First off, some information, what is the Book of Abraham? Well the book was derived from a set of Egyptian papyri purchased by the Joseph Smith in 1835 from a traveling mummy show. Although no formal training in Egyptology, Joseph Smith created a translation of part of the papyri, and the work was published called the The Book of Abraham. Today it remains a component of the Mormon quad--their canon of scripture. [The text is published as part of the Pearl of Great Price, one of the four canonical scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.]
Why is this important? Well firstly, Joseph Smith, the prophet, translated the papyri. Secondly, the book is part of the Mormon canon. Thirdly, the Book of Abraham provides justification for important Mormon doctrines, including the exaltation of man, plurality of gods, priesthood, and pre-mortal existence not found in any of the other canonized scriptures of the LDS.
So you're probably asking big deal, he translated some scrolls. Well not exactly. What if we had the exact same papyri that Joseph Smith used for his translation? Would the results be the same? Well get this, in 1966 some of the papyrus scrolls were found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Based on this rediscovered source material of the Book of Abraham, qualified Egyptologists can once again complete a translation. What they found is startling.
Using illustrations and the original text of the Book of Abraham it was found the documents are in fact funerary texts that describe events in the afterlife of deceased Egyptians that is consistent with other historical and archaeological evidence. Today we can prove that Joseph Smith incorrectly translated the papyrus.
Independent scholars, Egyptologists, are in agreement about the nature of the documents. Only church sanctioned Mormon Universities still try to claim the translation is still correct. Mormon scholars currently do not discuss the translation since it's not open to debate, the documents are clearly funerary in origin.
Why is this a death blow to Mormonism? As stated above, Joseph Smith is a prophet to the LDS church, but he states that the Book of Abraham is:
A Translation of some Ancient Records that have fallen into our hands, from the Catacombs of Egypt, purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt.[1]
After closer examination, Smith also declared,
... with W. W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc. -- a more full account of which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them.[2]
Joseph claimed that he received divine inspiration in having discovered and translated an existing ancient work. Joseph claimed to be the prophet, seer, and revelator who could decipher it. Joseph Smith the prophet was wrong.
How can a prophet be wrong yet people still trust his other works? Well it doesn't stop there. For each of the facsimiles, Joseph Smith offered a detailed explanation or interpretation of various elements on the papyrus and fragments. Here is one of those facsimiles (number 3).
Smith 'translated' this image as such: a representation of Abraham sitting on the Pharaoh's throne teaching the principles of astronomy to the Egyptian court. The figure behind "Abraham in Egypt" is "King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head." The figure before "Abraham" is "Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt". The dark character is "Olimlah, a slave belonging to the prince" and in between is "Shulem, one of the king’s principal waiters".
What do independent Egyptologists say? This is merely the judgment of the dead before the occupied throne of the Egyptian god, Osiris.[17] The picture of Osiris shows his typical headdress or crown and his arms are placed in a typical position in which he holds a sceptre and a flail. In front of Osiris, but with her face turned away, is Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of justice, truth and order wearing her traditional feather on her head.
Unfortunately for Joseph Smith both the recovered papyri and the facsimiles published with the Book of Abraham bear no direct connection, either historical or textual, to Abraham. Abraham's name does not appear anywhere in the papyri or the facsimiles.
I've read some of the Mormon positions/rebuttals on the subject and let me say they are aren't well articulated and contain very poor scholarship. The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), is trying in vain to respond to the material but again the scholarship is less than stellar.
How should we approach these conclusions? The theological implications are great, if you can't trust the Book of Abraham then plurality of gods, pre-mortal existence, and more, have zero validity in the LDS faith. Fact of the matter is you can't reason your way to convince anybody out of their particular faith even if there is damning evidence to discredit their most sacred prophet.
Many Mormons value their faith, value their experiences, and as such will not 'convert' as a result of a scientific debunking of one of their scriptures. In the very least I hope it makes everyone dig a little deeper when learning about their own faith.
1. See History of the Church, vol. 2, pp. 235, 236, 348-3512. History of the Church, Vol. 2, Ch. 17, p. 236. July 1835
17. See for example The Judgment of the Dead. Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
25. Richard A. Parker, "The Joseph Smith Papyri: A Preliminary Report", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1968, p. 98.
32. Stephen E. Thompson, "Egyptology and the Book of Abraham", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 28/1 (Spring 1995): 148-152. See also the translations in the Analysis of the Joseph Smith papyri section of this article.
33. The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus ... Twenty Years Later. Retrieved on 2006-08-07. In this article, Michael D. Rhodes examines facsimile 2, the hypocephalus, and notes that the four sons of Horus (figure 6) plausibly fits with Joseph Smith's explanation that the figure "represents this earth in its four quarters".
Many sources from Wikipedia
You're oversimplifying a very complex issue
Hence your simple response. What's so complex about this? The sources for the Book of Abraham are really funerary documents, what's complex?
Does it bother you when someone says something is "oversimplified" but then offers no explanation to back up his or her assertion?
This is John. From years of dating a mormon, alternating churches each Sunday and extensive dialog..... Mormonism has been dealt fifty-thousand 'death-blows'. It is insanity. Joseph Smith's words equal God's word and plain reality has nothing to do with it. Yet the religion grows faster than our own? Perhaps we could learn some BS from our dear Joseph. Nice artical though.
Mormonism is another fraudulent religion born out of someones overactive imagination much like Scientology! All we have to go by is some book that was written by man...even the bible was written by man...and we all know how man is. So how are we to believe anything at all? Including what I am saying now...makes you think doesn't it? All men are capable of lies...Who's to say Joseph Smith wasn't pulling one over us? Maybe he was crazy...He found something and made more out of it...because people in that time period were ignorant duped morons! And so are people today! Come on you can even rearrange some of the letters in Mormon and you can spell moron! Mormons = Morons!!!!
The reason the church grows at such a fast rate is because it is true! It is the true will of...
Ahhh, just kidding. In all due honesty though, the church grows at the rate it does for many reasons. To pinpoint one or a few as "it" would be a case of oversimplification, but it certainly doesn't hurt when a church has about all of its male members go on 2 year missions. It also doesn't hurt that the culture of the church leads to huge families (when everyone around you is getting married in their early 20s, and a "small" family is a family of three...)
Science points to the universe having a beginning. Even Eisenstein, who did not want to believe it, was compelled to realize that the universe hadn't been around forever because of his own theory of relativity (he actually tried to sabotage it by dividing by 0 because he was an atheist and knew what it meant). Disregarding all religious text, the entity that created the universe must be spaceless, timeless, immaterial, awesomely powerful, incredibly intelligent, and personal being able to make the decision to create the universe from nothing. This deductive reasoning proves that a host of religions are false, including Mormonism, but it also proves that the supernatural has affected this natural universe that we live in (by it's very creation). Simply saying that a text was written by man, therefore it's false, isn't founded on credible reason necessarily, because like a man uses a pen, maybe God sometimes uses His followers to communicate with his creation. Certainly he created us for a reason. Granted that is not enough evidence to believe in the Bible, but the new testament it's at least 99% accurate. and keep in mind, the writers of the bible were not treated well because of there beliefs. Paul of Tarsus was a rich celebrity before he was converted to Christianity and started writing parts of the bible. Once he converted he gave EVERYTHING up inducing his old religion of Judaism, was incarcerated, beaten, whipped, maimed, stoned to death, saw heaven (though he never wrote about it like John ), came back and was eventually killed again. His torture lasted many years. Certainly he didn't do all of that because he was a greedy corrupt looser. If he was, Paul (means little) would have stayed in Tarsus with his old name Saul (the name of a famous Jewish king) and continued living his grand life. By the way Joseph smith and other Mormons used his religion to overrule the bible and create a sex cult where he had 33 wives (by the use of spiritual threatening). Smith relieved many pleasures from his religion. Jesus, Saul, and the rest of the apostles were ridiculed, imprisoned beaten, and killed. There is a lot of very interesting historical and philosophical evidence that revolves around the new testament.
What does LDS stand for?
LDS = Latter Day Saint
It's amusing how some modern conservative Christian groups (such as the LDS) will pick-and-choose convenient sciences to believe.
That said, if you have confidence in DNA research, anthropology, or linguistics, here's another Mormon tidbit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svfxSscxh8o
LDS is not a Christian group. It is an aberration that rejects the nicene creed that all Christians (Orthodox, Catholic and protestant) accept. Realize it.
From a sociological standpoint you would classify LDS as Christian, however, not even the academy is at a consensus of what/who we should classify LDS as.... Most would say they are not fundamentally Christian and any Christian who knows basic truths would not label Mormonism as a Christian sect.
The DNA v. the Book of Mormon I'm still hesitant to use a full blown fodder against Mormonism cause I 'm not entirely convinced DNA can disprove migration patterns like they have suggested.... (or origins I think it was in the DVD). This coming after my conversation with a chemical biologist.
"Mormonism has been dealt fifty-thousand 'death-blows'."
Yep. For some reason it continues to blunder along, so lets hope one takes it out soon.
Marc, thanks for the youtube.... Coops, it's not blundering, it's a multi billion dollar juggernaut.
fastest growing religion in the world. A very dark religion when you get to the core of it, but they've out done us in worship. A mormon won't touch alcohol tobacco or caffiene, they won't have sex and they will be faithful to their spouses. WIth that said, they make Christianity look like a joke.
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Why does Mormanism continue when its major tenants have been proven false and its "scripture" show to be impossible?
Paul tells us why, "..For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."
It's the same reason people believe Islam. You can be a god - have a 100 virgins etc etc - it's all the same thing. It appeals to man's basest greeds/desires - so some people will embrace it regardless of the evidence.
ANOTHER DEVASTATING BLOW FOR THE MORMONS
Rather than focusing on what the papyri are not, as most commentators have done, Professor Hugh Nibley has explored what the papyri are and what they meant in ancient times. He demonstrates how these ancient Egyptian papyri contain a message that is of particular interest to Latter-day Saints in a book called "The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment (The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Volume 16)". It is available from Amazon for those who are not simply looking for a way to bolster their own poor scholarship. It is a fascinating read.
Egyptologist John A. Wilson stated that the recovered fragments indicate the existence of at least six to eight separate documents. Another scholar estimated that the fragments constitute roughly one-third of Joseph Smith's original collection of papyri.
It may be of interest for those opposed to the Mormon church that Nibley's book agrees with them that the fragments currently available are part of funerary texts. But since the fragments are only about 1/3 of what Joseph Smith had, it is quite possible that one of the texts was the book of Abraham. Keep your mind open - you never know what you can learn.
You may also want to read a slightly modified version of a paper given at the fifty-eighth annual meeting of the American Research Center on Egypt, in Toledo, Ohio, on 20 April 2006. The paper was originally written for Egyptologists and has been modified for a more general audience. The article is entitled "New Light on the Joseph Smith Papyri, John Gee
FARMS Review: Volume - 19, Issue - 2, Pages: 245—260
Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 2007.
You can find this at the Neil A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Type in the title and you should find it.
Tom:
You cannot declare another to operate within the confines of 'poor scholarship' if you merely recount and read your own mormon apologists.
Regarding Wilson, he DID note that the recovered fragments indicated the possibility of other documents, he did NOT, however, agree with Joseph Smith's translation.
That's the thing, rather than believing wild conjecture on what 'could be if I really think and dream hard enough', let's focus on what we actually have.
If we do that then we conclude the following:
The credibility of Joseph Smith as prophet, and thus the entire Mormon religion that comes after him, is confirmed or disqualified by his ability to translate the so-called Abraham texts. He made an UNEQUIVOCAL FAILURE. It doesn't matter what the 'other texts' could have said, the fact is he FAILED at translating the ones we DO have and thus we cannot trust Smith as a prophet anymore than an Egyptologist.
The only reason the LSD church is growing is because they recruit from third-world countries where the average education level is the 3rd grade.
While we are all fact finding,the LDS church may be the fastest 'growing' church (meaning what? number of baptisms?)but has anyone researched the number of those that leave the LDS church? You may find that figure just as refreshing.
I don't think we have to worry about the Mormons taking over anytime soon. I mean there's like 12 million mormons, probably half of those are "inactive", and some are like me and have all but erased their name from the records of that church. The reason they can grow at all is that people aren't told the whole truth about the church, just what the mormons want them to know. Imagine if the missionaries came to your door and said "Hi, we believe we have a polygamist father in heaven that lives near the star kolob! Wanna join?"
In response to Tom and his comment that the papyrii are only a third of the original total and the rest "could" have contained the book of Abraham. Sure,....true, and I could be Elvis. But is it likely? Noooooo! I mean he bought the papyrii from a traveling mummy show for gosh sakes!!! and this was a time after he had been convicted of fraud for taking people on gold treasure hunts in upstate New York!!! But as others have pointed out, it doesn't matter how much evidence you show them, they have their "faith" and their sticking to it. C'est la vie.
As a former member, let me just say that it breaks my heart that the Mormon religion is based on a foundation of lies. For years, I felt so grateful for being a Mormon. I felt special being one of the few people in the world to know the "truth" about God and His plan for everyone on Earth. I felt sad for those that believed in all the anti-Mormon propaganda. Boy, was I wrong! The problem within the Mormon church is that there are still many millions of members that are unaware of the actual truth concerning Joseph Smith and his lies. It took me years, but I ended up having to accept the fact that Joseph Smith was nothing more than a scam artist. I challenge every member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to learn the actual history and problems of the church and about the things that Joseph Smith did over and over which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a false prophet. There are many different sources that will confirm and validate what I have said. The Mormon Church is a false church that keeps its members hidden from the truth. I know that any active member reading this is probably thinking how lost and confused I am, but I've done years and years of research and finally came up with enough courage to accept Mormonism as a lie. Do your research and you will find that Joseph Smith was caught in so many lies and taught so many false things about the Gospel. Any objective and honest Mormon that trusts in God and seeks the truth shall find out exactly what I did. The Book of Abraham is just one of the many lies that confirms that Joseph Smith is a false prophet.
First of all since u don't realy know anything about Mormons because u aren't one. Fascimile 3 does not hold a major significant doctrine or purpose in this religion. So even if Joseph Smith got this one completely wrong it was about Egypt and not Mormons. As for it's accuracy it doesn't matter one way or another. Fascimile 3 holds no Mormon doctrinal value. u would know that if u were a true student of the religion. It was simply in the book of Abraham. Stick to being an expert on youre own faith and don't try to tear others apart it's just not realy christian. Further more u can't destroy a faith just by one error alone it takes a preponderance of evidence to prove a faith faulty. Joseph Smith was murdered by Mormon haters before the age of 34. He was shot while in prison by an angry Morman hater mob held on trumped up charges and he never got to receive a fair trial. He did not get a chance to finish his work because men at the time were false acusors with false accusation. I believe anti-mormans could not compete with the efficiency and productivity of the Mormons at the time. They murdered and drove out the Mormons because of jeliousy and envy. By the way the devil takes the form of an acusor (Rev 12:10-11) "Satan accused his brethren before God day and night". In fact the Mormon doctrine is more sound and more accurate then of any faith on this planet with the least amount of doctrinal and religious errors. u would know this if u were a Mormon.
Sunday School Teacher Gospel Doctrine 2000-2001
you do realize that the image shown isnt even the right image to what Mormons believe was traslated?
Picky, picky, picky.
If you're going to start looking so closely, dear scholars, ALL of the scriptural bases for ALL religions fall apart.
Believe if you want, just don't expect any translation of a fragment of ancient text to provide the basis for your beliefs. It isn't there. It never was there.
the lds church is the bigest fraud ever pulled on man kind.you are all about lyes to get peoples money.18300 people leave every year from the cult b o a & b o m are all false
Well, we shall see won't we Fred and yo. :)
I have studied Mormonism and this is one of the things I haven't heard of. Joseph Smith stole from everything he could to make a story so irrational and unbelievable that people can't help but believe it. While the Bible gives exacting dimensions for the Ark, the temple, the Ark of the Covenant the book of mormon has people traveling across the ocean in a part boat/part submarine in impossible barges that are as long as a tree and are tight like unto a dish and have holes that had to be postcontruction added so they could breath, see and get water (undrinkable sea water). Also there is a description of an island sinking that at the time of Christ crucifixion that sounds a lot like Atlantis. There is no historical or archeological backings, like the Bible has and yet people still believe in the BOM over the Bible, even though the Bible has now been added as a preword to the BOM.
Joseph Smith was inconsistant. He supposedly translated the BOM using the Urim and Thurimm from refomed Egyptian to King James English, but he could read and translate Egyptian heiroglyphs by just looking at them. And just where did all of the original golden plates and papyri go. Conveniently they dissappeared and Joseph Smith was the sole reciever of the truth. At least copies and parts and peices of the Bible have been found over the centuries even up today with all of them agreeing on the same text. The BOM can't even come close to the validity of the Biblical text.
Archeology alone should settle the question as to Smith's credibility. The polygamy scam nails it. He and Brigham Young were pervs, no matter how one tries to dress them up.
silly troll ;) the book of mormon is the cornerstone of our faith first and foremost. the book of abraham is NOT part of the book of mormon, rather part of the pearl of great price. this makes your entire troll invalid. the book of mormon is included with the old and new testament and the pearl of great price. trying to destroy other peoples beliefs for personal gain and pointing out another persons flaws are against the teachings of jesus christ. repent and be baptised by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of god, follow the commandments of god and love your neighbor as yourself.
Also should be noted that the Book of Mormon has been revised twice, the first time with exceptionally significant 'adjustments'. That should be a red flag for any honest Mormon.
Just to clarify, the Mormon Canon is a set of four books: The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, The Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), and The Bible (King James version). The Book of Abraham is not found in The Book of Mormon, but all four books are held with the same esteem in the mormon church. The Book of Abraham is viewed to be just as true as the Book of Mormon in the church.
Hopefully this helped...
I've been taught as a member that Joseph Smith was killed by haters who hated his religion, and persecuted for religion throughout his life. Actually it turns out that he was persecuted for being an obnoxious jerk who didn't obey the laws of the land wherever he went. He married other men's wives, married 14 year old girls and had sex with any woman who he could convince, usually by "revelation" that god wanted it so.. There were many other unique and strange religions started during the 19th century who weren't persecuted... they got along with their neighbors and were able to fit in socially. We were even taught that he was once tarred and feathered because of his faith. It turns out that it was because he was after some guy's 12 year old sister!
We were always taught that mormons were persecuted more than others because satan was trying especially hard to stop mormonism.
I will say this...there are currently 14 million mormons in the world ..and
2,5 BILLION CHRISTIANS I will stick with the majority. Mormons are the ravenous wolves in sheeps clothing, targeting the meek and mild ( the only way to try and get their numbers up) ...GOD warns us in the Bible very clearly about false prophets !!