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So I am seeing scuttle over at MAD than Gee has found some new Book of Abraham related artifact. I give 3:1 odds that the apologists initially claim that it supports the Abraham narrative, but when subjected to real analysis it does nothing for the believer's cause.

Anyone else care to speculate?

Since William hasn't replied yet, I'm guessing what Gee "discovered" was simply the P. N Louvre 3207, 3208, 3209 fragments of a Book of the Dead owned by the same Hor who owned the Document of Breathing. Not a new discovery, but definitely an understudied artifact. I'll be curious to see what Gee has to say about it.

It never will aid the apologists that insist the papyrus have anything to do with the Book of Abraham. It is simply impossible and they never will. The papyrus weren't written by Abraham. They are Egyptian. They will only contain the mythos of the Egyptians. The only way the Book of Abraham is possible is if it is an origin story and so the papyrus have nothing to do with it other than giving Joseph Smith the impetus to learn that story and write it down.

Doesn't matter what he finds, because he can never be trusted to provide an accurate account of the evidence. This has been established time and time again.

It sucks for the mo'pologists that the heading in the Book of Abraham and the Apostle Jeffrey Holland state that the papyrus was TRANSLATED

Polygamy-Porter wrote:It sucks for the mo'pologists that the heading in the Book of Abraham and the Apostle Jeffrey Holland state that the papyrus was TRANSLATED

Joseph Smith couldn't read Hierography and didn't know what he was looking at. So it was never translated. Holland and company should just admit that and that Joseph Smith was rather full of himself here after having published the Book of Mormon. They should state the Book of Abraham is an origin story shown to him and has nothing to do with the Papyrus. They'd stop looking so ridiculous. They should also stop publishing the mis-attributed Figures as well because they are worse than useless.

Tobin,
If Joseph Smith can't be trusted on the translation of the Book of Abraham, why should he be trusted on the Book of Mormon?

SteelHead wrote:Tobin, If Joseph Smith can't be trusted on the translation of the Book of Abraham, why should he be trusted on the Book of Mormon?

They shouldn't. Joseph Smith wasn't God and was often pretty full of himself and did many things that make me cringe. The whole thing screams fantasy, fiction, and fraud, so unless God shows up and tells you it is true - it isn't. Most Mormons have no such witness which I find beyond bizarre. The whole "I feel it is true" BS makes me sick. If feelings were so true, then why can't they recognize that Joseph Smith didn't know squat about Egyptian and keep trying to defend the Papyrus translation on that basis?

Tobin wrote:

SteelHead wrote:Tobin, If Joseph Smith can't be trusted on the translation of the Book of Abraham, why should he be trusted on the Book of Mormon?

They shouldn't. Joseph Smith wasn't God and was often pretty full of himself and did many things that make me cringe. The whole thing screams fantasy, fiction, and fraud, so unless God shows up and tells you it is true - it isn't. Most Mormons have no such witness which I find beyond bizarre. The whole "I feel it is true" BS makes me sick. If feelings were so true, then why can't they recognize that Joseph Smith didn't know squat about Egyptian and keep trying to defend the Papyrus translation on that basis?

It's sad that most Mormons have nary a clue regarding the facts about the Book of Abraham. While it's hard to blame them as the pro-LDS sites intentionally deceive them, this isn't true for the apologists, as they know the truth... they have to know the truth in order to attempt to spin it. Guys like Wade, Will, Wonka, ldsfaqs, etc., know the truth but have seemingly found a way to balance the scales of cognitive dissonance by selectively ignoring the truth. How anyone can know the Book of Abraham was an incorrectly translated pagan document and continue to believe in the truth claims of Joseph Smith is something I can't understand.

thews wrote:It's sad that most Mormons have nary a clue regarding the facts about the Book of Abraham. While it's hard to blame them as the pro-LDS sites intentionally deceive them, this isn't true for the apologists, as they know the truth... they have to know the truth in order to attempt to spin it. Guys like Wade, Will, Wonka, ldsfaqs, etc., know the truth but have seemingly found a way to balance the scales of cognitive dissonance by selectively ignoring the truth. How anyone can know the Book of Abraham was an incorrectly translated pagan document and continue to believe in the truth claims of Joseph Smith is something I can't understand.

+1

Well stated.