LDS Church explains problems with the Book of Abraham

(Link embedded in the title)
Original Author: Deconstrutor

The closest thing the church has ever come to an official statement on the problems with the Book of Abraham was in the July 1988 issue of the Ensign Magazine. Granted, this article did not come from a General Authority. But the fact that the church published this in The Ensign comes close to an official statement. If this Ensign article is false, then that would mean church leaders allowed lies to be printed in the church's official publication.

This is an excellent article to share with other members because it admits the basic facts about the Book of Abraham papyri and facsimiles.

Below is a summary of quotes from the article, with my comments in parenthesis:

Ensign, July 1988, Page 51:

"Why doesn't the translation of the Egyptian papyri found in 1967 match the text of the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price?"

"The papyri in question are a part of the collection of Egyptian mummies and papyri that the Prophet Joseph Smith bought from Michael Chandler in 1835. After the Prophet's death, the papyri were lost to the Church. But in 1966, Dr. Aziz S. Atiya, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Utah, discovered some twenty-two separate papyri fragments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which were clearly part of Joseph Smith's original collection. The papyri were acquired by the Church, and they are now located at Brigham Young University."

(Note: The church has always admitted that the rediscovered papyri is the same one in the possession of Joseph Smith.)

"..some people have concluded that this Book of Breathings must be the text Joseph Smith used in his translation of the book of Abraham."

(Note: This "some people" making the conclusion includes the Mormon Church, which under the direction of Apostle N. Eldon Tanner, sent out for the translation, expecting it to prove Smith's true translation abilities.)

"However, there are some serious problems associated with this assumption. First of all, from paleographic and historical considerations, the Book of Breathings papyrus can reliably be dated to around A.D. 60-much too late for Abraham to have written it. Of course, it could be a copy-or a copy of a copy-of the original written by Abraham. However, a second problem arises when one compares the text of the book of Abraham with a translation of the Book of Breathings; they clearly are not the same..."

(Note: Notice how the church is admitting the two basic facts 1: The papyri is too young to have been written by Abraham and 2: A real translation of the papyri doesn't match the book of Abraham. So how are they going to squirm out of this?)

"Actually, there are two possible explanations why the text of the recently discovered papyri does not match the text in the Pearl of Great Price."

(Note: There are actually THREE possibilities.)

"One explanation is that it may have been taken from a different portion of the papyrus rolls in Joseph Smith's possession."

(Note: This has been proven false since the release of Smith's translation dictionary. Characters from the existing fragments match those in Smith's notes that he attributes to the BoA. Besides, the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham are the ones in the discovered papyri.)

"A second explanation takes into consideration what Joseph Smith meant by the word translation. While translating the Book of Mormon, he used the Urim and Thummim rather than dictionaries and grammars of the language. Translating with the Urim and Thummim is evidently a much different process than using the tools of scholarly research."

(Note: According to Church History, the angel Moroni had already permanently taken back the Urim and Thummin years earlier. The Book of Commandments, Smith's Journal and William Clayton's Journal all say Smith used his brown peep stone for the Book of Abraham translation. Later, the D&C changed all references of "peep stone" to "urim and thummim.")

"Instead of making a literal translation, as scholars would use the term, he used the Urim and Thummim as a means of receiving revelation."

(Note: Joseph Smith really used his brown peep stone, the same rock-in-the-hat trick he used to dictate all of the Book of Mormon and the first sections of the D&C)

"..as Joseph Smith used the word, he could have received the meaning, or subject-matter content of the original text, as he did in his translation of the Bible. This explanation would mean that Joseph Smith received the text of our present book of Abraham the same way he received the translation of the parchment of John the Revelator-he did not even need the actual text in front of him."

(Note: So then why did he even have the papyri? This explanation is completely bogus because the Book of Abraham contains Smith's "translations" of facsimile drawings included in the papyri. If it wasn't a literal translation, why does the BoA today show the facsimile drawings? Besides, didn't Smith tell everyone he used the papyri as the source? That's what it still says in the introduction to the BoA in the scriptures. And Abraham 1:12 actually references the facsimile image included in the papyri!)

"His translation of the Bible, parts of which are in the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, was also done without having the original text before him."

(Note: This sounds familiar. According to official church history and eyewitnesses, Smith dictated whole sections of the Book of Mormon while the gold plates were hidden in the woods or under a bed.)

"In reality, the actual method Joseph Smith used is far less important than the resulting book of scripture he produced."

(Note: This is where the church throws out reason. They are basically telling you to ignore the facts and evidence in front of you.)

"In the final analysis, however, the proof of the truth of the book of Abraham does not come by human means."

(Note: What does "human means" mean? Why can't a real translation verify Smith's translation claims?)

"I have studied the book of Abraham, and the truth of it has been made known to me in a way I can't deny. I know that anyone who earnestly wants to know if the book of Abraham is true can also receive this same witness and knowledge from God."

(Note: The third possibility they chose to ignore is that the translation is a hoax. Based on the facts, which of the three possibilities is most likely to be correct?)

OCCAM”S RAZOR A rule in science and philosophy stating that entities should not be multiplied needlessly. This rule is interpreted to mean that the simplest of two or more competing theories is preferable and that an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what is already known.

One should make no more assumptions than needed. When multiple explanations are available for a phenomenon, the simplest version is preferred.
In other words: The simplest explanation is usually the best.

*My Thoughts*

So I recently had a discussion with a member of the church about this particular topic, and it seems that this particular person is CONVINCED that Joseph was the only one who could read Egyptian, and that all the scholars of the modern era are the ones in error. Imagine that, with all the advancements and the discovery of the Rosetta stone which makes translating Egyptian into Greek possible, how can members of the church remain convinced that all of the modern Egyptologists and scholars are mistaken in their translations and only Joseph Smith, (who is dead and gone) got the translation correct? Why then, is the alphabet he developed and the documentation of his work in translating the papyri hidden away within the vaults of Salt Lake? Why aren't entities like the Smithsonian or the Cairo museum using Joseph's translation as the basis for deciphering ALL of the known Egyptian scripts that are discovered within the catacombs of the tombs?

Oh, it couldn't possibly be because Joseph lied, because that wouldn't uphold the member's testimony. So we have to fish around for other possible explanations, including accusing all current scholars and Egyptologist's of being "too intellectual" and refusing to allow the Holy Spirit of Testimony reveal the truth to them.

It is utterly ridiculous to expect the world to conform to a Mormon's narrow field of vision. Just because a small population of religious zealots refuse to believe that their prophet could have made the whole thing up, doesn't mean that what has been revealed is 'a pack of lies brought about by anti-Mormons. Egyptologists are not anti-Mormon. They could care less what one small minded narcissistic control freak taught 165 years ago with regard to papyrus scrolls he bought from another like minded snake oil salesman. It's been proven over and over that Joseph did not and could not read or understand Egyptian texts. His facimilies printed in the Book of Abraham have been translated correctly as funerary documents called the Book of Breathings. How do we know this? Because others exactly like them have been found with other mummies.

Joseph Smith had no powers to translate anything. The whole church and religion is a fraud. That's Occam's Razor in action.