Last week's discussion about "reformed Egyptian" offers an excellent example about the fourth option of managing cognitive dissonance (see installment 7). Adding additional information to our understanding of LDS-related issues can support belief and mitigate LDS-critical arguments. The cure for an intellectual apostasy is enlarging both one's spiritual and intellectual knowledge.

Because the Book of Mormon was written in a unique and unknown script, we are told that God would provide means for the interpretation (Mormon 9:34). In addition to the golden plates, Joseph also received the Nephite "interpreters" and a "breastplate." Joseph's mother Lucy, who handled these items while they were covered in a thin muslin handkerchief, described the interpreters as "two smooth three-cornered" stones "set in silver bows" like "old fashioned spectacles." The breastplate, she wrote, was     "concave on one side and convex on the other, and extended from the neck                 downwards, as far as the center of the stomach of a man of extraordinary size. It         had four straps of the same material, for the purpose of fastening it to the breast."

Attached to one side of the interpreters was a rod that could connect the "spectacles" to the breastplate thereby freeing the hands of the translator to hold the item being interpreted.

In order to understand the origin of the Nephite interpreters we need to go back to the brother of Jared prior to the Jaredite departure to the New World. After following the Lord's instruction to build barges, the brother of Jared came to the Lord with a problem. In making the barges watertight, they had no light in the vessels. The brother of Jared asked the Lord what they should do, and the Lord put the problem right back on the brother of Jared: "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" (Ether 2:23).

Possibly relying on ancient traditions of Noah's ark (which I'll discuss in some future issue), the brother of Jared "did molten" 16 small stones out of rock and brought them back to the Lord, asking Him to "prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness ... that we may have light while we shall cross the sea" (Ether 3:1-4). The Lord touched the stones so they provided light during the ocean voyage.

Before I continue on as to how this ties to the Book of Mormon translation, I want to point out that the Lord doesn't typically drop revelation into the minds of prophets. More often than not, the Lord grants revelation according to petitions for help or understanding. In the example of the brother of Jared, the Lord could certainly have told him about the light problem when he instructed them to build barges. Instead, he allowed the Jaredites to build their own barges, discover problems on their own, seek a solution, and then come to him for help when they unable to continue on their own.

We find the same example of revelation-as-answer-to-queries when we look at Joseph Smith's First Vision, the revelation on the Word of Wisdom, or Oliver Cowdery's attempt to translate the plates. In each case the Lord allowed them to find things out on their own and then they asked him for a solution once they had reached the limits of their own abilities. This is important to understand as we seek our own personal revelations -- we are supposed to use our brains and abilities first, then seek divine confirmation and help as we proceed.

It's also an important insight into understanding why prophets don't know everything about everything. No one can possibly conceive of every question to ask until confronted with situations that necessitate some additional input. The Lord reveals only those things that are expedient or important (D&C 88:64) and then, typically, only when asked for guidance or a solution to issues that have already been studied out in our own minds.

The brother of Jared's faith was so strong that when the Lord touched the stones he was able to see the Lord's finger through the veil. Then the Lord opened the veil even more, revealing himself as Jesus Christ. Jesus promised the brother of Jared that if he recorded this experience that it would come forth in the appropriate future. Because future generations would not know the brother of Jared's language, the Lord told him that when he sealed up the record he should include two of the 16 shining stones so they could be used to interpret the writings.

More to follow.