Sometimes you gotta stop and do your research

[dahlia]

I am trying to read the BOM by Christmas. It's not going as fast as I had hoped, but I'm still reading, so I guess that's what counts.

 

The other day I read, "Brethren, adieu." in Jacob. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Adieu? In the BOM??? Obviously I didn't read as closely as I might have the first time around. This was shocking. Now, I firmly believe that Joseph Smith translated the BOM, but 'adieu'? Surely Brother Joseph sneaked in there a little, certainement? I could have let that be the beginning of a slippery slope of picking apart the BOM for what I thought didn't belong there.

 

Then I did some online searching and found 'Why is the French word "adieu" in the Book of Mormon?  And my questions were answered!  See:  http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Anachronisms/Language/%22Adieu%22 

 

As President Uchtdorf said, "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters - my dear friends - please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."  

 

Doubt your doubts and do your research!

 

 

 

[Ironhold]

Most of the people who I've seen have issues with the use of "adieu" have never had first-hand experience attempting to translate words between languages.

Generally speaking, translation isn't an exact science. Your better translators will understand this and so will frequently use "close enough" words rather than attempting to force a translation for a word or concept that doesn't exist in the language they're trying to translate things into.

In this sense, "adieu" is likely being used as a "close enough" word because the sentiment expressed on the plates didn't have a proper modern-day equivalent.

[jerome1232]

I didn't realize it was actually an english word, with a slightly different meaning than just plain old goodbye.

Learn a new thing everyday.

[Vort]

I believe the Smith family used the term "adieu" quite a bit, so it would have been very familiar to Joseph.

 

The French word "adieu", like the Spanish "adios" and the Italian "addio", literally means "to God". Of couse, the native English word "goodbye" is a shortened form of "God be with ye" (which should grammatically be "God be with you", not "ye", but that's another discussion), but the word "God" is sort of lost in the contraction. With the French word "Dieu" ("God") front and center in the term "adieu", maybe there was a sense of the loving invocation of God's name that seemed somehow lost in the English term.

[Guest]

I'm still scratching my head over here wondering how "Adieu" in the BOM is shocking...  I truly don't get it.

[Guest]

"Shocking" seems to be one of those words the pastors teach their parishioners to use against us.

 

My neighbor (staunch Baptist, FWIW) was "educating" me on some things about the temple. After every sentence she'd say, "Doesn't that SHOCK you?" I was almost giggling. I finally said, no, I've been through the temple and I have never been shocked. I've partaken of every ordinance I can and I've never been shocked, just at peace with a sense of clarity. She didn't really know what to say to that.

[Ironhold]

"Shocking" seems to be one of those words the pastors teach their parishioners to use against us.

 

My neighbor (staunch Baptist, FWIW) was "educating" me on some things about the temple. After every sentence she'd say, "Doesn't that SHOCK you?" I was almost giggling. I finally said, no, I've been through the temple and I have never been shocked. I've partaken of every ordinance I can and I've never been shocked, just at peace with a sense of clarity. She didn't really know what to say to that.

Yeah.

It's been my experience that most rank-and-file critics of the church know nothing more than what their ministers spoon-feed them.

...as regards not only us but their own theology & history as well.

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

 

As President Uchtdorf said, "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters - my dear friends - please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."  

 

Doubt your doubts and do your research!

 

I think this is such an important point Dahlia.  I think all our questions will someday be answered, until then we need to doubt our doubts and keep searching for answers.  Some answers come fairly quickly as yours did.  Others can take years or a lifetime.  For example, B.H. Roberts had a question that he pondered on his whole life, that we now know the answer to.  (The Crucible of Doubt talks about this...it had to do with languages of the native people of America.)

Edited December 3, 2015 by LiterateParakeet

[Guest]

I'm still scratching my head over here wondering how "Adieu" in the BOM is shocking...  I truly don't get it.

 

I wonder how much success the anti-Mormons in France have with toting this line.

[Sunday21]

I find the YouTube videos by FairMormon to be very comforting. These people are often lds university prof who study anti literature and explain the falsehoods. I like their dispassionate approach.

[dahlia]

When I said 'shocking,' I meant I was truly surprised to see something I didn't expect in that context. Not that I was angered or something like that. Shocked as in I had to stop reading right there and think about what I had just read. I don't think that just saying I was surprised would have adequately conveyed the level of slapped-in-the-face that I felt. 

 

I'm over it now.  

[bytebear]

I wonder how much success the anti-Mormons in France have with toting this line.

I think the French version says Ciao.

[Guest]

  I hope you were joking. 

 

For the record, the French version says "adieu".

[Blackmarch]

I am trying to read the BOM by Christmas. It's not going as fast as I had hoped, but I'm still reading, so I guess that's what counts.

 

The other day I read, "Brethren, adieu." in Jacob. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Adieu? In the BOM??? Obviously I didn't read as closely as I might have the first time around. This was shocking. Now, I firmly believe that Joseph Smith translated the BOM, but 'adieu'? Surely Brother Joseph sneaked in there a little, certainement? I could have let that be the beginning of a slippery slope of picking apart the BOM for what I thought didn't belong there.

 

Then I did some online searching and found 'Why is the French word "adieu" in the Book of Mormon?  And my questions were answered!  See:  http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Anachronisms/Language/%22Adieu%22 

 

As President Uchtdorf said, "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters - my dear friends - please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."  

 

Doubt your doubts and do your research!

It helps to remember that the purpose of language is to get idea A from person 1 to person 2 as idea A. It's no different for translation. Except that when you have two different languages it's like trying to plug a 3 pronged cable into a 2 socket plug.

[Vort]

I think the French version says Ciao.

 

"Frères, good-bye."

[JojoBag]

The single most important thing I take from this post is do your research.  Gain knowledge.