Did Joseph Smith translate thousands of English words from about 80 hieroglyphs?
Smith translated thousands of English words from about 80 hieroglyphs. Joseph said this was the writing of Abraham and the word of his god. Actually it was a variant of the Book of the Dead, a pagan Egyptian magic book filled with heathen idols, often buried with mummies. Dr. Richard Parker of Brown University in a personal letter to Marvin Cowen dated Jan. 9 1968 said, “I have seen Joseph Smith’s Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. The interpretation of the signs purported to be Egyptian have no resemblance to the meaning ascribed to them by Egyptologists.” Dr. A.B. Mercer said 50 years ago, “Any pupil of mine who would show such absolute ignorance of Egyptian as Smith does, could not possibly expect to get more than zero in an examination in Egyptology.” (Improvement Era, v.16, p.615.). Dr. John A. Wilson wrote, “…as far as I am concerned I see pieces of two or possibly three different papyrii and every one of them looks like a traditional Book of the Dead.” (letter Jan. 5, 1968.)
