I'm not sure if you are mocking me or if you are serious when you talk about archaeological proof. There is absolutely archaeological proof for things. For example, the Book of Mormon claims that there are certain weapons, chariots, animals, food, that only existed in the old world and has never shown up in any archaeological dig. If we found archaeological evidence that steel swords were used by civilizations in the Americas, that would be archaeological proof that at least one thing that the Book of Mormon claims is true. Again, I'm not sure how my statement is an oversimplification of the papyri. I think that the issues with the papyri are pretty straightforward. As far as the burial ground analogy, let's say you did all of your extra research and you couldn't justify or twist my words in a way that would confirm there was an actual burial ground under my house. What then? Do you just say that I was speaking metaphorically, even if I said that there was a literal burial ground? Would you say that even though there wasn't a burial ground, God told me there was one for some other purpose that you can learn from, therefore accepting me a spiritual person and not a liar?
What I mean is the historicity of the gospel. Of course nobody can prove or disprove Jesus' divine mission. What I mean is this: 1. If the Book of Mormon is a literal history, there would be archaeological proof, which there isn't. 2. If the Book of Abraham was true, the translation would prove to be correct (not exactly archaeology, I know) I didn't bring up archaeology, the other guy did. I was simply saying that if I tell you that there under my house there is an ancient Indian burial ground because God told me there was one, then you excavate it and find nothing, but I tell you to still believe me, you probably will think I'm either crazy or some sort of a con man. I can accept that the gospel is true (or even that it isn't) and still be an active, productive member of the Church without accepting all the BS that requires so many mental gymnastics to accept it or things that I'd just have to ignore.
