teelea68

Without question the Book of Abraham is an intellectual enigma.  It would seem obvious that the text we have is by any measure a stretch from the facsimile that remain.  But there is no question the style and structure is absolutely flavored in ancient Egyptian style and format.  Ancient Egyptian science, mathematics and physics was based in relationships and ratios.  This science was successful in producing the most enduring architecture in the entire history of mankind - including present day.  Their understanding of sound harmonics is the foundation of modern music and their understanding of light and color harmonics was not duplicated in modern times until we mastered laser technology.  Wonder of wonder - this technology came from no where and exploded in ancient Egypt during the era of Abraham.
 
Our current science is based in a foundation of the rudimentary constructs of Newtonian physics and number theory.  A couple of interesting constructs between modern Newtonian physics and number theory and relativistic comparisons to ancient Egyptian science and mathematics  comes from the representation of pi and the square root of 2.  Modern mathematics represents both of these numbers and ratios as irrational number that have and continue to confuse students trying to understand modern theory.  The ancient Egyptians simply understood the ratio of pi as the ratio of a circle to its diameter and the square root of 2 as the ratio of of a side of a square to its diagonal.   Sizing architecture to the ancient Egyptian was a simple matter of geometric ratios compared to modern mathematics based in number theory.
 
Now with this background read and compare Abraham chapter 3 with Doctrine and Covenants section 88.  Realizing that both cover in essence explanations of the same doctrinal ideas that came from the single source of Joseph Smith that was not an expert in Newtonian physics (obvious from personal writings) nor was there any understanding of ancient Egyptian science during the lifetime of Joseph.  One being a wonderful match of ancient Egyptian understanding and one being a wonderful match for someone from a Newtonian era.
 
Say what you will about Joseph Smith and his 3rd grade education but the empirical evidence that is presented in the text and structure of the Book of Abraham far exceeds even the most accomplished experts of our day.  But the criticism remains that the translation of the Book of Abraham and the remaining facsimiles make no sense in our modern setting.