I love this conclusion to the Gospel Topic Essay about the Book of Abraham.....

'The veracity and value of the book of Abraham cannot be settled by scholarly debate concerning the book’s translation and historicity.'

-Actually, yes it can be settled and even more so, it has been settled by both scholars outside and inside the Church. It's a fake, period. When the only evidence you have to prove the BOA is true is, 'God says it's true', it's fiction.

'The book’s status as scripture lies in the eternal truths it teaches and the powerful spirit it conveys.'

-Powerful Spirit it conveys? Like that 'lump in my throat, holding back tears' feeling? I get that same feeling sometimes when I sing our national Anthem. Are you telling me our National Anthem is scripture? It's the exact same feeling right? Or maybe the Church has hijacked natural human emotion and named it 'the spirit', but only when it's convenient for them to do so.

'The book of Abraham imparts profound truths about the nature of God, His relationship to us as His children, and the purpose of this mortal life.'

-No, Joseph Smith imparts what he considered to be profound truths about the nature of God. JS wrote this, not Abraham or any other prophet of God. This has been absolutely proven.

'The truth of the book of Abraham is ultimately found through careful study of its teachings, sincere prayer, and the confirmation of the Spirit.'

-What this sentence is meaning to say is, 'Only those who are living worthy of the Holy Ghost's companionship will know that the BOA is true. If you cannot believe it to be true, you need to stop pointing fingers and questioning the Church and start pointing fingers and questioning yourself.' The classic 'Double Bind'.

Well, they can't just come out and say that the BoA is a provable work of fiction now can they. So, the obvious answer is lie and spin it to their advantage.

The BoA was one of the main reasons my shelf broke. It's so clearly a work of fiction.

That's always been my thing about the Gospel Essays. They're not even convincing lies and spins if you give them a moment's thought.

The best they can do is to indirectly admit via misdirection that the "anti-Mormons" have been right all along; all while trying to convince the faithful that the mere existence of the Gospel Essays says otherwise.

I'm still waiting for Dallin Oaks to present the "so many evidences" he has that proves the historicity of the Book of Mormon. But, he says, he does not rely on such proofs. His talk on the historicity of Book of Mormon is a classic.

https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/historicity-and-latter-day-saint-scriptures/11-historicity-book-mormon

GregS Wrote:
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> "so many evidences"

I think these evidences include things like: The BoM is about people, and people exist, so the BoM is TRUE!

The BoM is about people, and people exist, so the BoM is TRUE!

ALSO:
All dogs have facial hair.
Bob has facial hair.
Therefore Bob is a dog!

This is an illogical syllogism. As a matter of fact Bob is a human.

They’re saying the BoA is true lies?

It’s as true as Uncle Rico’s time machine. You just gotta believe.

job74 Wrote:
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> 'The book’s status as scripture lies in the
> eternal truths it teaches and the powerful spirit
> it conveys.'
>
> -Powerful Spirit it conveys?

I've read totally fictional novels that conveyed feelings that were more spiritual than anything I ever got from the BoA.