The issue with the Book of Abraham, that many TBM's are not even aware of, is solid proof that Joseph Smith lied about it's origin. If he lied about that, it leaves one wondering, "What else did he lie about?" It turns out he lied about a lot of things. But we'll explore those later. I am going to outline the story behind the BoA and show the world the literal proof that Joseph Smith made it up. It's not pretty if you are a believing Mormon. As I was doing my research into everything, I heard a lot of things, but none of them had me 100% convinced that the church was not true... until I learned about the Book of Abraham. It is solid, indisputable proof as you will see.
After I present my case, I will discuss a few Mormon "rebuttals" if they are even worthy to be called that. The evidence is overwhelming and only a TBM with their head stuck in the sand won't be able to understand it. Here we go, without further adu...
Joseph Smith was intrigued by an Egyptian display containing a mummy and several scrolls of papyrus. Jumping on the chance to further dazzle his followers, he spent money he really didn't have (it was the member's money) and purchased everything. As a "true prophet" he set about immediately to produce a "translation" of the scrolls. Back in the day of Joseph Smith, no one could read or translate Egyptian hieroglyphics through regular means. Therefore, the translation that he provided could not be disputed. The scrolls could not be examined by professionals. It was Joseph at his word.
Over time, through the Mormons moving around a lot, the scrolls were eventually lost and were presumed destroyed in the great Chicago fire of 1860. All of my life growing up, I always heard that they were lost, but I never heard that they eventually turned up. Ironic, because they were found before I was even born and yet, for some strange and unexplainable reason, I had never heard about them.
They turned up in 1967 in a museum in New York. Of course by this time, Egyptologists had learned how to read and translate ancient Egyptian. Believe it or not, the LDS church was very excited by this discovery. They were anxious to have the scrolls examined by professionals, as it would be definite proof that Joseph was indeed a true prophet who could indeed translate ancient documents.
But they were sorely disappointed when reports started coming in, from LDS and non-LDS scholars, that the translation provided by Joseph Smith did not match the translations provided by scholars. It wasn't even close! The scrolls turned out to be common Egyptian funary documents which contained prayers for the deceased and instructions to find the afterlife, in a book called The Book of Breathings. It had NOTHING to do with Abraham. In fact, dating of the scrolls aged them 2,000 years after the time of Abraham. In order for Abraham to have written them, he would have had to live 2,000 years!
This is definitive proof that the translation provided by Joseph Smith was entirely fabricated. Not only was the text incorrect, but the date as well. It is clear that instead of translating, Joseph Smith made up the Book of Abraham while pretending to translate.
Other factors indicate fraud as well. The picture in fascimile 1 was incomplete in the original scroll. The picture provided by Joseph Smith was complete; someone drew in the missing portion. The parts that were drawn in were done completely wrong when compared to similar documents (remember this scroll is commonly found). Even before the scrolls were found, many people had recognized that this drawing had been completed by a novice who clearly had no idea as to real Egyptian culture.
There is the proof, folks. And it leaves one asking the question, if Joseph Smith lied about the origin of the Book of Abraham, what else did he lie about? A true prophet of god should not have to lie and write scripture. If a man who claims divine revelation is caught in a HUGE lie producing false scriptures, then it STRONGLY discredits his other productions, such as the Book of Mormon.
When I found out this stuff, my Mormon world shattered. I could no longer believe in this lying fraud that called himself a prophet.
Mormons have attempted to refute this evidence. Of course, their explanations are iffy and desperate.
The first pathetic defense is that all the scrolls were not found. Some are still missing. This is true; they were not all found. They then take this to mean that the parts Joseph translated are the parts still missing. However, fascimile 1 is not missing and how much more proof do you need to see? Then they make the rediculous claim that it is common for Egyptians to put their pictures in a totally different place than the text (to make sure the reader is nice and confused). This is rediculous as well.
To quote Mormon missionaries all over the world, "Do you need to eat the whole cake to know that it tastes good?" This is what they tell potential members when they first introduce the Book of Mormon. According to their logic, you don't need to read the whole book to know it's true. You just need to read a little bit. They use this logic when it works for them, but apparently reject it when it works against them.
Their second pathetic defence is that Joseph Smith was able to translate the deeper meaning. In otherwords, the Book of Abraham was somehow encoded in the scrolls and a regular professional Egyptologist can't desipher it. That's just pathetic. It's a common scroll, people. And it's dated 2000 years too late!
Their third, and probably most pathetic excuse, is that it really doesn't matter! Joseph Smith was a true prophet no matter what the evidence says! Can you believe it? Joseph Smith is a fraud just like the creep Warren Jeffs!
In the July 1988 issue of the Ensign, the church actually ADMITS that the text of the scrolls found do not match the text of the Book of Abraham. They subtly try to convince the readers that the scrolls are not the originals. Then they just try to persuade their members to keep believing anyway! Don't believe me? I'll link you over to lds.org where the article is available. If it's found right on the churches official website, then how can I possibly be lying? Just read it and you will see how pathetic it is and how it reeks of apologetics.
July 1988 Ensign "I Have A Question"
When you click the link, notice in the address bar that it is indeed located at lds.org. I like their little disclaimer: "Questions of general gospel interest answered for guidance, not as official statements of Church policy."
Of course it's not "official". Then it can't come back to bite them in the ass!
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
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