Category: Book of Abraham
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Questions to Ask
Introduction These questions are designed to probe various aspects of the LDS Church’s history and truth-claims.1 The list was made for 1) investigators to ask the missionaries, 2) active members to ask themselves, or 3) those experiencing a faith transition to ask their parents or ecclesiastical leaders. The majority of…
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Finding Truth: Response to “8 Anti-Mormon Tactics That Satan Uses To Attack The Latter-day Saints”
In March of 2017, MyLifeByGogoGoff published a piece entitled 8 Anti-Mormon Tactics That Satan Uses To Attack The Latter-day Saints. The piece was then reblogged by LDS Living. I am certainly no expert logician, but I have taken a couple philosophy courses, and I spent many years in the sciences…
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Problem Summaries: resources discussing LDS-truth claims
Problems with LDS truth-claims Before reading about the problems, you may want to first consider the pros and cons of investigating the truth-claim data. Very short summaries Five Key Facts (~ 1 page) 50 Problems with the Mormon Church (~10 minute youtube video) More significant summaries Mormon Primer (multiple perspectives: mainstream, critical,…
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Five Key Facts
This is a very short summary of what I view as the 5 most important facts in understanding alternative models for LDS truth claims. To the best of my knowledge, every point made in this document is accepted as factual by both LDS and non-LDS scholars (please correct me if…
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Leaving the Church, Part 2 — Book of Abraham
1. Background Perhaps the most problematic issue undermining the Church is the Book of Abraham. In July of 1835, a traveling showman named Michael Chandler brought an exhibit consisting of four Egyptian mummies and papyri to Kirtland, Ohio, then the home of the Latter-day Saints. The papyri contained Egyptian hieroglyphics,…
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Factual Claims
The Church makes many specific claims about matters of history (both its own, and that of other peoples), the migration of people from one continent to another, the translation of ancient documents, etc. These are perfectly legitimate subjects to be examined using the tools and logic of Science. I do…
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Book of Abraham: Facsimile 3
Facsimile 3 is described by Joseph Smith as “Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s throne, by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood, as emblematical of the grand Presidency in Heaven; with the scepter of justice and judgment in his hand.” Once again, this is not about…
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Book of Abraham: Facsimile 2
Facsimile 2 is actually a representation of a “hypocephalus”. Egyptians would put these under the head of mummies, like a pillow. Here are lots of real hypocephali as they are in abundance: You’ll notice that I’ve circled certain sections. Go back and study what’s inside the red circle first. Four…
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Book of Abraham: Facsimile 1
This is Facsimile 1, located at the front of the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. Joseph Smith described this scene as “The idolatrous priest of Elkenah attempting to offer up Abraham as a sacrifice,” meaning, the man with the knife is a priest of Elkenah and…
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Book of Abraham
The majority of members don’t know where the Book of Abraham (found in the Pearl of Great Price) comes from. Here is a brief history from Wikipedia: Several papyri and eleven mummies were discovered in Thebes by Antonio Lebolo between 1818 and 1822. Sometime between 1822 and his death on…