How can we believe what the prophet Joseph Smith said about the meaning of the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham?

Question

Dear Gramps

The problem with the facsimiles in the Pearl of Great Price has nothing to do with them not being spoken of in the book of Abraham. The problem is the deciphering of the symbols accompanying the facsimiles, which say that it is Abraham upon an alter, etc. Scholars say that the symbols are nothing at all what Joseph Smith said they were. (For the record, I am an active, life-long, member of the church who is just curious and can’t find an answer to this.) thank you!

Kristin

Answer

Dear Kristin,

Your question poses a problem that is endemic in our society. Principally because of the successes of technology, academicians enjoy a reputation of such a magnitude that their pronouncements, made in the name of SCIENCE, are taken to be absolutely and fundamentally true, and are beyond question. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!

Someone said that knowledge accumulates in the universities. The freshmen bring a little in and the seniors certainly take nothing away. Therefore, knowledge accumulates.

Let’s take a peek into the workings of academia for a moment. The student matriculates, chooses a major, get his BS or BA and enters graduate school. Let’s say that this student is an independent thinker, and that for a thesis he challenges the theory upon which the current curriculum is established. When that thesis is submitted for review, it is reviewed by all the professors who taught him what he is challenging. Do you think that he would have a chance of having such a thesis accepted and published. NOT ON YOUR LIFE!! If he doesn’t rapidly repent and change his topic to expanding the frontiers of the currently accepted theory, he is summarily dismissed from the university.

Let’s say that the student believes what he has been taught, and submits a thesis designed to expand the frontiers of the currently believed theory. He, of course, is applauded and given high marks. This is the student that is hired onto the faculty, and he promulgates the existing theory, believing it to be the absolute truth. Thus, the universities have done more than any other institution to hold back the advancement of science. Any naive professor who would challenge what we have just said is requested to read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas A. Kuhn, University of Chicago Press, first published in 1962, now in its third printing.

What is needed by all who bump up against any difference between theology and scientology is to learn to judge the professors by the prophets rather than the other way around.

Gramps