Reading & Understanding Tablets
[Excerpt from letter written explaining tablets October 2018]
The Hebrew written language was in its infancy during David's time (1000 BC.) There was no written Hebrew during Moses' time (1500 BC.) The tablets he received were, in fact, written without the knowledge of words. However, the tablets contain a written language. An alphabet is simply symbols to create words that are used to express meaning. So also do symbols that are not words. They too can have consistent and standardized meanings. We have 7 tablets that originate during a time period of several thousand years. They all share the same symbols and can be read. I think our website will have most of our tablets "interpreted" into English very soon. Needless to say, non-worded symbols can have a variety of words to convey their meaning. So probably no two people would use the very same words to translate them. The translation of the Guidance Tablets that a young man in our community did, that will be on our website, is something like 10-12 pages. On the other hand, the Book of Remembrance of our Ancient Grandmothers is an "interpretation" (rather than a translation) of that same tablet and it is some 382 pages. For tablets the word "translation" is pretty straight forward - going from an un-worded symbol to a worded document in a specific language. To do a translation one must be knowledgeable in both languages.
But an "interpretation" is another matter. That same Adam and Eve text above, again in column 51, reads "those written tablets were seen by many persons but were read by no one." It takes an ancient instrument called the Urim and Thummim to interpret stone tablets. Urim ="lights," Thummim = "perfections." In the first edition printing of the Book of Remembrance I explained the obtaining and learning (being taught) how to use the Urim. You will find this information attached as excerpts to this email. My intention in that writing was to be completely open and informative about all the processes surrounding the Urim. I don't like things that are mysterious or secret. Basically the Lord appeared over my bed one night in about 1991 and instructed me in the use of the Urim. He had it in His hands and He turned it all around for me to see. This account is also attached.
Using the Urim one can see through the eyes of God - that is to say, a little bit of what He sees. And when one is looking using a tablet what one sees is into the lives of all those who made the tablet and all those directly influenced by it, and all the circumstances that gave rise to the information on the tablet. It goes without saying that the "seer" must have everything in order in his life to stand before the Lord in such a way. You may have noticed in the Malachi reading it actually uses the phrase "written before the Lord" in reference to the Book Of Remembrance. We have 4 scribes that record what is spoken under the influence of the Urim. There are instructions for us to do this written in the scrolls (1Q29, 4Q376) Also the description of the Urim and its use is found here. No one in Christianity pays any attention to it.
We do not view that which is received by Urim to be infallible, but it is very sacred and instructive. Because humans are involved it cannot be infallible, but it is as close as it comes to knowing the mind of God in this life. The best place to begin when trying to get a feel for that which comes by Urim is with the Book of Remembrance of our Ancient Grandmothers.
