tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post1841057373339859053..comments2023-11-02T07:25:45.884-05:00Comments on Mormanity - a blog for those interested in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Digging into the Phelps "Translation" of Egyptian: Textual Evidence That Phelps Recognized That Three Lines of Egyptian Yielded About Four Lines of English Jeff Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08776493593387402607noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-34197840844524053662019-05-01T10:48:49.939-05:002019-05-01T10:48:49.939-05:00If you wish to call what Jesus did mudslinging, th...If you wish to call what Jesus did mudslinging, that is your prerogative.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-64209655039034810142019-05-01T09:44:22.363-05:002019-05-01T09:44:22.363-05:00Ah, I see now. Jeff deserves it. HE has dragged ...Ah, I see now. Jeff deserves it. HE has dragged YOU down into the mud! <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-86109375970990966592019-04-30T13:53:14.965-05:002019-04-30T13:53:14.965-05:00If that was mind reading, libeling, and ad hominem...If that was mind reading, libeling, and ad hominem, then Jeff does it all the time. He has gotten as good as he gives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-70913360325169213792019-04-30T09:23:50.933-05:002019-04-30T09:23:50.933-05:00Here we go again!
More mind reading from the an...Here we go again! <br /><br />More mind reading from the anonymous commentators, this time accusing Jeff of not only of engaging in outright fraud, but actually doing it for sport. Jeff has been nothing but forthright about his efforts, his concerns and his mistakes. Jeff has asked for civil, intelligent comments. Instead, he is libeled for his trouble. <br /><br />Further, an ad hominem attack (such as this) is one of the oldest logical fallacies, and is usually made by a person with nothing else to support his position.<br /><br />I only just started following this blog and know next to nothing about the subject matter, but so far, Jeff is the most credible person posting here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-72754701327180079542019-04-30T06:34:57.321-05:002019-04-30T06:34:57.321-05:00Anon "painful mental gymnastics"
Watchi...Anon "painful mental gymnastics"<br /><br />Watching contortionist may make us cringe a little, but it is not painful for them. Jeff knows he is being silly and playing games, but even if he has to make up halve the words, he just enjoys doing the crossword puzzles. Messing around with people who don't get it and see it as painful, is part of his fun.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-28405542210726742262019-04-29T14:09:00.664-05:002019-04-29T14:09:00.664-05:00The prior anonymous posters are quite the pair! H...The prior anonymous posters are quite the pair! Hovering about Jeff's blog, rapidly replying to each post with almost cut-and-paste responses.<br /><br />Neither engages the underlying documentation or the points Jeff is making. OK can barely muster a "Regardless of the details of Phelp's fiddling . . . ", before a bald regurgitation of the standard antagonist line as fact followed by a statement about "damage" done by the church, with a dollop of other similar "terrible things" done in the name of "literalism". What's the point of this spooky talk in this context? Beware to all--Jeff's laborious effort to understand these cryptic historical documents might result in renewed racism or even the holocaust! Or to bully Jeff off the topic altogether? <br /><br />The second commentator doesn't even bother to address Jeff's post at all, rather attacking the BOM (with an appeal to authority!) and marshaling support by ominously reading the minds of "an increasing number" of Mormons.<br /><br />They cap it off with a high five over percentages. What a pair! One wonders if they are working side-by-side at a sleepy call center some where, coordinating their responses, patrolling the internet, making sure no pro-Mormon post goes unanswered.<br /><br />Jeff here is doing yeoman's work. Sure, he's a believing Mormon, but by all accounts an informed and energetic scholar (and a lot more expert on the subject matter than these two). Further, it's clear from Jeff's work (and from the vapid, retread responses here) that the standard line against the Book of Abraham is not as simple as these two would like it to be.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-81508365040918826312019-04-29T11:32:18.866-05:002019-04-29T11:32:18.866-05:00Anon 11:21, just a quick correction: the actual fi...Anon 11:21, just a quick correction: the actual figure is not 2 percent.<br /><br />It's 0.2 percent.<br /><br />--- OKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-62021815784788143442019-04-29T11:21:43.134-05:002019-04-29T11:21:43.134-05:00You know, Jeff, it's getting to sound a bit de...You know, Jeff, it's getting to sound a bit desperate to find shreds to hang onto. Both the Smithsonian and National Geographic have said officially that they've never seen anything that supports the BOM. In fact, no one in the world takes it seriously but the 2% of the world's population who are Mormon. <br /><br />And, let's face it, most of that 2% are Mormon because they were born that way and have been indoctrinated from birth. Even so, an increasing number have stopped taking the BOM literally. They're willing to accept that Joseph Smith made it up but find something redeemable or comfortable about remaining Mormon or not rocking the boat. <br /><br />You're never going to prove that there's anything real or historical or true about the BOM. Just embrace it, if that's what you need to do, without going through these painful mental gymnastics. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7139169.post-83253103847654267072019-04-29T10:46:55.065-05:002019-04-29T10:46:55.065-05:00Regardless of the details re Phelps's fiddling...Regardless of the details re Phelps's fiddling, it remains true that the Joseph Smith Papyri are ordinary Egyptian funeral documents and not the source of the Book of Abraham, which --- with its expression of modern racialist theories, its timely borrowings from <i>Philosophy of a Future State</i>, etc. --- is obviously a 19th-century text. <br /><br />Jeff, in light of your comments about the inspirational value of taking your sacred texts as history rather than "mere" story, that kind of literalism can backfire badly. After all, the Church's long-running policy of banning black people from the priesthood, from temple marriage, and other forms of full participation in LDS religious life did a lot of damage to the Church (not to mention to black Mormons). And that policy was directly motivated by the belief that black people were literally the historical descendants of Ham, who was believed to have literally committed a historical transgression that justified the Church's embarrassing racism.<br /><br />This kind of literalism has also inspired many other terrible things, e.g., 2,000 years of antisemitism rooted in the belief that the Jews killed God, though thankfully the LDS Church has never fallen for this one.<br /><br />-- OKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com