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Ed Goble wrote:The implication is this: Both the Book of Abraham is literally and historically true, and most of Joseph Smith's literalist claims for it remain true. Yet the claims of Egyptologists regarding the facts of the Joseph Smith Papyri are true as well! Both sets of facts are true at the same time, in spite of critics that insist the contrary, and we need an ideology or paradigm that includes these facts.

Ed's statement is not true. Claims made by SMITH vs. EGYPTOLOGY cannot be true at the same time. They are opposites and opposites cannot agree as one in the same. Nobody in their right mind stops for a green light. Likewise, nobody lawfully runs through a red light. You can't be cold and hot at the same time.

Those who know two languages can decipher one language into another. French into German and German into French. The translation is done the same way every time and everyone who knows the languages will also know how it is performed. In the case of Facsimile No. 3, we have Smith vs. Egyptology -- and they are opposites. One is hot and the other is cold. More importantly, one (Egyptology) is known and the other (Smith) is unknown. One is truth and the other is deception -- outright lying.

Examine some opposites and see how they cannot both be true at the same time.

Facsimile No. 3 wrote:Fig. 2. King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head.

1) King Pharaoh
2) There is NO earthly king or Pharaoh

1) King's name in the characters above his head
2) There is no king's name in the characters

Facsimile No. 3 wrote:Fig. 6. Olimlah, a slave belonging to the prince.

1) Slave
2) God

1) Olimlah is a fictitious name
2) Anubis is written in characters above the head

This is the most famous example of one religion labeling (bashing) another religion's god as a slave and adherents, such as Ed, who defend it have no shame. Nothing could be further from the truth!

I so testify,

In the name ANUBIS, a god in Facsimile No. 3,

Amen

Abraham is a fictional character. He was not a real person. None of the Book of Abraham apologetics matters when non-LDS textural criticism of the Old Testament completely cuts through it. If you put this much energy into studying the problems with apologetics, you should at least take in the modern scholarship on the Old and New Testaments.

Saying Abraham authored the Book of Abraham is as ridiculous as saying Gandalf authored the Lord of the Rings.

Ed Goble wrote:The Kirtland Egyptian Papers represent true revelations to a prophet of God, and we need a paradigm that includes that fact.

I will agree that the Kirtland Papers represent revelations in the mind of Smith and he endorsed them as such. But the leaders of the Church today do not share that opinion.

It is not a FACT that those papers are true as you state above. You may think they are true and believe it with all your heart but they will never, ever, be proven true in the academic world let alone accepted by Mormons today. The Kirtland Papers are false, nothing more than gibberish -- utter nonsense.

You are all alone, Ed.

All alone.

Ed Goble wrote:And those facts need a scholarly defense, even if people never accept what I have produced.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy on your part. Your work is doomed. People will never accept your scholarly defense. Not the Mormons and certainly not the anti-Mormons.

Ed Goble wrote:And the Church will continue to hemorrhage unnecessary losses of members as a result so long as these apologists continue in power.

It seems that the Lord who is at the helm (remember Spencer W. Kimball?) and the leaders today don't care. They never speak about the Book of Abraham controversies and have nothing to add. They allow the BYU apologists to continue to spin their work because that's all they got.

I'm afraid that you, Ed, will not be called to that work. The General Authorities don't care about what you say.

I doubt also, very much, that you will ever get your Second Anointing.

Ed Goble wrote: The only truly acceptable theories are those that work within the confines and constraints of the physical evidence, not those that make up things that don’t exist and never did by mere scholarly assertion.

Let me tell you about physical evidence. The nose of Anubis has been hacked out of the printing plate. The evidence at hand bears that out, perfectly. Everything about Joseph Smith's THEORIES as mentioned in the Explanations of Facsimile No. 3, do not exist. It's all fantasy and has been positively proven false.

I bear you my testimony that I know Joseph Smith lied. I know that with every fiber of my being with all my heart and all my mind. I am 100% sure and know it as surely as I see the light from the sun every day it shines. There is no faith about it! It is pure knowledge!

I know.

Amen.

Ed Goble wrote:Secondarily, to appeal to opinions in experts in Egyptology is not a good stance or practice to take for apologists, because most non-LDS Egyptologists do not consider the work of LDS Egyptologists on the Book of Abraham to be scientific, or even the least bit unbiased.

"most non-LDS Egyptologists"?

I strongly disagree and have no fear of being proven wrong.

It should be:

ALL non-LDS Egyptologists

Ed Goble wrote:The False Narrative Promoted by Book of Abraham Apologists

(1) They assert that there was a missing papyrus in the hands of Joseph Smith, a papyrus that had the Book of Abraham text on it. All evidence to the contrary, including the fact that all writings in the GAEL or Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language and all the other papers within the collection known as the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, argues against this. Not one of these papers shows any evidence of any copying of any characters from any missing papyrus that would have had the text of the Book of Abraham in it in any other language. We only find copies of characters from the Hor Papyrus (the Breathing Permit of Hor) and the Book of the Dead Manuscripts

You neglect to mention that there is no missing hieroglyphs for Facsimile No. 3, in which Smith used to translate and interpret in order to produce his Explanations:

Facsimile No. 3 wrote:EXPLANATION


Fig. 1. Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s throne, by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood, as emblematical of the grand Presidency in Heaven; with the scepter of justice and judgment in his hand.


Fig. 2. King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head.

Fig. 3. Signifies Abraham in Egypt as given also in Figure 10 of Facsimile No. 1.

Fig. 4. Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as written above the hand.

Fig. 5. Shulem, one of the king’s principal waiters, as represented by the characters above his hand.

Fig. 6. Olimlah, a slave belonging to the prince.

Abraham is reasoning upon the principles of Astronomy, in the king’s court.

We don't have the original papyrus in which the original ink is written but we have a facsimile of it which tells us precisely what was on the original papyrus. Those very hieroglyphs in the registers are what Smith used to translate and interpret a vignette to the Book of Abraham. We are able to compare the exact hieroglyphs to Smith's English translation and determine whether he was correct or not.

He was not correct.

Ed Goble wrote:Exposing the dishonesty of the apologists on this point and refusing to side with dishonesty does not make one a traitor to the Church as some apologists would love to style those that don’t side with their
dishonesty on this point.

I'm afraid it seems that some apologists do consider you a critic and a traitor. You'll have to learn to live with it and accept that because it doesn't appear they are going to embrace your theories.

You're all by yourself. Maybe you can start your own church? (just kidding)

Ed Goble wrote:This doesn’t mean people ought to ultimately side with the critics, just because the apologists are dishonest on fundamental points. Do you see the conundrum that apologetic lies put people in who want the truth, and who want to speak the truth, and who want to be faithful to the truth, to the Church and also defend the Church and the actual truth at the same time? What kind of twisted reality is this that the apologists have created anyway?

The people side with the critics because the critics side with credible Egyptologists who know how to read Egyptian, such as that which is written in Facsimile No. 3. Critics side with the Egyptologists and automatically jettison Smith's nonsense as bunk. The apologists are left trying to figure out how to distance themselves from the bunk and you are left alone trying to figure out how to make it work.

Give it up, Ed. All the lying must stop. Set yourself free and walk away.

I did, and I'm a better man because of it.