The Book of Abraham (Facsimile No.1)

 

Here above you see two pictures that can be find right before the first Chapter 1.  I have put two pictures up from two different years of Pearl of Great Price.  The 1st picture is from my 1973 copy and the 2nd is from my 2010 copy.  I have decided to write this post because of the upcoming 2013 changes to the BoM, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price. 

Now the stander work says;  “A Translation of some ancient Records, that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt.—The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus. See History of the Church 2:235, 236, 348-35” (Introduction to Abraham 1).

And; “The book of Abraham is an evidence of the inspired calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It came forth at a time when the study of the ancient Egyptian language and culture was just beginning. The scholars of the 1800s had scarcely begun to explore the field of Egyptology, and yet, with no formal training in ancient languages and no knowledge of ancient Egypt (except his work with the Book of Mormon), Joseph Smith began his translation of the ancient manuscripts. His knowledge and ability came through the power and gift of God, together with his own determination and faith.” (Pearl of Great Price Student Manual Religion 327, 2000, p. 29).

The point I am trying to make is that if this is evidence of the inspired call of JS, then why are these explanation to the pictures above False.

At the time, Egyptian things were hot.  There was things being found all the time in Egypt and Americans had no idea what they said.  News had spread that a young man was able to translate Egyptian because of the claims he made about The Book of Mormon which was claimed to be written in Reformed Egyptian. 

JS claimed that this was a picture of Abraham being offering up as a sacrifice.

These pictures always bothered me and now they bug me even more because there are so clearly untrue but even on the LDS website, they still clam them as JS says.  Still today if you go to; http://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-1?lang=eng It shows the picture found in the PGP. 

 

Why is this major lie still be installed in the Mormon’s teachings. With the help with things like the Rosetta Stone and people who have taken the time to learn the Egyptian language, we have found what this papyrus is.   

 

In reality, this is "an embalming scene showing the deceased lying on a lion-couch.

When Egyptologists translated this piece of papyrus, they found that it contained absolutely nothing concerning Abraham. Instead, it turned out to be a pagan funerary text known as the "Book of Breathings," a work which actually evolved from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The Book of Breathings did not come into existence until the later stages of Egyptian history—just a few centuries before the time of Christ. Like the Book of the Dead, it was buried with those who died in ancient Egypt. It is filled with magic and pagan gods. It was obviously written by a very superstitious people, and is quite different from the religion taught in the Bible. (http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/tract_fallofbookabraham.htm)

So with the clear understanding of what this actually is, will the LDS church come out and state that Joseph Smith was WRONG and lied to his followers.  If JS was wrong about this then how can we believe that he translated another Egyptian text?  It is clear with things like the Book of Abraham and the Kinderhook Plates that Joseph Smith lied about his “inspired” skills to translate. 

Its at this point that I know people will look at this and claim that I lie and am just hating the Mormon faith but I ask that you look into this yourself and look at Facsimile No. 1 yourself and see what it really say.  Ask yourself, “Should this lie be in one of my holy books?”  you decide?

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