LDS apologist argument #3: Smith did not 'translate' in the conventional sense — he was receiving spiritual impressions triggered by the images

Mike describes the third LDS apologetic argument: that Smith's 'translation' was not a word-for-word decipherment of the hieroglyphs but rather a meditative/revelatory process. According to this view, Smith looked at the images (e.g., the figure on the table) and received spiritual impressions or revelations triggered by them — seeing how the Egyptians pictured certain concepts and receiving divine insight about Abraham. Mike notes this argument is now actually promoted on lds.org.