The original claim that the Book of Abraham had been translated from ancient egyptian papyri scrolls has been proven false when it was clearly shown that the scrolls where funeral text.
The Church allowed photographs of the papyrus to be published in the February 1968 edition of the Improvement Era magazine, along with an article explaining them. Now that over a hundred years had passed since the book’s translation, there were many educated people both in and out of the LDS faith who understood the Egyptian language.
During this time, many articles ran in the Improvement Era from 1968 through 1970 regarding the translation. However, the LDS experts completed work revealed - that not only did the papyri NOT contain the Book of Abraham - there was not even the slightest connection between their contents and Abraham.
What was on them?
They were simply ordinary Egyptian funeral texts – prayers to pagan Egyptian gods – that had been buried with the mummies.
Unsatisfied with the outcome, LDS leaders extended the opportunity to several other non-LDS Egyptologists to examine and comment on the papyri. Each one of them arrived at the same conclusion: the papyri were common funeral texts, all clearly dating 1500 years later than Abraham’s time – having no connection whatever with the biblical patriarch Abraham.
What Joseph Smith claimed to be the Book of Abraham, was actually the Book of Breathings. And, what was supposed to be the Book of Joseph of Egypt, was the Book of the Dead.
Read MoreIt was obviously written by a very superstitious people, and quite different from the religion of the Christian Bible.
Virtually every Mormon belief about the Book of Abraham once considered essential to its support has been shattered by the true facts. Not one trace of reliable evidence has appeared that would support the LDS view of the book as authentic scripture. While an enormous amount of evidence is available to show that it is a man-made production of the 19th-century, created by Joseph Smith in order to support his claims to be a “prophet, seer, and revelator”.
Elders, if the book is man-made and not from God – what does that say about the doctrines it teaches, or the religious system to which it belongs?
It is important to recognize that the original papyrus contains nothing about Abraham, some Mormon apologists have suggested that Joseph Smith may have obtained the content of the Book of Abraham by way of direct revelation. In other words, from inspiration not translation. They suggest that perhaps he was inspired to write the Book of Abraham as, he was looking at the unrelated hieroglyphics on the papyrus.
Those who try to use this argument find themselves trapped by the words of Joseph Smith himself. Joseph not only claimed he translated it from the papyrus but affirmed that it was “a correct translation”. (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol. 2:351)
Have you noticed – in the recent 2013 changes made to the Mormon scriptures, the description of the Book of Abraham has changed? The introduction used to say the Book of Abraham was “A Translation from some ancient Records…”
In the current edition it now read in the Pearl of Great Price?
“An INSPIRED translation of the writings of Abraham”.
Inspired translation! This seems to be an effort by the LDS Church to distance the text from the actual writings on the papyri.
You see – If Joseph Smith fails as a translator of the Book of Abraham – where his translation can be verified against the papyrus – why would anyone believe his translation of the Book of Mormon, when there is no evidence the gold plates ever existed?