Thanks for your posts regarding ancient Egyptian religion.

Perhaps the “I am” did arise in some very early texts, as your sources suggest (and I haven’t had time or energy to look into them, unfortunately).

If it did, I wonder what path the idea took between the apparently diverging views of the monotheistic Hebrews and the pantheistic Egyptians.

PS It might be controversial to say so here, but I don’t have a big problem with the Hebrew scriptures borrowing stories from surrounding cultures (though its rather speculative to assert they did so all the time). If they did, then the real question concerns how they used them.

Why would you claim anything about a lack of testimony, of course he has one and I admire all those that do, knowing that Jesus is the Christ is powerful. But if he claims to have a testimony that Mormonism is false, then I would readily disagree he has anything other then a opinion, not backed up with hard evidence or a witness from the Holy Ghost.

I did not dismiss poor grindael, but called it as I saw it. He would not stay on topic and let go with a barrage of other issues which puts him in a bad light with those who would want to see him tackle what he first pointed out and that is when he went South in what I call the loose cannon affect that usually misses the mark. Poor criticism does not make for good proselytizing.

When I see false accusation and phony straw-men, why would I be concerned about someone else’s personal opinion of thinking I’m just putting someone down. Please be real, bad tabloid sensationalism does not deserve anything other then my personal disgust for falsifying true history and historical accuracy.

Regards, Richard.

I believe the Bible is God’s Word.( that was
the context of the post where you got my
statement from). Your Church also believes in
the Bible, and I’m sure it was referenced
many times in Gen.Conference the last few days.
We’re on common ground it seems.

I have this feeling though that you’re driving
at something, since your presence here has
been to defend your Church’s interpretation
of the Bible. Am I wrong?
Are you hinting at that since you follow the
prophet of the latter-days that therefore you
have the correct interpretation of the Bible?
More importantly,have your Prophet and Apostles
proven reliable to interpret the Bible for LDS ?

The original link states, “The Egyptian Book of the Coming Forth by Light (wrongly and commonly translated as the Book of the Dead), the oldest written text in the world,….” Which doesn’t sound correct, I thought hindu texts were older.

Another source says:

“The earliest texts of the Book of the Dead appear on mummy shrouds of members of the 17th Dynasty royal family (c.1650-1550 BC);”

http://www.egyptologyonline.com/book_of_the_dead.htm
This doesn’t sound like the book of breathings.

You said “I personally believe I’m on safe ground,as a Christian,to base my beliefs on God’s Word.”

How do you know what God’s word is?

Also, what proportion of the worlds population base their religion on some portion of the Bible, or “God’s word?” How do you know your interpretation is “the correct” one?

Anyone who sets up such a lame straw-man, and then is rebutted with correct facts and evidence to me and other guest and visitors must be consider to have failed miserably.

Like I said earlier, you make a accusation that is incorrect and then continue on with out missing a beat, ignoring my correction and then
continue on with other peripheral issues as if it was OK since there is more such as Blood Atonement, Polygamy, and loose ended speculation about money, land, and insurance Companies. Your posting is like a loose cannon that when loaded and ready to fire is only filled with blanks and lacking in any live ammunition. You unwittingly prove to be less then creditable, so for whatever your reasons for leaving the Church it can not be for any accuracy in faulting Church history with lame facts and straw-man tactics.

My sense it that you accomplish little to attract others to Evangelism, and more to assist us LDS to attract new investigators. Keep up the good work, you make it so much easier for our Missionaries to find new converts.

Regards, Richard.

You’ve drawn some interesting parallels between the religious ideas of the Hebrews and their neighbours.

I wonder who borrowed from whom? (It seems to me to be just as presumptious to state that the Hebrews borrowed from the Egyptians as to state that it was the other way round.)

Perhaps some idea of timeline would be useful? All I know (and I’ll cast the net as wide as I can), is that the “I am” of Genesis can be placed somewhere between the 15th and 7th Century BC (depending on how liberal your view of the OT is), whereas the “Book of Breathings” (a common funerary text, mistakenly understood as the basis for the Book of Abraham) was in circulation around the 3rd to 1st Century BC (?).

That would suggest that Egypt borrowed from Israel. Maybe, after 15 centuries, the Egyptians finally woke up to the idea that their pantheon of gods had to start from somewhere.

…so by this reckoning, the LDS church will maybe get there in about 10 centuries time… (I wish they’d hurry up!)