating, it generates a marvelous amount of guilt, fear, secrecy, and shame, it is a great scapegoat for when someone stops believing in the Church (“yeah, well, they were looking at porn, and that’s why their testimony couldn’t handle Joseph Smith banging every teeny bopper and married woman he could get his horny hands on”) - and most important, it creates a NEED for the Church. Porn is the problem, more Church is the answer. The main message of the Church’s addiction treatment program is that you can’t overcome a porn addiction on your own, you need the Church to help you do it.

They did seem to back off of their constant talk about porn for a while, but they seem to be going back to it. And it makes sense as far as keeping people in the organization goes and creating a need for the Church in the lives of its members. Slip in a little redefinition of “translation” while you are at it, and all the better. Maybe they will use their anti-porn messages to slip in all kinds of other things that are useful for addressing members who question the Church, its the perfect vehicle for it.

[Hagoth]

They did seem to back off of their constant talk about porn for a while, but they seem to be going back to it.

Many of the control tricks that used to work are beginning to lose their power on the current generation, but porn (and even the thinking of sexual thoughts) will be a useful control handle as long as humans are sexual creatures. Sexual purity and "modesty" are similarly powerful and shame-producing but require careful tuning. We have seen how they have experimented with extending their control over marital sexuality (SWK and oral sex) but had to back off to a more controllable stance. Most people simply aren't going to give up oral sex to the bishop-in-the-bedroom. So they refocused on young people via porn shoulders, "not even once," etc. I had a singles ward bishop tell me that the biggest problem they have is getting people to date. They're so freaked out about intimacy that they don't trust themselves to be alone with someone of the opposite sex. So what do they do (my observation)? They retreat to porn. Because humans will seek some kind of sexuality in their lives, even if it is counterfeit and unfulfilling.

The Word of Wisdom is a similarly useful tool and they have to keep tweaking it to maintain as much control as possible without stepping too far over the line. Remember when you felt guilty for drinking diet Coke? People (including high-profilers like Mitt Romney and Dieter Uchtdorf) stopped feeling guilty about it so they had to take it off the list. They know members (including themselves) will never obey the actual WoW as written in the D&C, concerning meat, wheat, etc. so they edit and amend it in ways that focus on a few things, making them evil and shame inducing rather than merely unhealthy. You should have seen the horror on the Deacons' faces when I told them I took a drag on a cigarette when I was their age. You would have thought I was telling them I had raped a puppy.