A Gift of Tongues – A Gift for All

When thinking about the Renaissance and the Reformation, it can be hard to separate the events that happened during each time period because of how fluidly everything ran together. Without one thing happening, another could not have been possible. One of the most major and important events, in my mind, was the power of the printing press and all the good that came from that for the future in terms of religious purposes.



The printing press was so crucial in helping all people to read, and most importantly read the Word of God. Because words could now be read by all people, everyone was able to educate themselves more and reading was not only for those that were considered elite or with power.



The only thing that negates the positivity brought from the printing press is now everyone can print the things they want to have read. Now negativity and un-true works can be read by all. Another problem that stood in the way of everyone reading the things that were now being printed was that things needed to be translated. We know that Martin Luther translated the bible to German and then William Tyndale translated it from German to English. We are forever grateful for these efforts to spread the word of God to all.



Ryan brought in his Burmese bible and we talked about translation and how things can get lost. The Burmese language apparently is not known for having words that are known in the “Christian” verbiage. For example, Ryan told us that the word atonement is hard for people to understand, and the words repentance. How hard it must be to correctly translate all languages in a way to get the same and important message of the gospel across.



Ryan bringing this up made me realize how very truly important it was that we have things like the Joseph Smith Translation. I am so grateful for the gift of tongues and the effort people put in to helping all to gain knowledge. Without the gift of tongues, I am not sure that we would even have the gospel brought back in its fulness when it came through Joseph Smith.



Thinking about these men and their perseverance in doing good, made me so grateful and excited for all the good works that have come from the printing press and the gift of translation.

Kelsi Hicken