...because I am exactly
that stubborn and determined to prove my point, if only to myself. For reference visit this post where I rant about the terrible education I am receiving.
Ever since Joseph Smith first began publishing pieces of the manuscript that would eventually become the Book of Abraham, people have risen up in opposition to the very possibility of a such a book existing. However, as in all such attempts to discredit the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator Joseph Smith Jr. scholars of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have proven to any reasonable being that with the knowledge available to us, we have no reason to doubt that the book is real and does come from the source that Joseph Smith claimed it did. Further if we have no reason to doubt the Book of Abraham and can accept it as a true book of scripture then we learn so much more about the character and nature of Abraham because of the insights contained in that book that have since been lost through the Bible.
When seeking to know the truth there are many sources towards which a person can turn. Most in the world turn to anything that they do not have to take on faith, or rely on the Spirit of God to have confirmed to them. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult for people of the world accept scripture, because for a person to be absolutely sure of a book of scripture they do have to turn to faith, prayer, and personal revelation. However, in his article titled, “
As Things Stand at the Moment”, LDS scholar
Hugh Nibley provides a basis for the academic seeker to begin to find the truth of the Book of Abraham. [1] Set in the context of a tennis match, and focusing specifically on the Facsimiles, Nibley pairs argument and counter argument from scholars within and without the Church. [1] Interesting to the searching academic is that Nibley does not rejoin every point with “have faith and pray”, but rather used the available knowledge to refute and prove as best he could. [1]
As one specific example, and a fact that I found extremely interesting, consider the original title Joseph Smith gave the manuscript that would later become the Book of Abraham, “A translation of some ancient Records, from the Catacombs of Egypt, purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus”. [1] Nibley then reports that documents subsequently recovered from Egyptian ruins indicate that any copy of any work by an original author would forever be considered “written by his own hand”. [1] Therefore, simply because the papyrus Smith translated from claims to be “written by his own hand” does not necessarily mean that said document must be as old as Abraham himself. Such a notion is not entirely strange to those familiar with copyright, in which any subsequent use/reproduction of a work must (in almost all cases) be attributed to its original author. Further Nibley reports that “the writings of Abraham” does not necessarily mean that Abraham himself penned the words originally, but rather that at the very least he paid to have the work done and dictated the words to a scribe and that by doing so he was almost guaranteed to have his work pass on through the centuries because the Egyptians do take such care to preserve their records. [1] This concept may seem a little foreign to modern readers who usually only encounter works in the name of the actual author, but consider for a moment your bible. If you have ever looked at the first few pages of the King James Version of the Bible, you will note that only the name of the king appears and not the name of the men who labored years to bring the book to fruition. So many this is not such a strange notion. Following this example Nibley goes on to use other bits of knowledge from “recent” studies of ancient Egypt to make his points.
However, the reader should also note that Nibley clearly sweeps aside any false assumptions of Mormon doctrine and culture, while also admitting that there are simply things we do not know. [1] Clearly a better version of this document would include more recent discoveries in the realm of Egyptology which might point out factual bases for the things that Nibley did not know more than forty years ago, at the time of his work. The best version of this document would include all of the knowledge that Nibley currently has, which is certainly more than the rest of us have learned in the last forty years because he has since passed into the realm of his Father where he has access to all knowledge. Unfortunately we are left with what he gave us at the time. Nevertheless, the open reader can find plenty of reason to believe all that Nibley has to offer and even to further make the matter the subject of a sincere prayer to which they will most assuredly receive the answer that it is true. Once a reader has accepted the Book of Abraham as truth this provides the opportunity for deeper instruction on the doctrines of the gospel that only this scripture can provide.
Here let us consider
Thomas Mackay’s, “
Abraham in Egypt: A collation of Evidence for the Case of the Missing Wife”. [2] In the article Mackay essential opens the reader to considering the Book of Abraham in conjunction with other writings on Abraham’s stay in Egypt, and using such a collation to clear up misgivings as to the nature of Abraham encountered in some of the scriptural accounts. When reading in
Genesis 12 it appears that Abraham decides on his own that Sarai ought to lie to Pharaoh and tell him that she is Abram’s sister, instead of his wife. [3] However, the
Book of Abraham is the only book that adds that God commanded Abram and Sarai to tell this lie. [2] Therefore if one only reads the Bible it would appear that Abram is a self-centered liar, two characteristics men of God should shun. But Mackay points out that if we take all of the scriptures together we can see that Abram was indeed a man of God and always did what the Lord commanded him to. [2] Mackay also adds an interesting side note where he relates a Middle Eastern tradition in which a man’s father adopts his wife and thus she becomes his sister as well as his wife. [2] Therefore, Abram and Sarai’s “lie” may not have been all that bible readers sometimes make it out to be. A better version of this research would include a clearer explanation, unfortunately, as Mackay used all of the literature resources available, we are unlikely to obtain such an explanation until we reached Abraham’s presence.
Without a doubt when we accept the truth of the Book of Abraham we allow ourselves the opportunity to gain a better insight into the doctrine and principles contained therein. The Book of Abraham has been thoroughly vetted using all of the other resources available to us. When considered with the aid of might prayer The Book of Abraham contains valuable insight into doctrines lost in other books of scripture and allows us to more fully understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Open your mind and heart to see.
Works Cited
[1] H. W. Nibley, "As Things Stand at the Moment," BYU Studies Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-24, 1968.
[2] T. W. Mackay, "Abraham in Egpyt: A Collation of Evidence for the Case of the Missing Wife," BYU Studies Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 429-451, 1970.
[3] God, The Holy Bible, Heaven: The Lord, 0.
