Posted on 09/01/2002 3:43:47 PM PDT by P-Marlowe
Book of Abraham Fraud
To Mormons, the Pearl of Great Price is one of four books accepted as scripture, on equal holiness and authority with the Bible. To informed Christians, it is pornographic, idolatrous filth that honors pagan idols and disrespects God. One can prove very easily that the Book of Abraham, a part of the Pearl of Great Price, is of Satan. Facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham is known to Egyptologists as a hypocephalus, an Egyptian funerary amulet. Hundreds of hypocephali are in museums around the world. As a part of pagan burial ritual, the hypocephalus was placed under (hypo) the deceased's head (cephalus) to provide magical light and warmth. The hypocephalus, as a part of pagan burial superstition, has no business representing anything claiming to be "Christian."
For comparison purposes, here is a picture of a hypocephalus that was made for Lady Takhred-Khonsu, daughter of Khonsu-ir-dis. It is similar to Joe Smith's Facsimile 2 hypocephalus that was made for a man named Sheshonq:
Below is the Book of Abraham Facsimile 2 hypocephalus. One notes various similar features between it and the Lady Takhred-Khonsu hypocephalus. These similar features in the two hypocephali include the sun god Ra (Fig. 3) on his solar bark; Amon-Re (Fig. 2), the two-headed god with jackal's heads on his shoulders; Thoth's baboons (Figs. 22-23) who have disks on their heads and who stand in the posture of adoration; Khnum (Fig. 1), a ram headed god; the hawk (Fig. 4) with outstretched wings; the four sons of Horus (Fig. 6); the cow goddess Hathor (Fig. 5); Min and Nehebkau (Fig. 7).
In both hypocephali, Min has an erect penis. In the Takhred-Khonsu hypocephalus, both Min and Nehebkau, whom Joe Smith says represents "God" and the "Holy Ghost," face each other with stiff penises. In both hypocephali, Min has his characteristic hawk's tail, beard and lightening bolt flail (in the form of a crooked arrow). In both hypocephali, Nehebkau presents Min with the udjat eye (All-Seeing Eye of Horus). Mormons should look carefully at the two pagan gods facing each other with erect penises, and should decide for themselves if the Figure 7 personages whom Joe Smith says represent the LDS "God" and the "Holy Ghost" are the God and Holy Ghost of the Bible, or whether they are a different God and Holy Ghost. If after this examination, people remain in Mormonism, they will not have even the slightest grounds to complain about their eternal fate in hell. They will have to admit that their eternal punishment in hell is completely fair and just.
The introduction of Joe Smith's Book of Abraham reads: "A Translation of some ancient Records, that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt. The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus."
In official Mormon writings, Joe Smith claimed not only to translate the papyri, but to give a "correct translation" of them (History of the Church, vol. 2, pp. 348, 350-51).
The papyri Joe Smith claimed to translate from Biblical patriarch Abraham's hand into the Book of Abraham have been shown by top Egyptologists to be the Book of Breathings, a shortened and later version of the Book of the Dead. The text has nothing to do with Abraham or his religion.
After examining the Joseph Smith papyri, Dr. John A. Wilson, professor emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Chicago, said that they made up a "mortuary text" known as the "Book of Breathings " (Shait en Sensen) (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1968, p.68).
Dr. Klaus Baer, associate professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, also found the papyri to be the Book of the Dead. Dr. Baer's translation of the papyri and his explanations of the Facsimiles had nothing in common with Joe Smith's (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1968, p.119-20).
Professor Richard A. Parker, chairman of the department of Egyptology at Brown University, translated Joe Smith's holograph of "Abraham" into about eighty-seven words as follows:
1. [.....] this great pool of Khonsu
2. [Osiris Hor, justified], born of Taykhebyt, a man likewise.
3. After (his) two arms are [fast]ened to his breast, one wraps the Book of Breathings, which is
4. with writing both inside and outside of it, with royal linen, it being placed (at) his left arm
5. near his heart, this having been done at his
6. wrapping and outside it. If this book be recited for him, then
7. he will breath like the soul[s of the gods] for ever and
8. ever (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1968, p.98).
The papyri are no more than pagan myths related to Egyptian idolatry. Additionally, Egyptologists date the papyri to about the first century (Charles Larson, By his own hand upon papyrus, 1992, p. 62.). Since Abraham lived at least 1,500 years earlier, he could not have hand written the papyri as Joe Smith had claimed.
In 1842, Joe Smith published Facsimile 2 in the Mormon periodical Times and Seasons. He published it as a serial of the Book of Abraham. Claiming that he could explain sections of the picture, he numbered Figures to facilitate his explanations. So that there is no suspicion that I have altered Facsimile 2, here is a pro-LDS site that has a graphic of the Facsimile 2 hypocephalus. It is the site of BYU professor Michael Rhodes, who has an article accompanying the picture.
Here is Joe Smith's explanation of Figure 7 in Facsimile 2:
"Fig. 7. Represents God sitting upon his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood; as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove."
In his article, Professor Rhodes repeats Joe Smith's explanation. If one visits professor Rhodes' Website, one will find Figure 7 in the lower right quadrant of the hypocephalus. Christians will be aghast to see that Figure 7 is a man with an erect penis. Under Joe Smith's directions, Reuben Hedlock made woodcuts for the original facsimiles printed in the Times and Seasons. The Figure 7 man with the erect penis was in this early 1842 edition. Ashamed and embarrassed, Mormon officials expunged the erect penis from the 1966 edition of the Pearl of Great Price, but they returned Min's penis in the 1981 edition. Their alternately removing and returning it called attention to their guilt. They were guilty, and they knew it in their hearts.
Even in Joe Smith's day, a moderately retarded person could identify the sitting person as having an erect penis. Anybody with high school level reading comprehension skills can read Joe Smith's explanation. Sanity, common sense, basic decency, etc., tells one that this "prophet" Joe Smith and his obscene representation of God are of Satan.
Professor Rhodes and professional Egyptologists identify the figure as Min, an Egyptian fertility god. At his Website, Rhodes identifies the Figure 7 person as Min, an ithyphallic god. The word "ithyphallic" is from the Greek word meaning "with erect penis." Min's full Egyptian name is "Menu-ka-mut-f." The name literally means "Min, Bull of his Mother." Min, as one might guess from his name, was incestuous with his own mother. He is usually represented as having an erect penis. In some hypocephali, Min holds his stiff dick with one hand.
When Klaus Baer, Associate Professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, translated the original papyrus (P. JS I) from which Joe Smith copied the Facsimile 1 vignette of the Book of Abraham, he found the term "Min Bull-of-his-Mother." (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon thought, Autumn 1968, page 116)
Even the Mormon "church" admits that Joe Smith copied the Facsimile 1 vignette from P. JS I: "Only for Facsimile 1 is the original document known to be extant" (Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: MacMillan, 1992, Vol. 1).
Dr. Baer translates columns on the papyrus from which Joe Smith copied Facsimile 1:
"Lines 1-3 give the titles, name, and parentage of the man for whose benefit the Breathing Permit was written:
" . . . the prophet of Amonrasonter, prophet [?] of Min Bull-of-his-Mother, prophet [?] of Khons the Governor . . . Hor, justified son the holder of the same titles, master of secrets, and purifier of the gods Osorwer, justified [?] . . . Tikhebyt, justified. May your ba live among them, and may you be buried in the West. . . .
"Too little is left of line 4 to permit even a guess at what it said. Insofar as I can make it out, line 5 reads: 'May you give him a good, splendid burial on the West of just like. . . .'" (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1968, pp. 116-17).
The epithet "Min Bull-of-his-Mother" refers to the ithyphallic god Min, whom Egyptologists also find in Joe Smith's Facsimile 2. Min, then, is an irrefutable tie between Joe Smith's Facsimile 1 and Facsimile 2. Since even the apologetic Encyclopedia of Mormonism admits that Joe Smith copied the Facsimile 1 vignette from P. JS I, Mormons are forced to acknowledge that Min is in their "scripture" of the Book of Abraham, a part of the Pearl of Great Price.
Anybody who can read Egyptian hieratics can find Min in the writing around the perimeter of the round hypocephalus. Joe Smith copied characters from the Sensen (P. JS XI) papyrus to fill in the perimeter of the hypocephalus. Knowing nothing of hieroglyphic and hieratic writing, Joe Smith copied some characters upside down in relation to others (Charles Larson, By his own hand upon papyrus, Institute for Religious Research, Grand Rapids, Mich. 1992). Since LDS "church" members also didn't know much about Egyptology, Joe Smith was relatively safe in conning them.
Joe Smith numbered the writing "Figure 18" and said about the writing: "will be given in the own due time of the Lord. The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give at the present time."
Joe Smith's comment "as far as we have any right to give at the present time" suggests that the writing is holy. Well, let us look at the writing and see how holy it is. BYU professor and Mormon apologist Michael Rhodes has translated writing around the perimeter as:
"I am Djabty in the house of Benben in Heliopolis, so exalted and glorious. [I am] copulating bull without equal. [I am] that mighty god in the house of Benben of Heliopolis. . . ." (BYU Studies, Spring 1977, p. 265)
The filth is in both the Egyptian writing and, in case somebody can't read the Egyptian writing, the sitting Egyptian god with an erection, whom Joe Smith explains as "God sitting upon His throne." In Facsimile 2, then, Min is identified by both text and a graphic.
To the right of Min in Figure 7 is a slender personage Joe Smith identifies as the "Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove." What Joe Smith identifies as the "Holy Ghost" Egyptologists identify as the snake god Nehebkau, who has arms and legs, but a serpent's body. As an ithyphallic god, Nehebkau often has an erect penis. In his article, professor Rhodes also identifies the snake god to the right of Min. The depiction of Nehebkau below was taken from a hypocephalus designated Leyden AMS 62, a hypocephalus that is similar to Joe Smith's:
Mormons should study this picture because in the picture are the exact personages whom Egyptologists identify as Menu-ka-mut-f and Nehebkau, and whom Joe Smith identifies as the Mormon "God" and the Mormon "Holy Ghost." What Mormons identify as representing "God" and the "Holy Ghost" in "scripture," Christians identify as demonic.
Dr. Samuel Mercer was one of the eight Egyptian antiquities experts who were quoted in Franklin S. Spalding's booklet Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Arrow Press, 1912). Dr. Mercer was distinguished as the custodian of the Hibbard Collection of Egyptian reproductions, the most complete collection in the United States (The Utah Survey, vol. 1, no. 1, September, 1913, p. 3). Dr. Mercer agreed that the ithyphallic god Min and the ithyphallic snake god Nehebkau are in Figure 7 of Facsimile 2.
Dr. Mercer wrote, "Fig. 7 represents Nehebka, the serpent-god, presenting an uzat-eye to Horus-Min who is seated. Horus-Min was formerly sometimes called Horammon. Joseph Smith calls Horus-Min 'God sitting upon his throne,' and Nehebka, the Holy Ghost 'in the form of a dove,' the last expression being, of course, an anachronism." (The Utah Survey, p. 24)
Dr. Mercer wrote, "No one can fail to see that the eight scholars are unanimous in their conclusions. Joseph Smith has been shown by an eminently competent jury of scholars to have failed completely in his attempt or pretense to interpret and translate Egyptian figures and hieroglyphics." (Ibid., p. 10).
Dr. Mercer observed, "Any pupil of mine who would show such absolute ignorance of Egyptian as Smith does, could not possibly expect to get more than zero in an examination in Egyptology." (Improvement Era, vol. 16, p 615.)
Egyptologist Wallis Budge, famous for his Book of the Dead translation, summed up Joe Smith's translation of the Facsimile 2 hypocephalus as having "no archeological value" (E. A. Wallis Budge, The Mummy, A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archeology, Dover Publications, New York, 1989, p. 477).
One of the earliest Egyptian antiquities experts to find Joe Smith's explanation of Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham completely false and to find "An ithyphallic serpent, with human legs" in Figure 7 of Facsimile 2 was M. Theodule Deveria (Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, Journey to Great Salt Lake City, London: W. Jeffs, 1861).
Egyptologist Emily Teeter, associate curator of the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, also recently agreed that the seated figure in Figure 7 "could certainly be Min-ka-mut.f, per the suggestion of the late Prof. Klaus Baer." (Emily Teeter, letter to Mark Hines, 16 September 1999.)
According to Egyptologists, the two personages in Figure 7 are the ithyphallic Egyptian gods Min (Menu-ka-mut-f) and Nehebkau. Recently Dr. James P. Allen, curator of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Egyptian Art, identified both Min and Nehebkau in Figure 7.
In his expert opinion, Egyptologist James Allen sees "no reason to question the identification of them as a form of Min and Nehebkau, respectively, since that is what the parallels indicate they are." (James P. Allen, letter to Mark Hines, 8 September 1999)
This is Joe Smith's explanation of Figure 3 in Facsimile 2:
"Fig. 3. Is made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing also the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed."
In Figure 3 of Facsimile 2, Egyptologists immediately recognize the well-known scene of the hawk-headed god Ra (or Re) with a sun disk on his head. A sun god, Ra is sitting in his solar bark. In Egyptian idolatry, the sun was thought to die and be reborn each day. Ra represents the sun in its daily journey across the firmament, a death, rebirth and resurrection cycle. Mormon apologist and BYU professor Michael Rhodes also identifies Ra in Figure 3.
In the Bible, God finds Egyptian gods detestable in His sight. One can count at least fifteen pagan gods in Joe Smith's Facsimiles. These pagan Egyptian idols are well known. For instance, to the left of Min is the cow goddess Hathor, and to the left of her are the Four Sons of Horus. One can visit book stores, libraries, universities, etc., to find information on these idols. Many Mormons, through satanic blindness, cannot see what is before their very eyes. The Holy God of the universe, of course, would not be represented by any pagan Egyptian idol.
Having anything to do with these gods is a sure way to anger God and bring down His fury. Only LDS and other Satanic religions represent God with that which is an abomination to Him. Do Joe Smith and Mormons think it a small matter to anger God? In the below NASB Jeremiah 43:13 verse, the city of heliopolis was a main center for worshipping Ra. The Obelisks God resolves to shatter are solar symbols.
-----Jeremiah 43:
13 He will also shatter the obelisks of heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.
-----Jeremiah 44:
8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
-----Ezekiel 20:
7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
-----Exodus 20:
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
-----Deuteronomy 8:19
If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed."
-----Deuteronomy 11:16
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you. . . . .
God has tremendous love for those LDS who read articles at this and some other Christian sites on Mormonism, such as the Tanners' great site, and who leave the Satanic LDS "church." If they don't leave the LDS "church," even though they know better in their hearts, they show utter disrespect for God and His awesome holiness. How can Mormons represent God with Min, a pagan god who has an erect penis? A pagan idol who, according to Egyptian mythology, had sex with his own mother and who represents beastly sexual lust? The Bible tells us that people worship demons when they worship gods made with their hands. Being away from God in blackness and eternal burn pain is going to be unbearable for those who read this and who choose not to act. God describes hell as a place where there are a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), a furnace of fire (Matthew 13:50), everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41), everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46), eternal damnation (Mark 3:29), wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42), outer darkness and weeping (Matthew 25:30) torments in flames (Luke 16:24).
By Mark Hines, M.A.
1. Joseph Smith did just exactly as he said he did and as it has always been held: he obtained the actual, original writings of Abraham and did accurately translate them by the gift and power of God. Either modern Egyptology is completely wrong, or else God has allowed Satan to alter the materials we now have, perhaps to separate the truly loyal Saints from among the less sincere.
2. Joseph Smith did have Abraham's original writings and properly translated them, but the originals have not been recovered. Either the true text of the Book of Abraham was from a different (lost) portion of the Book of Breathings scroll, or the Facsimiles were always on a different scroll, separate from Abraham's text, and Abraham's statements about them have been misunderstood. It is also possible that Satan has confused the world's scholars about Facsimile No. 1, and even altered the "Small Sensen" papyrus to make it look like it was once attached to it, though it never really was. Satan could also have altered the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar to make Joseph Smith look bad, and done the same with Facsimile No. 2, Facsimile No. 3 and the rest of the material.
3. The papyri we have, as well as the Facsimiles, are what the Egyptologists say they are, but they are also the Book of Abraham --technically speaking. There is a deeper meaning to them, somewhat like a code, which has not yet been discovered by the world. Joseph Smith could determine this meaning by the gift and power of God, but he did not know about or simply did not mention the other more "common" meaning of the papyri. Joseph Smith may have even been mistaken about them having been penned by Abraham himself, but that is all right because the important thing was the coming forth of the inspired text encrypted within the originals and handed down in them as they were copied over and over again through the ages.
4. Joseph Smith only thought he was translating Abraham's record from the papyri. Actually, some ordinary funeral papyri from Egypt functioned as a sort of spiritual catalyst to Joseph Smith's mind, so that he received the Book of Abraham as a result of direct revelation -- and God allowed him and everyone else to believe he was translating. God also allowed Joseph Smith to believe his Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar was authentic and worthwhile, when actually it was useless. Or perhaps Joseph only considered it a hobby and all the statements he made concerning it have been misunderstood. And, though Joseph never said so, his clerks were the ones responsible for stupidly placing the characters from the "Small Sensen" fragment (Papyrus Joseph Smith XI) on three of his translation manuscripts.
5. The Book of Abraham is not an ancient scriptural contribution, but a modern one that has simply been placed in an ancient setting. As a modern revelation to Joseph Smith, its lessons, teachings, and values still apply, naturally, but it is a mistake to try to fit it into an historical context, such as the lifetime of Abraham. Better to just accept it for what it says, and not be concerned over what is said about it.
6. The Book of Abraham is not really scripture at all, but merely the "speculative writing" of Joseph Smith. Again, perhaps he thought he actually was translating and producing authentic scripture, perhaps not. If he did, he was mistaken. Joseph was still capable and worthy of being a prophet in other areas.
We shall see.
The original Book of Abraham translation manuscript has a succession of Egyptian characters from the papyrus scroll copied down the left margin. A careful examination reveals that these Egyptian characters were copied in order from PJS 11, indicating that the Book of Abraham is supposed to have been translated from this section of the papyrus scroll. This page of the translation manuscript begins at the end of Abraham 1:11 — "Therefore they were killed upon this altar, and it was done after the manner of the Egyptians."
The text as well as the figures and illustrations of the Joseph Smith Hypocephalus all point toward the Egyptians' hope in a resurrection and life after death as a divine being. Although to our modern way of thinking, this message is conveyed by a strange assortment of gods, animals, and other bizarre figures, it is important to remember, that to the Egyptians, who always tried to express abstract ideas with concrete representations, these were all aspects of the One God who manifested himself in many forms.
It is especially significant to recognize that knowledge of these things was unavailable even to the best scholars of Joseph Smith's day. The pseudepigraphic works attributed to Abraham I cited above, for example, first came to light near the turn of this century. The demotic papyri referring to Abraham were not published until 1839 and a translation of them not until 1904.[80] Although Champollion had deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822, it required many years of painstaking work before Egyptologists were able to publish grammars and dictionaries of the Egyptian language. Joseph Smith simply could not have acquired the understanding he had of these things by worldly means. Nevertheless, as this study has shown, many of the prophet's explanations of the hypocephalus illustrated in Facsimile 2 are supported by our present understanding of ancient Egyptian religion, and are in fact especially typical of Late Egyptian religious writings. One or two could conceivably be dismissed as mere chance or lucky guessing, but the many correct interpetations taken together are impossible to ignore. It is clear that Joseph Smith knew what he was talking about. This only reaffirms what every honest person can learn in earnest prayer, that Joseph Smith received these things from God, even as he claimed.
INTERPRETATION by M. Theodule Deveria
By the Mormon Prophet |
By the Hieroglyphists |
|
Fig. 1 |
Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in governmment, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to the celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years, according to the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh. |
The spirit of four elements (according to Champollion), or rather of the four winds, or the four cardinal points; the soul of the terrestrial world. This god is always represented with four ram's heads, and his image has certainly been altered here. - They have also evidently made a very clumsy attempt at copying the double human head of the god figured below, fig. 2, instead of the four ram's heads. The word Jah-oh-eh has nothing Egyptian in it ; it resembles a Hebrew word badly transcribed. |
Fig. 2 |
Stands next to Kolob, called by the Egyptians Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation near to the celestial, or the place where God resides; holding the key of power, also, pertaining to other planets; as revealed from God to Abraham, as he offered sacrifice upon an altar which he had built unto the Lord. |
Ammon-Ra, with two human heads, meant probably to represent both the invisible or mysterious principle of Ammon, and the visible or luminous principle of Ra, the sun; or else the double and simultaneous principle of father and son; which characterizes divinity in the religion of ancient Egypt. - The word Oliblish is no more Egyptian than those already met with, nor than those which are to be found in the Mormon explanation. |
Fig. 3 |
Is made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority: with a crown of eternal light upon his head: representing, also, the grand key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed. |
The god Ra, the sun, with a hawks head, seated in his boat. In the field the two symbolical figuring, according to M. de Rouge, the fixed points of an astronomical period. |
Fig. 4 |
Answers to the Hebrew word Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens; also a numerical figure, in Egyptian, signifying one thousand; answering to the measuring of the time of Oliblish, which is equal with Kolob in its revolution, and in its measuring of time. |
The Hebrew word Roki'a, expansuna, solidum, ecalum,firmamentum, besides being badly described, has no relation whatever to this figure, which represents a mummified hawk, called in Egyptian Ah'em. It is the symbol of the divine repose of death; its extended wings have reference to the resurrection. |
Fig. 5 |
Is called in Egyptian Enish-go-on-dosh; that is, one of the governing planets also; and is said by the Egyptians to be the sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key, or in other words, the governing power, which governs fifteen other fixed planets or stars, as also Floeese, or the moon, the earth, and the sun, in their annual revolutions. This planet receives its power throuoh the medium of Kli-flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam, the stars represented by numbers 22 and 23, receiving light from the revolutions of Kolob. |
The mystic cow, the great cow, symbolizing the inferior hemisphere of the heavens. It is called the virgin cow at ch. 162 of the funerary ritual, which, particularly enjoins that its image be painted on the hypocephalus, and another image of it in gold on the throat of the defunct. It is the form of Hathor, who figures on several monuments under the name of noub, gold. Behind the cow is a goddess, whose head, represented by a mystic eye in a disk, is incorrectly copied. |
Fig. 6 |
Represents the earth in its four quarters. |
The four funerary genii, the sons of Osiris, Amset, Hapi, Tioumautow, and Kebhsoniw. |
Fig. 7 |
Represents God sitting upon his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-Words of the Priesthood; as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham in the form of a dove. |
The form of Ammon, with a bird's tail, or Horammon (?). An ithyphallic serpant, with human legs, offers him a symbolical eye. This last figure has certainly been altered in the hypocephalus of the Mormons. |
Fig. 8 |
Contains writing that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God. |
Four lines of the linear hieroglyphic text, which are numbered from bottom to top, instead of from top to bottom. The meaning is: O great God in Sekhem; 0 great God, Lord of heaven, earth, and hell. . . . Osiris S'es'enq. These last wordsinform us that the personage in whose mummy this hypocephalus was found was called S'es'enq or S'esonchis, a name written Sesak in the Bible, and of which there is no known example anterior to the twenty-second dynasty; that is, to the ninth century before our era, but which may be much posterior to it. |
Fig. 9 |
Ought not to be revealed at the present time. |
Also. |
Fig. 10 |
Also. |
Also. |
Fig. 11 |
Also - If the world can find out the numbers, so let it be. Amen. |
Also. |
Fig. 12 - 15 |
Will be given in the own due time of the Lord. The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give, at the present time. |
Four lines of writing similar to the former, of which they are the pendant. They appear to be numbered upside down, and are illegibly copied. |
Fig. 16 - 17 |
Also. |
Two more lines which cannot be deciphered in the copy. it begins above the god with two human heads, fig.2; and there is in it twice mention made of a sacred dwelling-place in Heliopolis. |
Fig. 18 - 21 |
Also. |
These columns of writing, illegible in the copy. It is evident to me that several of the figures to be found in these various MSS. have been intentionally altered. |
Sigh. I also found rather annoying the quite gratuitous comments on Egyptian religious practices, not least because several of my own religious practices have Egyptian origins. It is one thing to demonstrate that the Book of Abraham is a hoax, and quite another deliberately to insult the religious beliefs of a great civilization.
But the Egyptians would have behaved differently. Theirs was a syncretic religion, and taught that the True Gods are not jealous one of another.
So, I don't believe Mormons are going to Hell because they adopted a bizarre form of the Cult of Menu. Neither are the adherents of a certain other Christian denomination, that adopted a bizarre form of the Cult of Isis.
| Joseph Smith Fig. 9 "Ought not to be revealed at the present time." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 9 "the netherworld (below the earth) and his great waters" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 10 "Also" [see above] |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 10 "O mighty god, lord of heaven and earth" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 11 "Also. [See above] If the world can find out these numbers, so let it be. Amen." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 11 "O god of the sleeping ones from the time of creation" (Note the above phrases make up a single message in the following order- 11, 10, 9, 8.) |
| Note: A trace of the original hieroglyphic writing from this hypocephalus is visible on the left edge of Fig. 12, 13, 14, and 15, but only the phrase "his words" can be made out at the end of the line in Fig. 15. The remainder of these lines are filled with hieratic writing taken from lines 4 and 5 of Papyrus Joseph Smith XI. | |
|---|---|
| Joseph Smith Fig. 12 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 12 (upside down) "near" and "wrap" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 13 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 13 (upside down) "which made by" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 14 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 14 (upside down) "breathings" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 15 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 15 (upside down) "this book" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 16 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 16 "and may this soul and its possessor never be desecrated in the netherworld" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 17 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 17 "May this tomb never be desecrated" |
| Joseph Smith Fig. 18 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Fig. 18 Note: Three-fourths of the original hieroglyphics inscription appears to have survived, and counterclockwise reads: "I am Djabty in the house of Benben in Heliopolis, so exalted and glorious. [I am] copulating bull without equal. [I am] that mighty god in the house of Benben of Heliopolis... that might god..." |
| Joseph Smith Figs. 19,20, and 21 "will be given in the own due time of the Lord." |
Egyptian Translation Figs. 19, 20, and 21 "You shall be as that god, the Busirian." |
If the Church has any first foundation, it is the unimpeachable testimony of the individual. Since this is nontransmissible, one might dismiss it as irrelevant, an absolute beyond discussion, criticism, or demonstration. Even for the individual, the testimony comes and goes in accordance with faith and behavior. If it is real, then it is indeed unassailable and imponderable. I cannot force my testimony on you, but there are certain indications to which I might call your attention. People who lose their testimonies and renounce the Church or drop out of it, if they are convinced of their position, should be totally indifferent to the folly of their deluded one-time brethren and sisters: if they want to make fools of themselves, that is up to them, but we are intellectually and socially above all that. Well and good, that is how it is in other churches; but here it does not work that way.You're reducing yourself to quite the object of pity here, Marlowe.Apostates usually become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all. What is that to them? Apparently it is everything—it will not let them alone. At the other end of the scale are those who hold no rancor and even retain a sentimental affection for the Church—they just don't believe the gospel. I know quite a few of them. But how many of them can leave it alone? It haunts them all the days of their life. No one who has ever had a testimony ever forgets or denies that he once did have it—that it was something that really happened to him. Even for such people who do not have it anymore, a testimony cannot be reduced to an illusion.
Since you obviously don't have the sense to be embarassed for yourself, shall we be embarassed for you?
One obvious correction: in fragment 18 the word "I am" (a copulating bull) is indeed in the text - you'll find "nk" (for inuk) immediately after the bull.
Wrong. Here's Nibley making up excuses for why people leave the Church when faced with the objective facts which dispute their subjective testimony.
If the Church has any first foundation, it is the unimpeachable testimony of the individual
Wrong. The foundation of the true church of Christ is the rock of Jesus Christ. It is the fact of his sacrifice for our sins, and his resurrection from the dead that form the foundation of our faith. It is not our subjective feeling about some false prophet or false scripture that is the basis. The Muslims have the same testimony about Muhammed that you have about Joe Smith. Does that make them objectively correct in their theology.
Since this is nontransmissible, one might dismiss it as irrelevant, an absolute beyond discussion, criticism, or demonstration.
If it is nontransmissible, then why do you LDS People continually fall back on it and try to use it as a justification for your belief in un-biblical and anti-Christian doctrines? If it is not transmissible, then why do you dedicate one Sunday service a month to having people trasnmit it by way of standing up at the service and giving their subjective testimony. If Nibley is right, then you ought to just forget the practice an move on. After all it is irrelevant.
People who lose their testimonies and renounce the Church or drop out of it, if they are convinced of their position, should be totally indifferent to the folly of their deluded one-time brethren and sisters.
That is the most illogical statement I have ever heard from any apologist for any religion. If you discover that the religion that your were brought up in is a fraud and that those who follow it are going to be doomed to an eternity in Hell, then the last thing you would do after leaving such a religion would be to be "indifferent to the folly of ther deluded brethren and sisters." That is utter nonsense. The first and last thing that you would do would be to warn those you love and care about that the path they are taking is leading them to an eternity in hell. Nibley has no idea of what he is even attempting to say here.
Apostates usually become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all.
If a person apostocizes from the LDS Church and becomes a disbeliever in any religion whatsoever, then there would be a devil-may-care attitude in that person. The attitude would be that a deluded LDS person is no worse off than a deluded Catholic or Protestant. But if that person leaves the LDS Church and comes to a saving knoledge of Jesus Christ through a true Christian ministry, then the natural course of action for that person would be to shout from the rooftops about the error of the LDS Church in an attempt to dissuade as many potential converts as possible from drifting into an error which could cost them their eternal lives. Additionally such a person cannot sit still and let those whom he cares about who are trapped in that false religion to follow it to their graves and ultimately into the lake of eternal fire.
The Bottom line is that Nibley is a fool. He knows nothing of the motivations of those who leave the LDS Church becuase he refuses to face the fact that his church is built upon a foundation of quicksand.
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
If we're all destined for hell, it looks like we'll be in good company, Marlowe. Are you bringing the hot dogs, or are you in charge of the s'mores?
I'LL BRING THE CHILE AND REDHOTS:)
Don Quixote was engaged in many a noble endeavor, as I recall.
I guess seeing the LDS Church go bye-bye will be your Impossible Dream.
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