Refuting the “Book of Abraham”
Originally posted by IBD Vice President Matthew J Coombe on mjcoombe.com
I’ve developed a thorough response and refutation of the Book of Abraham which is a section in the Mormon Scripture “Pearl of Great Price.” There is a wealth of information on this subject and in order present it in a blog worth space I have presented it in bullet format. To read about this subject in full, I suggest reading, “By his own papyrus” by Charles M. Larson. This is the primary resource for this blog.
-Joseph Smith the Founder of the Mormon Church claimed to have the gift of “seer.” Mosiah 8:13 (from the Book of Mormon) defines a seer as “a man that can translate all records that are of ancient date.” Smith apparently utilized this gift to translate the book of Mormon from golden plates.
- July 4, 1835 After having somewhat of a following the “church” was delighted when a man named Michael H Chandler came to town. He had with him a mummy exhibit. This exhibit included four mummies and some ancient hieroglyphics on fragments.
- The Church was excited because they knew smith had the gift of “seer” and would be able to translate the hieroglyphics. He began to translate and a cursory glance led him to conclude, “…I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc.—a more full account of which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them. Truly we can say, the Lord is beginning to reveal the abundance of peace and truth.” Daniel H Ludlow, Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Vol. 1, s.c. ‘Book of Abraham—Origins of the Book of Abraham,’
-Also while translating this work Smith made a guide called, “Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar.” This never became a “holy” book like Book of Abraham, but the fact that he created it is significant.
- 40 years later a few things had occurred. The book of Abraham was completely translated and had become an official scripture of the Latter Day Saints or Mormons. However, also during this time due to the work of some dedicated scholars the Rosetta stone became fully understood and a usable tool. The Rosetta stone was an Ancient Egyptian artifact that contained a passage in Hieroglyphics and then same passage in Greek. Thus, as much as one is able to discern Greek, with the Rosetta stone he can likewise know Hieroglyphics.
-1878 Orson Pratt the Mormon Prophet (head of the church) claimed the superiority of Mormonism because of their gift of seer, “Have any of the other denominations got this gift among them? Go and inquire through all of Christendom…’Can you translate ancient records written in a language that is lost to the knowledge of man?’ No…the universal reply of the Christian denominations, numbering some 400,000,000 would be that they have not the power to do it…you must give us credit.”
Herein lies the ability to prove the validity of the cornerstone of Mormonism, Joseph Smith and his gift of “seer.” For:
The Mormons have
1. The Ancient Hieroglyphics
2. The alphabet written by Smith
3. The Rosetta stone
4. A chance to prove themselves to the world.
-1965 The alphabet was published. It was written off by experts as non-sensical and having nothing to do with the correct translating of hieroglyphics. While this caused some doubt in the eyes of some Mormons, the alphabet was never considered an official scripture, so it was not a huge deal.
-Eventually several Egyptologists were allowed to examine the Papyrus fragments, their independent conclusions were unanimous: The fragments were common funeral texts, all clearly dating after 500 B.C (which was 1,500 years or more later then when the supposed author “Abraham” lived.) Therefore, they concluded there was no connection whatsoever with the Abraham or any Biblical figure or content.
-The documents were identified as:
1. Book of Breathings
2. Book of Dead, for Lady Amon-Re Neferirnub
3. Book of Dead, for Tshenmin
They were ancient pagan texts.
- There is no consensual response from the LDS church, they vary from the comical “nobody really knows Egyptology” to views of hidden meaning. The hidden meaning response claims that there is both a literally and a spiritual interpretation. However, this response (and the many other similar ones) fail to account for Orson Pratt’s challenge nor Smith’s apparent “seer” ability. Larson discusses all the responses he knows of in his book
-If you want to know how damning this refutation is, then attempt to buy a new copy of Larsons book. The LDS church has purchased and destroyed all new copies. Outside the philosophical problems with the Mormon view of God, Jesus, and Grace, this is the greatest refutation of the cult.
This is certainly one of the more complicated issues out there, and I don’t claim to have more than a preliminary understanding of all the intricacies involved. From my research though, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not claim to have all the Egyptian source material for the Book of Abraham in their possession and do not acknowledge that it has been found by anyone else. Critics claim the source material has been found, and then compare the documents that they believe Joseph Smith translated from to what Egyptologists would render it as. It seems to me the debate breaks down at the fundamental stage of “Do we have the source material available for scrutiny?” and unless either side can reach an agreement on this there’s really no forum for meaningful debate. As FAIR (a prominent LDS apologetics group) states: Critics often don’t tell people that we are missing at least 85% of the scrolls that Joseph Smith had. We don’t have papyrus with the Book of Abraham on it (except Facsimile #1) and have never claimed to.
As for other issues raised by this post that are more verifiable, I would direct the reader to the following link:
http://www.amazon.com/His-Own-Hand-Upon-Papyrus/dp/0962096326/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259786737&sr=8-1
Clearly, Larson’s book is readily available, a fact which casts doubt on the veracity of the rest of this post.
As for the Church of Latter-Day Saints purchasing and destroying all copies of this book, it seems to me this is a most baseless and malacious allegation, and one quite unlikely to be true given that a core belief of Latter-Day Saint theology is freedom of religion (Cf the the 11th article of faith, from the Articles of Faith, http://scriptures.lds.org/a_of_f/1/11#11)
Thanks for your honest and polite (non-trolling) reply. I’ll let the author know you’ve commented and get his feedback.
thanks for the note.
I have a couple of responses.
1. As for the destruction of the books, a fellow apologist mentioned this to me and while i do not believe the LDS church is handing out copies of the book, it is strange that Mormon “elders” are not even aware of this debate. I have talked with several of them on the issue and they are not even aware of it. I find this strange, because “elders” are aware of even the more secretive LDS doctrines (adam-God doctrine, eternal progression, baptism of the dead, etc.) it is for these reasons I deemed it likely that the LDS church would desire to limit the the books circulation.
Whether or not the limitation of circulation is true of not, how does this detract from the veracity of the rest of the post? Joeseph smith made a claim, the claim was refuted. If true, how the LDS church dealt with it is of little consequence. Whether it is prompted or hidden, what about the claim itself? It would be intellectually irresponsible to disregard my argument because of such a trite problem.
2. If the church is claiming that they only have 15% of the source material I can work with that. Though it that has not been their claim through the years. But fine, so, suppose we have 15%, alright, translate that 15% and see if it is actually the book of Abraham or what people who actually know hieroglyphics say it is. Or generally prove me wrong and provide a member of the LDS church who has a gift (as boasted by your prophet) and can translate a dead language. So, either compare the 15% with what is already known, or produce someone who has that gift. Unless either of these are accomplished, my primary criticism still stands (and it is a lot for me to concede the LDS church only has 15%, but even with such a concession I still have a solid case.)
3. Last i checked the LDS had 7 of the facsimiles on display (i dont have my sources on me to verify, but I beleive there was around 7.) if this is no longer the case, then this is new. So, if the LDS church is claiming only to have facsimilie 1, this is a relatively new affirmation.
4. In no way, was any aspect of my argumentation refuted or even criticized. All that was criticized was ancillary issues. I will be happy to concede the LDS church not does not destroy copies (though i would still wonder why zero of the LDS members i have talked to know of it) and concede there is only 15% within their pocession. But how does either of those concession take away, refute, or even diminish my claims or argumentation? Produce evidence to refute evidence.
for love and peace, Matthew J