bcspace wrote:I think the best that Will (or anyone) can do is show that there is not enough information to judge the Book of Abraham a fraud. It is also the worst any Book of Abraham critic can do.
You have got to be kidding! It is up to the apologists to provide evidence that the Book of Abraham is what it claims to be. Fraud is the logical default assumption, given that a supernatural explanation is both highly unlikely and not supported whatsoever.
Dr. Shades wrote:. . . I am going to go out on a limb here.
Perhaps I'm missing something that's obvious to everyone else. If so, then I apologize in advance for my ignorance.
That said, is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?
Specifically, William Schryver has made three repeated claims:
There is an upcoming publication that will prove, once and for all, that the Book of Abraham manuscripts--the ones with the Egyptian characters in the left margins--were actually produced by copying and not dictation.
There are several top-tier, top-ranked, yet unnamed LDS scholars/apologists working on this project.
Will Schryver is in close confidence with this group, and he has made at least one important contribution to the knowledge of this group vis-a-vis evidence for dictation.
I am now calling Will's bluff. I hereby submit the following three things:
Regarding the Book of Abraham and the refutation of critics, there is no publication or project in the works, to be revealed in in either the near future or at any other time. This is a fiction invented by Schryver himself and no one else.
There is no group of LDS scholars/apologists--whether top-tier, top-ranked or otherwise--that is working on any sort of project to prove that the manuscripts were produced by copying, not dictation. This, too, is a fiction invented by Schryver himself and no one else.
Will Schryver is not in close confidence with this group, nor has he made any sort of contribution to this group whatsoever, since this supposed group doesn't actually exist. This, too, is nothing more than a fiction invented by Schryver himself and no one else.
I am, of course, open to any objective evidence from any other source--outside of Will Schryver's mere say-so, of course--that I am wrong. And if I am indeed wrong, I will openly apologize for starting this thread.
Anyone?
You've nailed it, Shades.
The whole thing is a figment of my imagination.
Or a pigment of my exaggeration.
Or something like that.
I know I'm eventually going to be exposed as a base fraud, but I'm such an out-of-control attention seeker that I just can't control my urges, and so here I am: I have dug myself so deeply into this pit of delusion and deception that it really doesn't matter anymore how far-fetched the claims might be--it's all gonna blow up in spectacular fashion before long, so why not ride it for all it's worth?
Besides, some chicks just dig a reckless loser on the fast track to self-destruction.
And who says "William Schryver" is a real person anyway? For all you know, I could be Joseph Smith reincarnated, living in a single-wide on the outskirts of nowhere, with a laptop and a dial-up connection, crafting elaborate self-aggrandizing fantasies to gratify my own twisted sense of irony and humor. In fact, I think you should explore that avenue a little further, it sounds like a much more compelling story than the one you're suggesting above.
OK, gotta go now. My seer stone is beeping ...
Will, you have completely ignored all but the low-hanging fruit. One day you are going to have a shattering glimpse of the obvious.
One day you are going to have a shattering glimpse of the obvious.
Been there. Done that. My first day of posting on this message board.
And every day I've come back since ...
... every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol ...
I think the best that Will (or anyone) can do is show that there is not enough information to judge the Book of Abraham a fraud. It is also the worst any Book of Abraham critic can do.
You have got to be kidding!
Not at all.
It is up to the apologists to provide evidence that the Book of Abraham is what it claims to be. Fraud is the logical default assumption, given that a supernatural explanation is both highly unlikely and not supported whatsoever.
That has got to be the most unscientific explaination I have ever seen.
