Church News Downplays Significance of Book of Abraham

[YOhio]

Hell is likely to freeze over first.

That's a trick you're playing. We don't believe in hell.

[smokymountainrain]

Hell is likely to freeze over first.

You're right. Indy will never wake up.

[Jarid in Cedar]

That's a trick you're playing. We don't believe in hell.

Just because you don't believe, that doesn't mean it is not real.

[Jarid in Cedar]

You're right. Indy will never wake up.

The Rip Van Winkel of CUF.

[scottie]

Yes, I'm just sick of the bloggers and posters who spend an afternoon writing a spoof like this, although gratefully they used the name LaVerl Jensen early on, saving me from wasting more time in this case.

From the Church News article:

"So if what is most important needs to be defended, what are some of the things that need to be defended?" he asked.

He suggested six: God exists; Jesus Christ is His Son; God talked and still talks with men through the power of the Holy Ghost; Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of the world; the Atonement is available to those who trust Jesus, turn from sin, make and keep sacred covenants, and follow the course throughout their lives; and the Book of Mormon is true, an authentic record of God's interactions with actual ancient people.

"Now, we may be called upon to defend smaller points than these, but if these six things are not true, there is no point in the rest," Brother Gee said.

"Now where is the Book of Abraham in this?" he asked. "It isn't. The Book of Abraham is not central to the restored gospel of Christ."

[All-American]

I repeat: I have no interest in wading into the minutiea of chinks in Mormon armor. But I have to say, a contention that it matters not whether JS translated the papyrus or made up the Book of Abraham is just dishonest. The Book of Abraham is immaterial to my own unbelief. But it should be material to belief. If Joseph Smith fabricated the Book of Abraham, that is relevent, admissible and probabitive on the question of whether he fabricated the Book of Mormon.

Reading this guy from FAIR described as "a Latter-Day Saint Egyptologist" made my stomach turn.

SU, he's an Egyptologist. He studies Egyptology. He got his PhD in Egyptology. From Yale. Get over it.

[Indy Coug]

I think the real source of the outrage arising from this article isn't that the "church" (or however loosely you can pin it on the church) is trying to marginalize the BofA, it's that by extension the rationale given marginalizes all of the minutiae that the board intellectuals like to harangue over.

[SeattleUte]

SU, he's an Egyptologist. He studies Egyptology. He got his PhD in Egyptology. From Yale. Get over it.

Would you call this fellow a physician despite his two medical degrees and residencies at top schools and hospitals?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

[Indy Coug]

Would you call this fellow a physician despite his two medical degrees and residencies at top schools and hospitals?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

Rhetoric 101: If you resort to using Hitler/Nazism, you lose.

[SeattleUte]

Rhetoric 101: If you resort to using Hitler/Nazism, you lose.

You can use it but it has to be spot on, as this was.

[ERCougar]

Would you call this fellow a physician despite his two medical degrees and residencies at top schools and hospitals?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

How did I know this was going to be a Hitleresque reference?

[All-American]

Would you call this fellow a physician despite his two medical degrees and residencies at top schools and hospitals?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

From Wikipedia:

Gee graduated from BYU in 1988. Later, he became a graduate student in Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and received his M.A. in Near Eastern Studies in 1991. He earned his Ph.D. in Egyptology at Yale University in 1998, completing his dissertation on ancient Egyptian ritual purity.

Gee is the William "Bill" Gay Associate Research Professor of Egyptology at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU. In this role, he is an editor for the Studies in the Book of Abraham series and a member of the editorial board of the Eastern Christian Texts series.

Gee has been involved with various professional societies. He is editor of the Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, and has served on the Society's committees and board of trustees. He was also on the board of directors for the Aziz S. Atiya Fund for Coptic Studies at the University of Utah. He has participated in the International Association for Coptic Studies, the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Research Center in Egypt, and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.

Gee has written an overview of Coptic literature. In May 2008 Gee gave a presentation on the early conversion to Christianity in Egypt at the Coptic Church Center in London.

The difference between the two? Gee studied Egyptology, and then worked as an Egyptologist. Dr. Death got his degrees and killed people. Your reductio ad Hitlerum doesn't work here. Don't be asinine.

[Indy Coug]

You can use it but it has to be spot on, as this was.

Even IF that was true, you've cried "Wolf!" too often to avail yourself of Hitler-ian rhetorical relief now.

[il Padrino Ute]

Would you call this fellow a physician despite his two medical degrees and residencies at top schools and hospitals?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

Gee knows more about Egyptology than you do. Most of the world agrees with me.

[Art Vandelay]

Would you call this fellow a physician despite his two medical degrees and residencies at top schools and hospitals?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

SU what type of law do you practice? I bet you are a damn good attorney (zero sarcasm or TIC implied) you keep up a valiant fight for what you believe in, regardless of the mounting evidence placed in front of you.

Do you happen to know Jeff Coopersmith, in Seattle? If so go tell me what type of Mercedes he drives since I'm sure I paid for it.