Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

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hauslern
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Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by hauslern »

https://interpreterfoundation.org/estim ... idence-22/

"It’s important to keep in mind, though, that as with some of our other episodes, this represents only a rough summary of a lot of different evidence both for and against. It would definitely be possible to dig more deeply into each of these pieces to get more refined probability estimates, the same way we’ve done for a bunch of Book of Mormon-related evidence. But nothing I’ve seen from the negative evidence suggests that there’s hidden impossibilities waiting to be explored. It’s reasonable to look with skepticism at the Book of Abraham, and to think it odd that what we have would come through divine inspiration. It’s probably less reasonable to see it as overwhelming proof of Joseph’s fraud, particularly not in the context of the considerable evidence weighing in favor of the Book of Mormon."

No footnotes?
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by Philo Sofee »

He is Dallin Oaks twin, LIAR for the Lord. Idiots both.
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Moksha
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by Moksha »

What would happen if Kyler Rasmussen presented his findings to a true academic journal?
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by drumdude »

It seems unlikely that the Book of Abraham would disagree with what the most learned academic minds would have to say on the subject, or that a fraudulent one could in any way align with what we’d expect from the ancient world.
What a mess of a sentence. Imagine writing this way about any other subject.

He has to weasel around every issue with double negatives like "unlikely to disagree." My high school teachers would mark every sentence written like that in bright red ink.
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Shulem
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by Shulem »

What say ye, Philo?

I've skimmed the contents of this article and see death written all over it. It's like a corpse laying on a cold slab ready to be slid back into the cooler. The Book of Abraham may refuse to be buried but it is dead and nothing can bring it to life. It's dead. It's over. Period!

I will continue to stay on target with the King's name and will keep that going. I have other cards to play in combination and will make it impossible for the apologists to overcome. They have no choice but to get up and walk away. But the king's name is playtime and there is no way the apologists are going to be able to overcome that particular conundrum which delights the critics and strikes frustration for the apologists.

What's the king's name?

There is no king's name in those characters. 100% against -- ZERO chance, and zero times zero is always zero. There is no king's name in the characters above Isis. Period. Not now and not ever. That nail in the coffin is so deep into the wood that watching Gee and his puppy Muhlestein attempt to pull it out with their bear hands would prove entertaining. Fools!

Does anyone want me to comment on the article? Or I'll just go away. Really, I just don't give a damn. Their arguments are beyond silly -- they are retarded.
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Res Ipsa
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by Res Ipsa »

Moksha wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:38 am
What would happen if Kyler Rasmussen presented his findings to a true academic journal?
A rip in the space-time continuum.
he/him
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by Gabriel »

hauslern wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:02 am
https://interpreterfoundation.org/estim ... idence-22/

No footnotes?
Dr. Rasmussen wrote:
When last we left you, our ardent skeptic, you had just finished a brief ponder on the nature of the names you found within the book—the same book that, after almost two long days of reading, has started to leave stains on your increasingly strained fingers. You know you should put the book down. The farm needs tending. The cold hearth needs lighting. But something compels you to continue turning each page. It’s only with great effort that you’re able to set it down long enough to gather a bit of firewood and relight the fire. As you sit back down, the hunger to devour what remains of this book is as strong as ever.

And as you keep going, you notice something that only momentarily troubles you—up to this point your mind had raced to process every objection and question everything that seemed remotely questionable. No longer. Whether your mental muscles had reached their limit or you had merely lost the will to struggle against the tome’s absurdities, you weren’t sure. Either way, you could feel the strictures of your mind loose—your thoughts calm.

You let the words pass over you like a flowing river, and you find you feel them more than read them. You feel the heroism and hope brought by a proclaimed prediction of Christ’s birth, along with its subsequent fulfillment. You feel the despair as war and conflict tear the Nephites apart into base tribal loyalties. You feel anxiety and fear as natural calamity brings unthinkable destruction to the book’s peoples. You feel awe and wonder as that calamity ends with a resurrected Savior descending from heaven to teach and heal them. You feel the serenity of generations of utopic peace and prosperity that follow his brief ministry, and disappointment as greed and pride and strife inevitably creep back in. You find yourself bearing a part of the palpable exhaustion and frustration of the eponymous Mormon, as his people slide into violence, into inhumanity, and, ultimately, into destruction. You even feel interest and curiosity, rather than skepticism, at the tale of Jared and his brother, and their journey from the mythical Tower of Babel.

But it’s finally there that your eyes finally refuse to stay open. You close the book, lay yourself down on the straw mattress, and sleep.

You awake the next morning, relieved that your sleep had been dreamless, completing the morning routines of the farm with a peaceful sense of purpose. You find yourself barely thinking of the book and its remaining unread pages. You remember that you have an errand in town, and that some of your supplies are running low. So, with no particular urgency, you hitch up an old gray mare to a creaky wagon and begin the several-hours ride into the village. You know, as well, that the young man who had given you the book would be there somewhere. That book was now in your pack, ready to be returned to him as you’d agreed three long days before.

The air is cold and the sky is gray and threatening as you ride into town, though the snow hasn’t yet started to fall. You move quickly to get into the general store just as the first flakes hit the dirt road outside. Before you can look through the store, however, a stack of newspapers catches your eye. The name “Joe Smith” almost springs off the page, and you double back to take a closer look. An article details a rather interesting development, recording Smith’s recent purchase of Egyptian antiquities from one Michael Chandler, who had been touring them in various areas around the American frontier. The said Smith had apparently translated some of those materials, purportedly discovering the writings of Abraham, as well as Joseph of Egypt.

The fire of intrigue burns within you. Here, at last, would be the ultimate test of Smith’s translating abilities. It should be a relatively straightforward matter to compare his translation to those of prominent experts, and then see if those translations agree. If they don’t, then such should expose Joseph as the fraud he assuredly is. It seems unlikely that an authentic text would disagree with what the most learned academic minds would have to say on the subject, or that a fraudulent one could produce any degree of agreement with an accurate translation. You immediately buy the paper, eager to learn what you could about this strange turn of events.
I think that Dr. Rassmusen's arguments would be a little more convincing if he addressed real skeptics living in the 21st century rather than an imaginary one in the 19th.
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Res Ipsa
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by Res Ipsa »

drumdude wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:39 am
It seems unlikely that the Book of Abraham would disagree with what the most learned academic minds would have to say on the subject, or that a fraudulent one could in any way align with what we’d expect from the ancient world.
What a mess of a sentence. Imagine writing this way about any other subject.

He has to weasel around every issue with double negatives like "unlikely to disagree." My high school teachers would mark every sentence written like that in bright red ink.
Breathtakingly bad writing. And weasel around is the perfect description. And I’m sure my weasel brethren would agree.
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When I go to sea, don’t fear for me. Fear for the storm.

Jessica Best, Fear for the Storm. From The Strange Case of the Starship Iris.
hauslern
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by hauslern »

One Facebook friend who has some knowledge of the language shared this with me.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1It7 ... 08ktw/edit

We know from the sketch that parts of facsimile were damaged.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f7Y ... 4Sbbg/edit

Smith inserted a picture (figure 3) taken from anothere piece of papyri. Look at the botton right.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-87 ... Dge0E/edit
Look at the long winded explanation Smith gave to this figure.

In many examples of the hypocephalus in this section a figure sits in a boat with a scarab.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collectio ... t/Y_EA8445
Alphus and Omegus
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Re: Kyler Rasmussen and the Book of Abraham

Post by Alphus and Omegus »

Res Ipsa wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:52 am
drumdude wrote:
Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:39 am


What a mess of a sentence. Imagine writing this way about any other subject.

He has to weasel around every issue with double negatives like "unlikely to disagree." My high school teachers would mark every sentence written like that in bright red ink.
Breathtakingly bad writing. And weasel around is the perfect description. And I’m sure my weasel brethren would agree.
It's hilarious that he and his editor think this is faith-promoting. Pretty much every mopologist essay has to strike this absurd and sacrilegious tone, though. They will never convince outsiders and their profanations of the scriptures make true believers despise them.
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