Clerical Quackery 1 - The Life-After-Death Lie

Every so often when climbing mountains, it’s useful to pause to assess how far you’ve come, how far there’s yet to go, and how to tackle the next phase of the climb. Similar seems useful here. I’ll therefore start by recalling that, way back (21 posts ago!), I introduced what I call The Mountainous God Lie, defined as follows.

The Mountainous God Lie – Lingering social evils from initial misunderstandings and then subsequent deliberate falsification of the records, plus manipulation of ignorant people by stupid or poorly educated or power mongering priests and politicians:

• That gods exist,
• That people have immortal souls imbued by the gods,
• That birth of children is controlled the gods,
• That the dead are ruled by the gods,
• That people have souls, which are judged by the gods,
• That stars and their constellations are signs from the gods,
• That movements of stars tell stories of gods,
• That dreams contain messages from the gods,
• That magic displays the mystery of the gods,
• That mysteries conceal the secrets of the gods,
• That sacrifices are needed to placate the gods,
• That rituals reveal knowledge of the gods,
• That mistakes are ‘sins’ against the gods,
• That sins offend and are punished by the gods,
• That clerics can forgive sins on behalf of the gods,
• That clerics are in contact with the gods,
• That clerics exercise authority on behalf of the gods,
• That clerics are spokesmen for the gods,
• That clerics preach the wills of the gods,
• That clerical “knowledge” is direct from the gods,
• That clerical hierarchies are established by the gods,
• That rather than serving themselves, the clerics serve the gods,
• That paying the clerics placates the gods,
• That prayers have power to persuade the gods,
• That tithes are collected on behalf of the gods,
• That “oracles” and “prophets” speak for the gods,
• That “truth” is told about prophets and gods,
• That a “race” of people was chosen by the gods,
• That oaths are binding when sworn to the gods,
• That covenants can be established with the gods,
• That morality is defined by the gods,
• That customs are created by the gods
• That laws are dictated by the gods,
• That leaders are chosen by the gods,
• That rulers know right by the grace of the gods,
• That justice is the jurisdiction of the gods,
• That order is ordained by the gods,
• That punishment is performed by the gods,
• That judges are judged by gods,
• That leaders rule by the grace of the gods,
• That kingdoms are established by the gods,
• That the fate of societies is controlled by the gods,
• That human rights are endowed by the gods,
• That people should put their trust in the gods,
• That believers gain grace as a gift of the gods,
• That wars are waged on behalf of the gods…

A more accurate analogy, however, is that the God Lie is not so much a single mountain of lies as multiple, mountain ranges of lies. Each organized religion (Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, etc.) is a more-or-less-isolated mountain range of lies, but they all rest on the bedrock lie that gods exist.

In prior posts, I explored various peaks in at least one mountain range of clerical lies, specifically, those in Judaism. To begin the exploration, I tried to expose some of the lies contained in the first part of the Old Testament (OT). In turn, many of those lies were repeated from earlier cultures (particularly in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia) and, in turn, the same lies are repeated in Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, etc. The lies include the following (from the list given above):

• That gods exist…
• That mistakes are ‘sins’ against the gods,
• That sins offend and are punished by the gods,
• That clerics can forgive sins on behalf of the gods…
• That prayers have power to persuade the gods,
• That tithes are collected on behalf of the gods,
• That “oracles” and “prophets” speak for the gods,
• That “truth” is told about prophets and gods,
• That a “race” of people was chosen by the gods…

Next, in the preceding seven posts of this series, I explored what I call the Law Lie (a common formation in any religion’s mountain range of lies), namely (again from the first list above), the lies:

• That morality is defined by the gods,
• That customs are created by the gods,
• That justice is the jurisdiction of the gods,
• That judges are judged by the gods,
• That oaths are binding when sworn to the gods,
• That covenants can be established with the gods,
• That leaders are chosen by the gods,
• That laws are dictated by the gods,
• That order is ordained by the gods…

Now, for this and the remaining posts in this series, my goal is to at least partially address all the remaining lies in the first list given above, which collectively I’ll call “Clerical Quackery”:

• That people have immortal souls imbued by the gods,
• That the dead are ruled by the gods,
• That people have souls, which are judged by the gods,
• That stars and their constellations are signs from the gods,
• That movements of stars tell stories of gods,
• That dreams contain messages from the gods,
• That magic displays the mystery of the gods,
• That mysteries conceal the secrets of the gods,
• That sacrifices are needed to placate the gods,
• That rituals reveal knowledge of the gods…
• That clerics are in contact with the gods,
• That clerics exercise authority on behalf of the gods,
• That clerics are spokesmen for the gods,
• That clerics preach the wills of the gods,
• That clerical “knowledge” is direct from the gods,
• That clerical hierarchies are established by the gods,
• That rather than serving themselves, the clerics serve the gods,
• That paying the clerics placates the gods…
• That leaders rule by the grace of the gods,
• That kingdoms are established by the gods,
• That the fate of societies is controlled by the gods,
• That human rights are endowed by the gods,
• That people should put their trust in the gods,
• That believers gain grace as a gift of the gods,
• That wars are waged on behalf of the gods…

For this post, in particular, my goal is to provide at least a little evidence exposing a part of the first lie in the list immediately above, a lie that I’ll abbreviate to “The Life-after-Death Lie”.

In an earlier post in this series, I began to explore the origin of the Life-after-Death Lie by examining the source of the lies

• That gods exist,
• That people have immortal souls imbued by the gods…

Readers of that post might remember the suggestions (especially from the tremendous, online, 1921 book by the ex-Catholic priest Joseph McCabe entitled The Story of Religious Controversy):

1) That tens of thousands of years ago, primitive people seem to have developed ideas about souls, spirits, and gods from their observations of their shadows and their images (e.g., in pools of water) and from trying to understand their dreams, which in turn led to ideas of life after death (at least as “spirits”),

2) That people’s memories of their parents, grandparents, and tribal leaders probably led people to assume that their ancestors’ spirits were still present (which led to deification or “apotheosis” of ancestors and of especially powerful, deceased tribal leaders),

3) That the idea of spirits in everything (animism) eventually developed, led by tribal shamans (which in turn led to various priesthoods), and

4) That the especially powerful spirits (e.g., those “controlling” important natural processes, such as the winds, storms, volcanoes, etc.) were eventually identified and worshipped as gods, an identification consistent with the evolutionary lesson that taught people (and other animals) the survival value in trying to identify causes of all effects, a lesson that’s now apparently “hard-wired” in our brains.

From available myths, archeological data, and written records, it’s clear that by 3000 BCE the Life-after-Death Lie (i.e., originally, the mistaken, oxymoronic idea of “life after death”) was accepted as “true” in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India. Subsequently, the Life-after-Death Lie was incorporated into the foundations of Zoroastrianism (in Persia), some sects of Judaism (specifically, those that incorporated Zoroaster’s ideas), and all of Christianity, Islam, and similar con games such as Mormonism. Especially in Ancient Egypt and India, the resulting cacophonies of clerical rituals and the associated kaleidoscopes of gods developed in association with the Life-after-Death Lie must have been – and still are! – mind boggling. In these posts, I don’t plan to delve into the full pantheon of Egyptian (or Indian or Greek or Roman!) gods, but I’ll try to demonstrate the value in reviewing at least a little of the myth of the “holy trinity” of Egyptian gods, consisting of Osiris, his wife Isis, and their son Horus (“Horus the Younger”).

This “holy trinity” of Osiris, Isis, and Horus continued to be worshiped by many followers until about 400 CE. Probably such worship would have continued, but it was “outlawed” by Christian rulers of the Roman Empire. Yet, the Christians with their trinity of “father, son, and the holy ghost” didn’t really obliterate the earlier trinity of Osiris, Horus, and Isis, in part because the Christian “holy ghost” was commonly depicted as a bird (which was the symbol that the Ancient Egyptians commonly used to depict Isis) and also because many of the pictures and statues of the “virgin” Mary with baby Jesus [or “the Madonna (= mea Domina = my lady) and child”] were actually of the goddess Isis with her and Osiris’ son Horus. For an illustrative comparison, see the figure below – which, by the way, belies the claim of many Christians that at least their religion introduced reverence of mother and child.



In this post, I want to show a little about the Egyptian “holy trinity”, because details will reveal one of the most dramatic illustrations of clerical quackery that’s been thoroughly documented, namely, how the Mormon prophet (or better, “profit”!) Joseph Smith, Jr. duped his followers (who now total approximately 10 million people) into giving him even more largess (and more wives) by misrepresenting an Egyptian papyrus originally used as part of the Life-after-Death Lie promoted by ancient Egyptian clerics.

In the Egyptian creation myth (or, at least, in one of them – for there are several!), Osiris was the great-grandson of the creator god Nu (or Atum or Ra or Neb-er-tcher or Khepera!). The following is from the Papyrus of Nesi Amsu as given in the excellent, online, 1908 book by E.A. Wallis Budge entitled Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life. In the following quotation, the speaker is the alleged creator god.

I evolved the evolving of evolutions. [Who said Darwin was the first to propose the theory of evolution?! This myth is from ~5,000 years ago!] I evolved myself under the form of the evolutions of the god Khepera [or Khepri] which were evolved at the beginning of all time.

[The Ancient Egyptians imagined that Khepera pushed the Sun along. Later, he became identified with the Sun at dawn. Still later, Khepera became the same as Nefertum or Nefertem, literally “the beauty of Tem”, the rising Sun. Meanwhile, ‘kheper’ is the dung or scarab beetle, which the Ancient Egyptians thought was created from dead matter, with the word ‘kheper’ meaning “to come into being”.]

I evolved with the evolutions of the god Khepera; I evolved by the evolution of evolutions – that is to say, I developed myself from the primeval matter which I made, I developed myself out of the primeval matter. My name is Ausares (Osiris), the germ of primeval matter. [If the reader wonders how Osiris, later in the myth identified as Khepera’s great-grandson, was also Khepera, then I’d be glad to explain it – as soon as some Christian will explain how Jesus is also his father!]

I have wrought my will wholly in this earth, I have spread abroad and filled it, I have strengthened it (with) my hand. I was alone, for nothing had been brought forth; I had not then emitted from myself either Shu [the wind god; “the very old god of the cool and dry air, who separated the Earth from the sky”; his mother was the sky goddess Nut; his father was the earth-god Seb or Geb] or Tefnut [“the goddess for rain, dew, and moisture”, twin sister of Shu].

I uttered my own name, as a word of power, from my own mouth, and I straightaway evolved myself. [Recall the New Testament’s plagiarism:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (KJV, John 1, 1 or) "When all things began, the Word already was. The word dwelt with God, and what God was, the Word was. The Word, then, was with God at the beginning, and through him all things came to be; no single thing was created without him.” (NEB, John 1, 1–3).]

I evolved myself under the form of the evolutions of the god Khepera, and I developed myself out of the primeval matter which has evolved multitudes of evolutions from the beginning of time.

Nothing existed on this earth then, and I made all things. There was none other who worked with me at that time. I performed all evolutions there by means of that divine Soul which I fashioned there, and which had remained inoperative in the watery abyss. I found no place there whereon to stand. But I was strong in my heart, and I made a foundation for myself, and I made everything which was made. I was alone. I made a foundation for my heart (or will), and I created multitudes of things which evolved themselves like unto the evolutions of the god Khepera, and their offspring came into being from the evolutions of their births.

I emitted from myself the gods Shu and Tefnut [other versions of the myth state this “emission” was his spit or his ejaculation], and from being One I became Three [the original trinity?!]; they sprang from me, and came into existence in this earth… Shu [the wind god] and Tefnut [the rain goddess] brought forth Seb [or Geb, the earth-god] and Nut [the sky goddess], and Nut brought forth Osiris [the grandson of Osiris!], Horus-khent-an-maa [Horus-the-Elder], Sut [known in Christianity as Satan and in Islam as Shaitan or Iblis], Isis, and Nephthya [or Nephthys or Nepthys] at one birth.

In reality, Osiris might have been an early ruler in Egypt (before 3000 BCE). Also, as mentioned in the previous post, his wife Isis might have ruled after his death and authored Egypt’s first laws, with the help of Osiris’ friend Thoth (who, later, was also worshipped as a god).

In any event, whatever the reality, what was recorded is a series of fantastic myths about Osiris, Isis, Horus, and others – myths almost as fantastic as the myths in the current “holy books” and “sacred scripture” polluting our planet! In particular, the Greek biographer and philosopher Plutarch (c.46 – c.120 CE) provided the following summary of the Osiris-Isis-Horus myth, copied here from Budge’s book (referenced above). I’ve also added some comments in brackets.

In addition, I want to add a more general comment, especially directed to any Christian, Muslim, or Mormon reader who might question, “Why do I want to read another old Egyptian myth?” To such a reader, I'd want to respond: “This myth was recorded about 2,000 years ago (by Plutarch), at the same time that the New Testament (NT) was being written (mostly by other Greeks), it describes another myth that had major influences on the stories told in the NT, and it tells a story that’s more than twice as old as the oldest story in the NT!"

Plutarch’s description follows, in which I’ve used Budge’s footnotes to provide [in brackets] the Egyptian names of the gods for whom Plutarch gave the corresponding Greek names (names that will be useful in later posts). If readers desire to read a version of the myth whose English flows more smoothly, a good one is available here.

Rhea [i.e., the Greek name of the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut, sister-wife of Geb, the earth-god], say they, having accompanied Saturn [i.e., the earth-god Geb (or Keb or Seb)] by stealth, was discovered [presumably having an affair with Geb] by the Sun [Ra], who hereupon denounced a curse upon her, “that she should not be delivered [i.e., give birth] in any month or year.” Mercury [the Greek’s “messenger of the gods”, known in Egypt as Thoth (or Tehuti), the advisor and scribe of the gods], however, being likewise in love with the same goddess, in recompense of the favors which he had received from her [Nut seems to have had sex with many gods!], plays at tables [i.e., games of chance] with the Moon, and wins from her [the Moon] the seventieth part of each of her illuminations [“causing” the Moon’s diminished illumination!]; these several parts, making in the whole five days, he [Thoth] afterwards joined together, and added to the three hundred and sixty, of which the year formerly consisted [and which then led to an undesirable calendar], which days therefore are even yet called by the Egyptians the ‘Epact’ or ‘super-added’ [days], and observed by them as the birthdays of their gods. [In other words: although Thoth couldn’t violate Ra’s order (that Nut couldn’t give birth during any month or year), Thoth managed a “work around”: he created five new days!]

For upon the first of them [the extra five days], say they, was OSIRIS born, just at whose entrance into the world a voice was heard, saying, “The lord of all the earth is born [similar to proclamations made about Jesus].” There are some indeed who relate this circumstance in a different manner, as that a certain person, named Pamyles, as he was fetching water from the temple of Jupiter [Horus-the-Elder] at Thebes, heard a voice commanding him to proclaim aloud that “the good and great king Osiris was then born”; and that for this reason Saturn [Geb] committed the education of the child to him, and that in memory of this event the Pamylia were afterwards instituted, a festival much resembling the Phalliphoria or Priapeia of the Greeks.

Upon the second of these days was AROUERIS born, whom some call [the Greek god] Apollo, and others distinguish by the name of the elder Orus [Horus-the-Elder; god of Upper Egypt, with Ra]. Upon the third [day] Typho [Set, god of the desert; the principal god of Lower Egypt; demonized by Upper Egypt, and as a result, Set became similar to the Christian’s Satan] came into the world, being born neither at the proper time, nor by the proper place, but forcing his way through a wound which he had made in his mother’s side. [The goddess] ISIS was born upon the fourth of them in the marshes of Egypt, as NEPTHYS was upon the last, whom some call Teleute and [the Greek goddess] Aphrodite, and others Nike.

Now as to the fathers of these children, the two first of them [Osiris and Horus-the-Elder] are said to have been begotten by the Sun [Ra], Isis by Mercury [Thoth], Typho [Set, Satan] and Nepthys by Saturn [Geb – revealing that Nut certainly slept around!]; and accordingly, the third of these super-added days, because it was looked upon as the birthday of Typho [Set, Satan], was regarded by the kings [especially of Upper Egypt!] as inauspicious, and consequently they neither transacted any business on it, or even suffered themselves to take any refreshment until the evening. They further add, that Typho [Set] married [his sister] Nepthys; and that Isis and Osiris, having a mutual affection, loved each other in their mother’s womb before they were born, and that from this commerce sprang Aroueris [Horus-the-Elder], whom the Egyptians likewise call the elder Orus [Horus], and the Greeks Apollo. [Notice the amazing amount of sharing of myths, both by the Greeks and the Hebrews, and which (as I’ll show in later posts) continued into Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, etc.]

Osiris, being now become king of Egypt, applied himself towards civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former indigent and barbarous course of life; he moreover taught them how to cultivate and improve the fruits of the earth; he gave them a body of laws to regulate their conduct by, and instructed them in that reverence and worship which they were to pay to the gods. With the same good disposition he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline; not indeed compelling them by force of arms, but persuading them to yield to the strength of his reasons, which were conveyed to them in the most agreeable manner, in hymns and songs, accompanied by instruments of music: from which last circumstance the Greeks conclude him to have been the same with their Dionysius or Bacchus.

During Osiris’ absence from his kingdom, Typho [Set, Satan] had no opportunity of making any innovations in the state, Isis being extremely vigilant in the government, and always upon her guard. After his [Osiris’] return, however, having first persuaded seventy-two other persons to join with him [Set] in the conspiracy, together with a certain queen of Ethiopia named Aso, who chanced to be in Egypt at that time, he [Set] contrived a proper stratagem to execute his base designs. For having privily taken the measure of Osiris’ body, he caused a chest to be made exactly of the same size with it, as beautiful as may be, and set off with all the ornaments of art. This chest he brought into his banqueting-room; where, after it had been much admired by all who were present, Typho [Set], as it were in jest, promised to give it to any one of them whose body upon trial it might be found to fit. [This would make a great movie, with Charlton Heston as Set!]

Upon this the whole company one after another, go into it; but as it did not fit any of them, last of all Osiris lays himself down in it, upon which the conspirators immediately ran together, clapped the cover upon it, and then fastened it down on the outside with nails, pouring likewise melted lead over it. After this they carried it away to the riverside, and conveyed it to the sea by the Tanaïtic mouth of the Nile; which, for this reason, is still held in the utmost abomination by the Egyptians, and never named by them but with proper marks of detestation. These things, say they, were thus executed upon the 17th [therefore, a triply unlucky] day of the month Athyr, when the sun was in Scorpio, in the 28th year of Osiris’ reign; though there are others who tell us that he was no more than 28 years old at this time.

The first who knew the accident which had befallen their king were the Pans and Satyrs who inhabited the country about Chemmis (Panopolis); and they immediately acquainting the people with the news gave the first occasion to the name Panic Terrors, which has ever since been made use of to signify any sudden affright or amazement of a multitude. As to [Osiris’ sister-wife] Isis, as soon as the report reached her she immediately cut off one of the locks of her hair [as a sign of her grief] and put on mourning apparel upon the very spot where she then happened to be, which accordingly from this accident has ever since been called Koptis, or the city of mourning, though some are of opinion that this word rather signifies deprivation.

After this she wandered everywhere about the country full of disquietude and perplexity in search of the chest, inquiring of every person she met with, even of some children whom she chanced to see, whether they knew what was become of it. Now it happened that these children had seen what Typho’s [Set’s] accomplices had done with the body, and accordingly acquainted her by what mouth of the Nile it had been conveyed into the sea. For this reason, therefore, the Egyptians look upon children as endued with a kind of faculty of divining, and in consequence of this notion are very curious in observing the accidental prattle which they have with one another whilst they are at play (especially if it be in a sacred place), forming omens and presages from it. [“Words of wisdom out of the mouths of babes.”]

Isis, during this interval, having been informed that Osiris, deceived by her sister Nepthys who was in love with him, had unwittingly united with her instead of herself [i.e., Nepthys tricked Osiris into having sex with her, pretending that she was Isis, leading to the child Anubis], as she [Isis] concluded from the melilot-garland [a wreath of clover], which he had left with her, made it her [Isis’s] business likewise to search out the child, the fruit of this unlawful commerce (for her sister, dreading the anger of her husband Typho [Set], had exposed it as soon as it was born), and accordingly, after much pains and difficulty, by means of some dogs that conducted her [Isis] to the place where it was, she found it and bred it up; so that in process of time it became her [Isis’s] constant guard and attendant, and from hence obtained the name of Anubis [the son of Osiris and Nepthys, always depicted with the head of a dog or jackal], being thought to watch and guard the gods, as dogs do mankind. [Ya gotta love this myth! It's great the way it "explains" why the Moon isn't so bright as the Sun and weaves in the friendliness of dogs and how (and why) five more days were incorporated into the 360-day year!]

At length she [Isis] receives more particular news of the chest, that it had been carried by the waves of the sea to the coast of Byblos [Budges adds the footnote that this Byblos was “not the Byblos of Syria” (or of Lebanon, which was a source of paper and after which is named the Bible) but was in the papyrus swamps of the Delta; other authors, however, suggest that it was the Byblos of Lebanon], and there gently lodged in the branches of a bush of Tamarisk, which, in a short time, had shot up into a large and beautiful tree, growing round the chest and enclosing it on every side, so that it was not to be seen; and further, that the king of the country, amazed at its unusual size, had cut the tree down, and made that part of the trunk wherein the chest was concealed, a pillar to support the roof of his house.

These things, say they, being made known to Isis in an extraordinary manner by the report of Demons [the world being full of demons, doncha know], she immediately went to Byblos; where, setting herself down by the side of a fountain, she refused to speak to anybody, excepting only to the queen’s women who chanced to be there; these indeed she saluted and caressed in the kindest manner possible, plaiting their hair for them, and transmitting into them part of that wonderfully grateful odor which issued from her own body. This raised a great desire in the queen their mistress to see the stranger who had this admirable faculty of transfusing so fragrant a smell from herself into the hair and skin of other people. She [the queen] therefore sent for her [Isis] to court, and, after a further acquaintance with her, made her nurse to one of her sons. Now the name of the king who reigned at this time at Byblos, was Meloarthus, as that of his queen was Astarte, or, according to others, Saosis, though some call her Nemanoun, which answers to the Greek name Athenais.

Isis fed the child by giving it her finger to suck instead of the breast; she likewise put him every night into the fire in order to consume his mortal part, whilst transforming herself into a swallow [at other times, Isis transforms herself into other birds], she hovered round the pillar and bemoaned her sad fate. Thus continued she to do for some time, till the queen, who stood watching her, observing the child to be all in a flame, cried out, and thereby deprived him of that immortality which would otherwise have been conferred upon him.

The Goddess [Isis] upon this, discovering herself [i.e., admitting who she was], requested that the pillar, which supported the roof, might be given her; which she accordingly took down, and then easily cutting it open, after she had taken out what she wanted [i.e., Osiris’ coffin], she wrapped up the remainder of the trunk in fine linen, and pouring perfumed oil upon it, delivered it again into the hands of the king and queen (which piece of wood is to this day preserved in the temple of Isis, and worshipped by the people of Byblos). When this was done, she threw herself upon the chest, making at the same time such a loud and terrible lamentation over it, as frightened the younger of the king’s sons, who heard her, out of his life. But the elder of them she took with, her and set sail with the chest for Egypt; and it being now about morning, the river Phaedrus sending forth a rough and sharp air, she in her anger dried up its current [i.e., Isis obviously performed some powerful magic, easily matching the stunts later claimed to be performed by Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, et al.]

I now terminate quoting Plutarch’s report, because there are at least two different versions of the Osiris-Isis-Horus myth describing subsequent events (e.g., how Isis had sex with the dead Osiris, leading to the birth of Horus-the-Younger), and Plutarch skims over both versions. But since the subsequent events are important for purposes of this post, I’ll therefore first jump to a brief description of the myth that's given at the Carnaval.com website and that mentions both possibilities for how Isis became pregnant:

Back in Egypt, Isis lay in the form of a hawk upon the dead body of Osiris and thus miraculously conceived her son Horus [the Younger]. Or she left the coffin at a place in Egypt while she went to see Horus [the Elder]. The evil Set found the body of Osiris and tore it into fourteen pieces, and scatted them. Isis painstakingly sought the parts of Osiris’s body and Isis and Horus [the Elder] put them together. As the wings of Isis fluttered over the corpse, Ra then reanimated him, and Osiris was resurrected. But, to confuse Set, Isis effected to have each part buried where she found it, which is why there were fourteen graves of Osiris in Egypt. But she could not find a penis which the fishes had swallowed, and had to make a synthetic one [out of gold] to conceive, in this version, their child Horus [the Younger]. Osiris then reigned as the king of the dead while Horus reigned on earth.

If Plutarch’s report was confusing and the above quotation too terse, then first I’d ask for even more patience from the reader: believe it or not, all this nonsense has had important ramifications, which persist to this day. To try to help the reader, what I propose to do, next, is try to eliminate (or at least acknowledge!) potential confusions, then provide a brief synopsis of the above myth, and then, try to show why “all of this nonsense” is still important, especially for Christians and Mormons.

One potential confusion arises because there are two Horuses, whom I’ve taken pains to identify as Horus-the-Elder (Osiris’ brother) and Horus-the-Younger (Osiris’ son), both of whom are usually depicted with the head of a hawk (or falcon) – or as just a falcon, alone. In the myths, it’s not always clear (at least to me!) which Horus is being described. In addition, it’s confusing (at least to me) that in some myths, Horus (which one?) is described not only as “the son of God” (i.e., the son of the deified Osiris) but also “the Sun god” (i.e., Ra). [A similar confusion occurs about Jesus, claimed to be “the son of God” but who is frequently depicted as “the Sun God”.]

Fortunately, the reader can clearly see the distinction between the two Horuses in the picture shown below (copyright Brian J. McMorrow). Thus, Horus-the-Younger is clearly on the left – and yes, I’m being facetious. Actually, though, the two Horuses in this picture are distinguishable by their "head gear": because the Horus-on-the-left is wearing the Double Crown (Pschent), signifying the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, then according to Budge, he's Horus-the-Younger, while Horus-on-the-right is wearing the White Crown (Hedjet) of Upper Egypt. That interpretation, however, has been challenged. Thus, Audrey Fletcher proposes that the head gear doesn't represent political organizations but constellations near the constellation that the Greeks called Orion and the Ancient Egyptians called Osiris. In addition and not incidentally, the woman depicted leaving the scene at the left is Nephthys (not Isis, as can be discerned from her head gear), Horus-on-the-right is holding a powerful staff (just as powerful, no doubt, as the staff of Moses), but why both Horuses are holding the "Christian" crosses in their left hands is too long a story to describe in detail. Suffice to say (at least for now) that the "Christian" cross (i.e., the ankh, a symbol for 'life') predates Christianity by thousands of years.


In his book (already referenced), Budge provides the following “clarification” (in which it will be useful to notice his final sentence).

But, besides Rā, there existed in very early times a god called HORUS, whose symbol was the hawk, which, it seems, was the first living thing worshipped by the Egyptians; Horus was the Sun-god, like Rā, and in later times was confounded with Horus the son of Isis. The chief forms of Horus given in the texts are: (1) HERU-UR (Aroueris), (2) HERU-MERTI, (3) HERU-NUB, (4) HERU-KHENT-KHAT, (5) HERU-KHENT-AN-MAA, (6) HERU-KHUTI, (7) HERU-SAM-TAUI, (8) HERU-HEKENNU, (9) HERU-BEHUTET. Connected with one of the forms of Horus, originally, were the four gods of the cardinal points, or the “four, spirits of Horus,” who supported heaven at its four corners; their names were HAPI, TUAMUTEE, AMSET, and QEBHSENNUF, and they represented the north, east, south, and west respectively. The intestines of the dead were embalmed and placed in four jars, each being under the protection of one of these four gods.

For readers who feel that Budge’s explanation didn’t help, there are three obvious ways to deal with resulting confusions: 1) Ignore them, call whoever it is just “Horus”, and go-with-the-flow of the story, 2) Assume that Horus-the-Younger was one-and-the-same as Horus-the-Elder (just as Jesus was allegedly one-and-the-same as God-the-father), and 3) Have a Christian explain #2 to you!

With that straightened out [ :)> I’ll now turn to a synopsis of the Osiris-Isis-Horus myth (which is given at hundreds of websites). As described by Plutarch, Osiris was born of the Earth god Set and the sky goddess Nut, who in turn were created by the original god, who was also the Sun-god Ra at dawn. Importantly for the story, Osiris had two brothers, Horus (the elder) and Seth (or Set), and two sisters, his future wife Isis (with whom he had sex while they were still in Nut's womb – talk about intense incest!) and Seth’s future wife Nephthys (with whom he also had sex – but presumably not while still in Nut's womb).

There are a number of different stories about how animosity developed between the two brothers Osiris and Seth, an animosity similar to the one between the OT-brothers Cain and Abel (which Hebrew storytellers seem to have used to reflect the animosity between farmers and shepherds). The Egyptian myth-makers might have used Osiris and Seth (or Set, or Sut, pronounced “soot”, as in “black as soot”) to reflect the fundamental “animosity” between day and night, between good and evil, between the Egyptians and Ethiopians, or between Upper- and Lower-Egypt before they were united.

As for how the animosity allegedly developed, at least one of the myths discounts that Seth was jealous of Osiris’ accomplishments and, instead, attributes the rift to the behavior of their sister Nephthys, Seth’s wife. [As the mystic Pope John Paul II reportedly said in 1985 to Dr. Nafis Sadik, now Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General: “Don’t you think that the irresponsible behavior of men is caused by women?”!] In the Egyptian myth, when Nephthys found herself childless by the impotent Seth, she seduced Osiris (pretending to be Isis), leading to the child Anubis, who grew to become the jackal-headed god in charge of embalming. Upon learning about this double betrayal by his brother Osiris and sister-wife Nephthys, Seth seethed.

As illustrated by the above quotation from Plutarch, how Seth managed to murder his brother Osiris is a long and complicated story. The myth is made longer and more complicated by the story of how Osiris’ sister-wife Isis tracked down the coffin of her husband-brother buried in “the tree of life” in the town of Byblos. It then becomes even more complicated with Seth interfering again (cutting Osiris’ corpse into 14 pieces, and scattering the pieces over Egypt), Isis seeking, finding, and with the help of her sister Nephthys and Nephthys’ son Anubis, re-assembling the pieces (save for one piece, Osiris’ penis, which was eaten by a fish or a crocodile or crab – depending which myth one “believes”).

Although, thereby, Osiris was in pretty bad shape (dead and sans penis) his sister-wife Isis (who was the goddess not only of love but also of magic) made him whole again (with a make-shift penis), managed to have sex with the revived Osiris (eventually leading to the child Horus), and with the help of his and Nephthys’ son Anubis, Osiris went on to become the god of the underworld, judging the dead. Subsequently, Isis went on to give birth to Horus (on December 25, in a stable), who when he reached manhood, set out to kill his “wicked uncle” Set, lost at an eye in the process, became Egypt’s ruler, and went on to become “guardian” of all future Egyptian leaders as the god Horus.

Even today, Horus’ eye is quite famous, “protected by the eye of Horus”. It appears, for example, on the American one-dollar bill. How Horus’ eye ended up on U.S. currency is another complicated story (dealing with the Freemasons), some of which I plan to examine in a later post dealing with clerical rituals. If readers care to check that Horus’ eye is indeed on the American one-dollar bill, they’ll find it atop the depicted pyramid, to the left of the phrase “In God We Trust”. As for which god it’s thereby claimed that American’s trust, the picture speaks for itself!

In fact , given the old Chinese proverb that “a picture is worth more than ten thousand words”, it will have been useful (for later in this post, dealing with “the Mormon connection”) to illustrate how the dead Osiris with his artificial penis managed to impregnate Isis. Fortunately for readers who found the above synopsis to be either too confusing or two terse, many illustrations of the story are available, e.g., as vignettes on many papyri. As a case in point, the first figure below (from Budge’s book) shows Horus-the-Elder (hawk headed) and Anibus (jackal headed) “watching over the impregnation of Isis [in the form of a bird, possibly a hawk] by the dead Osiris.”


In the next figure (copied from the more risqué website “Sex and Ancient Egypt”) Osiris’ erect penis (his phallus) is displayed more prominently, with Horus-the-Elder and Isis’s sister, Nephthys, urging (?) them on. Not incidentally, Nephthys is sometimes depicted as (another) falcon or as a woman with falcon wings.


To this day, the affair is depicted on various temple walls in Egypt, as shown in photographs at many websites. For example, the first photograph shown below was taken at the Temple of Seti (or Sethos) I at Abydos, constructed during the time period from about 1290 to 1250 BCE; notice that it’s probably the same scene as is depicted, above, from Budge. The second photograph was taken at the Temple at Dendara, built during the first century BCE; notice that it seems to be the same scene as is depicted in the second sketch, above.





The reason why so many illustrations of the impregnation of Isis by Osiris are available is because the myth became a part of Egyptian rituals associated with burying their dead, preparing them to be judged by the god Osiris in their “afterlife”. Unfortunately, many of the associated papyri are damaged, such as the one shown below, commonly identified as the Joseph Smith Papyrus – Vignette #1. It’s called a ‘vignette’, since obviously it’s just a small scene within a larger, textual document. In this scene, notice the four “jars” beneath the bier (as mentioned in the above quotation from Budge) and also, notice that someone has unfortunately sketched in some lines behind the rips of the papyrus.


It might be useful to provide a brief introduction to Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805–44) and a summary of how the above papyrus came to be associated with him. Smith is described by Mormons as the (first) “prophet and seer” of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons), he was a convicted “money digger” (who conned people out of money by using a “magic stone” that he claimed could identify buried treasures), and he finally did “hit pay dirt” by claiming that an angel had told him where to find “a golden bible”, written in “reformed Egyptian” (even though no such language exists), which he then claimed he translated (apparently by using the same “magic stone”). In 1830, Smith published the resulting Book of Mormon, which was probably (with probability of about 70%) a plagiarized production by the former Baptist priest Sidney Rigdon, who subsequently became “high priest” of Mormonism. In 1835, a traveling antiquities dealer sold Smith what’s now called “The Joseph Smith Papyrus”. The price tag for it plus some mummies was $2,500, i.e., more than $50,000 of today’s dollars! For over a century, this papyrus was thought to be lost (possibly in the Chicago fire), but in 1966 it was found at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

When Smith set himself the task of “translating” his purchased papyrus (which certainly would have been a daunting task, since he knew nothing about Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian religion, or anything Egyptian!), one of his first undertakings was to complete the vignette shown only partially on the above ripped papyrus. The parts torn from the papyrus seem to “conveniently” avoid showing that the “man” on the left (Horus-the-Elder) had the head of hawk and that Osiris was holding his erect penis. The “completed” vignette (i.e., with extrapolations for the torn pieces), as commissioned by Joseph Smith, is posted at “the official website” of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There, it’s identified as “Facsimile No. 1”; it’s reproduced below; it’s now part of the Mormon’s Book of Abraham, which is one of the “holy scriptures” of Mormonism.


Immediately underneath “Facsimile #1” at the LDS website is the official EXPLANATION of each “figure” (see the items labeled 1 through 12 in the above). This “explanation” was written by Smith, himself; to it I’ve added some notes in brackets:

Fig. 1. [The bird on the right] The Angel of the Lord.
Fig. 2. Abraham fastened upon an altar [although with one foot and two hands up, it’s hard to see how he’s “fastened”!]
Fig. 3. The idolatrous priest of Elkenah [the black person with a white head, complete with knife in his hand] attempting to offer up Abraham as a sacrifice
Fig. 4. The altar for sacrifice by the idolatrous priests, standing before the gods of Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, Korash, and Pharaoh. [Smith apparently decided that the four jars under the bier were four “gods” in the background.]
Fig. 5. The idolatrous god of Elkenah.
Fig. 6. The idolatrous god of Libnah.
Fig. 7. The idolatrous god of Mahmackrah.
Fig. 8. The idolatrous god of Korash.
Fig. 9. The idolatrous god of Pharaoh. [The crocodile!]
Fig. 10. Abraham in Egypt.
Fig. 11. Designed to represent the pillars of heaven, as understood by the Egyptians.
Fig. 12. Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament over our heads; but in this case, in relation to this subject, the Egyptians meant it to signify Shaumau, to be high, or the heavens, answering to the Hebrew word, Shaumahyeem.

And for readers who just finished reading the profit Joe’s “explanation” and responded with something similar to “Hello?”, then I can assure them that the above “explanation” is as given by Smith: according to him, the essence of the vignette is not about Osiris having sex with Isis but a depiction of a incident in the life of the patriarch of all the Abrahamic religions, i.e., father Abraham himself! As readers have probably concluded, there’s no doubt that Smith’s “explanation” is pure, unadulterated balderdash – similar to what might be concocted by any imaginative six-year old.

Smith’s interpretations did, however, serve a purpose. According to Smith, one of the purchased papyri was written by the patriarch of the Abrahamic religions and another by the biblical Joseph when he was in Egypt. Smith wrote:

… I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc. – a more full account of which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them. Truly we can say, the Lord is beginning to reveal the abundance of peace and truth.

In 1842, Smith revealed his “translation” to the world (at least, his “translation” of the “writings of Abraham”) with the following introduction, a part of the first of a series of articles in the Mormon’s magazine Times and Seasons:

A Translation of some ancient Records that have fallen into our hands 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.

In the 1878 edition of this alleged “Book of Abraham”, the LDS Church deleted the words “purporting to be”, and in 1890, the Church “officially recognized [the Book of Abraham] as scripture”.

This “sacred scripture” of the LDS Church contains the idea, essential to the Mormon sham, that the priesthood wasn’t restricted to the Levites, claiming that Abraham held the Priesthood of God. As a consequence, Smith’s status as a “prophet and seer” and Rigdon’s as the high priest of Mormonism were validated by Abraham, himself – at least according to Smith’s Book of Abraham. The book also “explained” why black people couldn't hold the priesthood, that there are many gods, that God lived near the star or planet Kolob, and similar nonsense, including the unsurprising “revelation” that God approves of lying “when a righteous purpose is served” – such as protecting the Mormon priesthood and increasing the Church’s cash flow!

Meanwhile, as for what the undamaged “Joseph Smith Papyrus #1” actually showed, “the jury is still out.” On the one hand, it may be that this papyrus showed a picture of the “resurrection” of the dead person for whom the papyrus was created (namely, as shown below, the Egyptian priest Hôr, whose mother’s name was Taikhibit); if so, I’d suspect that Hôr wasn’t shown with an erect penis. On the other hand, it may be that whoever created this papyrus included (just as an illustration) the resurrection of Osiris, in which case, depending on various inclinations, Osiris may or may not have been shown with an erection. The attempt to complete the picture by Charles Larson, guided by the advice of Egyptologists and printed in his 1992, now-online book By His Own Hands Upon Papyrus, is shown below.


If I were required to put some money on it, I’d bet at least a small amount that the original vignette did show Osiris with an erection – solely because, to me, the rip in the papyrus (see the photograph shown earlier) seems too “convenient”, managing to just obliterate Osiris’ “personal parts”. That is, I wouldn’t be surprised if the relevant portion of the original papyrus was purposefully destroyed, either by its purveyor (Michael Chandler), so he wouldn’t be charged by “the authorities” with peddling “pornography” (as defined by the distorted views of sexuality with which Christianity has polluted the western world, courtesy the insane “Saint” Paul), or was destroyed by “profit” Joe, because he probably would have found it rather difficult to “explain” why Abraham was having an erection while he was being sacrificed!

But setting aside all Smith’s silliness and towards providing a little information about the Ancient-Egyptian silliness dealing with “life after death”, I now want to provide at least a few details to show what “the Joseph Smith Papyri” are “all about”. Certainly they have nothing whatsoever to do with what Smith claimed: definitely the subject papyrus wasn’t written by the Jewish patriarch Abraham (who, if he ever lived, lived more than a thousand years before the Joseph-Smith papyrus was created). Before the papyrus was “re-discovered” (in 1966), Egyptologists could comment only on Smith’s “translation” based on his “facsimiles”. For example, the following are some responses by Egyptologists to a 1912 request for their opinions from Franklin S. Spalding (Episcopal Bishop of Utah) and published in his 1912 book Joseph Smith Jr., As a Translator:

Dr. Arthur Mace, Assistant Curator for the Department of Egyptian Art of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explained: “The Book of Abraham, it is hardly necessary to say, is a pure fabrication… Joseph Smith’s interpretation of these cuts is a farrago of nonsense from beginning to end… five minutes study in an Egyptian gallery of any museum should be enough to convince any educated man of the clumsiness of the imposture.”

Dr. A. H. Sayce from Oxford, England concurred: “It is difficult to deal seriously with Joseph Smith’s impudent fraud.”

Dr. Flinders Petrie of London University wrote: “They are copies of Egyptian subjects of which I have seen dozens of examples. They are centuries later than Abraham. The attempts to guess a meaning for them in the professed explanations are too absurd to be noticed. It may be safely said that there is not one single word that is true in these explanations.”

Dr. James H. Breasted of the Haskell Oriental Museum, University of Chicago, declared: “It will be seen, then, that if Joseph Smith could read ancient Egyptian writing, his ability to do so had no connection with the decipherment of hieroglyphics by European scholars…”

Later, in 1965, a microfiche of Smith’s Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar (which he allegedly used to translate the papyri) was “leaked” from a Mormon vault to the outside world. About it, Dr. I.E. Edwards, Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Department of the British Museum wrote:

…[It’s] largely a piece of imagination and lacking in any kind of scientific value…[it reminded me of] the writings of psychic practitioners which are sometimes sent to me.

When the original papyri were found in 1966, they finally could be studied in detail. Copies were published in the February 1968 issues of the Mormon magazine The Improvement Era. Below are quotations by two competent Egyptologists, quoted from a website created by James David. To these quotations I’ve added a few notes in brackets.

Statements made by Richard A. Parker, Wilbour Professor of Egyptology and Chairman of the Department of Egyptology at Brown University in the Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 3, no. 2, Summer 1968, p. 86:

This [Facsimile #1] is a well-known scene from the Osiris mysteries, with Anubis, the jackal-headed god [the son of Nephthys and Osiris] on the left ministering to the dead Osiris on the bier. The penciled (?) restoration is incorrect. Anubis should be jackal-headed. The left arm of Osiris is in reality lying at his side under him. [Actually, though, that statement doesn’t conform to the quotation that follows.] The apparent upper hand is part of the wing of a second bird, which is hovering over the erect phallus of Osiris (now broken away). The second bird is Isis, and she is magically impregnated by the dead Osiris and then later gives birth to Horus who avenges his father and takes over his inheritance. The complete bird [on the right, which Joseph Smith labeled as Fig. 1 and “explained” was “The Angel of the Lord”)] represents Nephthys, sister to Osiris and Isis. [Although the next quotation, below, suggests that this second bird is the soul (or “ba”) of Osiris, while other authors suggest that it represents the soul of whoever is on the “couch”]. Beneath the bier are the four canopic jars with heads representative of the four sons of Horus, human-headed Imseti, baboon-headed Hapy, jackal-headed Duamutef, and falcon-headed Kebehsenuf…

Statements made by Klaus Baer, Associate Professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute in the journal Dialogue… Autumn 1968, pp. 118-119:

The vignette on P. JS I [i.e., Papyrus Joseph Smith #1] is unusual, but parallels exist on the walls of the Ptolemaic temple of Egypt, the closest being the scenes in the Osiris chapels on the roof of the Temple of Dendera. [Shown earlier in this post.] The vignette shows the resurrection of Osiris… and the conception of Horus. Osiris (2) [This “2” seems to correspond to Smith’s numbering of the twelve “figures”] is represented as a man on a lion-couch (4) attended by Anubis (3), the jackal-headed god who embalmed the dead and thereby assured their resurrection and existence in the hereafter. Below the couch are the canopic jars for the embalmed internal organs. The lids are the four sons of Horus, from the left to right Imset (8), Hapi (7), Qebeh-senuwef (6), and Duwa-mutef (5), who protect the liver, lungs, intestines, and stomach, respectively. At the head of the couch is a small offering stand (10) with a jug and some flowers on it and two larger vases on the ground beside it. The ba [soul] of Osiris (1) is hovering above his head.

The versions of [the] Osiris myth differ in telling how Seth disposed of Osiris after murdering him, but he was commonly believed to have cut Osiris into small pieces, which he scattered into the Nile, leaving Isis the task of fishing out and assembling the parts of her brother and husband so that he could be resurrected and beget Horus. In this she was helped by Horus [presumably Horus-the-Elder] in the shape of a crocodile, who is represented in the water (the zigzags) below the vignette (9). Below that is a decorative pattern derived from the niched facade of a protohistoric Egyptian palace.

There are some problems about restoring the missing parts of the body of Osiris. He was almost certainly represented as ithyphallic [i.e., having an erect penis] ready to beget Horus [-the-Younger], as in many of the other scenes at Dendera. I know of no representations of Osiris on a couch with both hands in front of his face. One would expect only one hand in front of his face, while the other was either shown below the body (impossible in P. JS I) or grasping the phallus. It the latter case it would be hard to avoid the suggestion of Professor Richard A. Parker that what looks like the upper hand of Osiris is actually the wingtip of a representation of Isis as a falcon hovering in the act of copulation.

As for the contents of the text surrounding the vignette, in 2003 the hieroglyphics (or “hieratic script, a cursive adaptation of hieroglyphic writing”) were translated by Egyptologist Robert K. Ritner of the University of Chicago. The following is a little of Ritner’s translation of the papyrus as given in his paper entitled “The Breathing Permit of Hôr” Among the Joseph Smith Papyri, which was published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies (vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 162–180, 2003) and his available here.

The true content of this papyrus concerns only the afterlife of the deceased Egyptian priest Hor [also apparently called “Osiris-Hor”]. “Books of Breathings,” such as this Joseph Smith example, are late funerary compositions derived from the traditional “Book of the Dead.” Like the “Book of the Dead,” the sole purpose of the later texts is to ensure the blessed afterlife of the deceased individual, who is elevated to divine status by judgment at the court of Osiris and is thereby guaranteed powers of rejuvenation. These powers, including mobility, sight, speech, hearing, and access to food offerings, are summarized in the term snsn, or “breathing,” which refers to the Egyptian expression t·w n ºnh “breath of life,” the fundamental characteristic that distinguishes the living. The title sº.t n snsn, literally, “Document of (or ‘for’) Breathing” employs the term for an official document or letter (sº.t), so that these “books” serve as formal “permits”—or perhaps more accurately “passports”—to the world of the gods…

Here follows the transliteration and translation of Hor’s papyrus. Broken sections are indicated by { }. For the sake of simplicity, optional diacritics have been dropped (Hor, not Hôr). Following proper Egyptological convention, Egyptian names are rendered in Egyptian format, not Greek approximations (marred by alphabetic deficiencies and irrelevant terminations)…

The Breathing Document opens with a vignette depicting the resurrection of the Osiris Hor on the customary lion-headed funerary couch, attended by the jackal-headed Anubis and (probably) the winged Isis, while the human headed ba-spirit of Hor hovers above his head…

Address to Hor…

{Osiris, the god’s father}, prophet of Amon-Re, King of the Gods, prophet of Min who slaughters his enemies, prophet of Khonsu, the {one who exercises} authority in Thebes, {. . .} Hor, the justified, son of the similarly titled overseer of secrets and purifier of the god, Osorwer, the justified, born by the {housewife and sistrum-player of } {Amon}-Re, Taikhibit, the justified!

May your ba-spirit live among them, and may you be buried on the west {of Thebes}.

{O Anubis {?}…} justification {?}. {May you give to him} a good and splendid burial on the west of Thebes as on the mountains of Ma{nu} {?}…

{Osiris shall be towed in}to the great lake of Khonsu… and likewise {the Osiris Hôr, the justified,} born of Taikhibit, the justified,… after his two arms have been {placed} at his heart, while… the Breathing Document, being what… is written on its interior and exterior, shall be wrapped in royal linen and placed (under) his left arm in the midst of his heart. The remainder of his… wrappings shall be made over it. As for the one for whom this book is made… he thus breathes like the ba-spirit{s} of the gods, forever and… ever.

For readers who desire more complete information about the entire ruse perpetrated by Smith, I’d recommend: 1) the (~1 hr) youtube video entitled The Lost Book of Abraham, 2) the report by Jerald and Sandra Tanner entitled “Solving the Mystery of the Joseph Smith Papyri”, and 3) the on-line book by Charles Larson entitled By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look At The Joseph Smith Papyri.

Those who choose to read the second and third references (listed in the previous sentence) may become discouraged, however, to find that the authors are pursuing (at least) two objectives: not only to demonstrate why the Book of Abraham is a “farrago of nonsense from beginning to end” but also to promote “the one true religion, Christianity.” For example, everything written at the Tanner website is devoted to the stated purpose:

… to document problems with the claims of Mormonism and compare LDS doctrines with Christianity.

Similarly, in the final chapter of his book By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus… Larson (with Floyd McElveen) wrote (along with multiple paragraphs of similar nonsense):

Dear reader, by a simple prayer of faith you can make the decision today to receive God’s free offer of salvation. Recognizing your own helplessness and the precious provision of Jesus on the cross, you only need to confess your sin and ask God to forgive you and save you through the shed blood of Jesus Christ…

It’s a pity that these alleged Christians apparently paid no attention to the teachings of their “savior” as given at Matthew 7, 5:

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye…

That is, in reality, all of it (all of Smith’s “translations”, all of Mormonism, all of Islam, all of Christianity, all of Judaism, all of Zoroastrianism, all of Hinduism, all of all organized religions, including the religions of all ancient peoples) was and still is a monstrous farrago of supernatural nonsense – or more bluntly, as I’ll try to continue to show in subsequent posts, they’re all mountain ranges of monstrous lies.

The most certain knowledge that we have been able to gain, even more certain than the knowledge that we exist, is that there are no gods and there never were any. Religious people have simply been chasing their own shadows, preening in their own images, and daydreaming – not only about the existence of gods but also about the possibility that they’d live forever. It’s time (in fact, it’s way past time) that everyone woke up to the naked knowledge not only that there are no gods (and never were any) but also that, after we die, we’re dead. That realization, however, needn’t be cause for concern, for as Epicurus (341–270 BCE) wrote:

[It follows that] death is nothing to us. For all good and evil consist in sensation, but death is deprivation of sensation. And therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not because it adds to it an infinite span of time, but because it takes away the craving for immortality. For there is nothing terrible in life for the man who has truly comprehended that there is nothing terrible in not living… [Death should not] concern either the living or the dead, since for the former it is not, and the latter are no more.

www.zenofzero.net