Kolohe wrote:This is my favorite part of Ashment's book:
The "Any Egyptian Connection" TheoryAn Egyptian connection to the Book of Abraham was still desired and actively sought, however. Quite early in the game Dr. Nibley had given the impression that he felt the Mormon people ought to be willing to accept any association that could be found -- even to pagan Egyptian mythology if need be -- so long as it left open possibilities.
However, Nibley's approach in this regard is certainly in sharp conflict with the Bible, one of the four LDS standard works. Throughout the Old Testament it is abundantly clear that God took great pains to dissuade the children of Israel from any contact with the false gods and idolatrous practices of their pagan neighbors. He ordered the Israelites to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan when they conquered the land, lest they should mingle His holy name with pagan deities, and so pollute the truth of divine revelation (Deuteronomy 6:14; 7:2-4, 16, 25,26; 12:2-4). God specifically admonished His people to repudiate and completely forsake the gods of Egypt, to whom they had been exposed during their years of captivity there (Joshua 24:14). The Old Testament records that every time the children of Israel fell into pagan idolatry, they experienced God's chastening (Judges 2:2,3, 11-15). Later in Israel's history, the prophet Ezekiel traced Israel's fall into idolatry all the way back to her failure to completely forsake the pagan religion of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:7-9).
The New Testament likewise teaches the same principle that God does not use pagan or ungodly vessels to bear His truth. Acts 16:16-18 records the incident of a demon possessed girl who followed the Apostle Paul and Silas, crying out that they were ''servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation." Although this testimony was true, Paul completely repudiated any such association between the Gospel and pagan occultism. He rebuked the evil spirit and cast it out of the girl.
I don't know. Seems like a pretty lame criticism to me, and I don't believe the Book of Abraham to be anything other than the product of Joseph Smith's imagination.