Question About The Book of Abraham

[evangelical]

Greetings all! I have a question for you Mormon ladies and gentlemen. It is about the source of the Book of Abraham. I have heard that it was translated, by Joseph Smith, from the Joseph Smith papyrus. But then, I understand, when the very same papyrus was translated by Egyptologists, years later, the papyri had nothing to do with Abraham and was totally different, according to the Egyptologists than what Joseph Smith said it was. So then, my question is, how would you, as a Mormon believer, respond to such a charge, if posed to you? Thank you in advance for your friendly and thoughtful answer. Hope to hear from you soon! Goodbye for now.

[Hemidakota]

Book of Abraham 201

Some additional help:

• [PDF] Responding to Errors in an Anti-Mormon Film

  File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat

  duced a film entitled The Lost Book of Abraham: Inves-. tigating a Remarkable Mormon Claim. ... it relates to the Book of Abraham.A good place to begin

  by JS Papyri -

• Book of Abraham/Papyri - FAIRMormon

  The surviving Egyptian papyri appear to be the source for the Book of Abraham, but Egyptologists agree that these papyri are part of a collection of ...

• FAIR Topical Guide: Book of Abraham

  Topic path: Scripture and Influential Writings | Pearl of Great Price | Book of Abraham.

• Book of Abraham/Book of the Dead - FAIRMormon

  The Improvement Era described the papyri, but never claimed they represented the source for the Book of Abraham, except the original of Fascsimile 1: ...

• Search for the Truth DVD/Book of Abraham - FAIRMormon

  The issues surrounding the translation of the Egyptian papyri that resulted in the Book of Abraham are much more complex than critics would like us to ...

• FAIR LDS Bookstore: ABCs of the Book of Abraham (CD)

  For many people, the issues surround the Book of Abraham can be overwhelming. ... What works are helpful in doing your own research on the Book of Abraham? ...

• Book of Abraham papyri/FAQ - FAIRMormon

  Other than the vignette represented in Facsimile 1, the material received by the Church does not include anything like the Book of Abraham. ...

• The ABCs of the Book of Abraham

  Jun 29, 2006 ... Much of the material that's available on the Book of Abraham is .... They have something to do with the Book of Abraham but we have to infer ...

• Book of Abraham papyri/Long article - FAIRMormon

  < Book of Abraham papyri(Redirected from Book of Abraham papyri (long)). Jump to: navigation, search. #REDIRECT Book of Abraham/Papyri/Long article ...

• Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence of the Joseph Smith Papyri - The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson -- Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence of the Joseph Smith Papyri

Edited August 25, 2008 by Hemidakota

[rameumptom]

A quick response is that we do not have all the details. Many of the papyri were funerary documents from Egypt.

Unanswered issues include:

1) some of the papyri are missing, so we do not know if the writings of Abraham may be on one of those,

2) Joseph's form of translation was not a normal translation. He "translated" the Bible, adding long sections (Book of Moses, etc), which are not available in any of the ancient Bible writings. His translations often seemed to be revelations of ancient truths and events that were triggered by something placed in his hands (gold plates, Bible, papyri, etc). So the papyri may have been a catalyst to reveal an ancient document of Abraham. As it is, many of the writings in the Book of Abraham have since been found to be accurate and connected to ancient Abrahamic writings - things Joseph couldn't easily have known in his day, if at all.

3. Some Egyptian hieroglyphic writing was designed anciently to have more than one meaning. If the sen sen manuscript was used by Joseph, it is very possible that the writing have more than one level of meaning, and the Lord revealed one of those levels of translation.

[Mykdiver]

Very well put and good point. Thank you for that rameumptom.

[a-train]

We have to first prove that those Egyptologists know anything about the language of Egypt or the scrolls possessed by Joseph Smith in order to have any reason to concern ourselves.

Many years ago, when the first allegations arose concerning the matter, various scholars both LDS and non-LDS brought forth much material establishing the finer details of the issue. I own a couple of books on the subject. After reading deeply into the matter, the long story short is that there is nothing that disproves Joseph Smith's testimony concerning the Book of Abraham at the end of the day.

-a-train

[checkerboy]

Didn't we just do this?

My answer would be "So what?"

[evangelical]

Thanks for you responses. In particular, I'd like to thank Hemidakota for giving specific resources I can look at. It shall take a while to finish going through them. When the time comes, if there is anything for myself, or any of you, to add, we may continue this interesting conversation. Bye now.