Abraham and Black White Round Pens

I'd like to address a historical issue that many have with my religion.  In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints there are four books of canonized (official) scripture that we use.  These are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants.  Within the Pearl of Great Price there s a book titled Abraham, just like Acts is a book in the Bible.  There is wealth of evidence illustrating that this is not a direct translation from Egyptian papyrus.  That was the generally accepted explanation of its origins within the church for many years.  This information, new to many people, is really upsetting.  I've met many good people who believe very literally in what they have been taught, and anything that varies from that rhetoric is either simply dismissed, or becomes cause for great emotional and intellectual strife.  This includes the idea that the book of Abraham was directly and literally translated from egyptian by Joseph Smith.  I observe this quite a bit both in my church and in the horse world, people who feel the way they see things is the only way to see things.

The way I see it is perhaps different that most.  If a person sees the world as black and white, everything is either right or wrong, then it can be a big step to acknowledge that there might be shades of grey.  Let's imagine for a moment there are only two ways of looking at something, my way and the wrong way.  White and black.  For me it is too restrictive to think of the book of Abraham (or any book) as being entirely factually absolute truth or entirely false.  To take the concept of black and white and admit there might be grey in between is very difficult for black and white thinkers.  But I'm going to take it even further.

I believe there is black and white, an infinite number of shades of grey, and there is also chartreuse.  How could a person possibly appreciate reds, blues, oranges, if he is only willing to look at the world, at religion in black and white?  Even black and white photographs print better if you use the color ink cartridge.  There is something to be learned from all kinds of people, all kinds of faiths, all colors and creeds, all kinds of books.  God made us all, we are all His children, regardless of which religion we subscribe to.  He does not love any of us less than the others, and He gives us all information as we are able to understand it. 

And now as I said concerning faith - faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.  And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, ye, even on his word.  And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also.  Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.  Alma 21:21-23

I don't see anything in there about disregarding truthful information when it comes from unlikely places.  In fact, these scriptures mean to me that ANYONE can receive information from God, even people who are stereo-typically assumed to be unable to receive revelation like women and children.  The book of Abraham is helpful to me in as much as I read it and find it helpful. 

For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men.  For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.  2 Nephi 31:3

I can gain inspiration and knowledge and insight in all kinds of places.  For example:  I'm standing in the round pen, a circular pen full of sand with a horse and an excited barking dog.  I'm trying to teach the horse the voice commands for each gait: walk, trot, canter, whoa (stop) and reverse (turn and go the other direction).  I speak quietly, because I want the horse to listen carefully to what I'm saying.  If I shout, the horse tends to ignore me until I've said the command several times.  While I'm teaching these soft voice commands to the horse, my dog is leaping around like a buffoon.  He loves the whip, and always barks at it hoping to catch the end of the lash in his mouth while he jumps up and down in blissful enthusiasm.  It is much harder for the horse hear me because of the dog cavorting around at the top of his lungs.  Nevertheless I continue to speak quietly, and as I do so the horse gradually learns to tune out the dog and attend to what I'm saying. 

Every time I'm in this situation (which happens several times weekly since I'm a horse trainer) I think of how God speaks to me.  He almost never bellows or loudly rattles the rooftops, He always explains things to me softly, so quietly I could easily miss it if I was attending to the barking dogs in my life.  It has taken me years of practice to learn how to hear God speak to me, and to realize that it is different than how He speaks to other people, and that difference is ok and necessary.  He speaketh unto them according to their language and understanding.  My best friend hears Him differently than I do, and my acquaintances at church hear Him in ever more diverse ways. 

If I can receive communication from God while standing in a 100' sand pen with a fractious horse and a barking dog, why couldn't I also gain inspiration about how to live a better life from this book of Abraham?  What if that book is not merely white or black, true or false, but neon purple? 

In the first chapter, the beginning of the book's story explains that Abraham had questions.  He wanted happiness and peace, and he desired knowledge.  He desired instructions.  Most of what is given as revelation in the book of Abraham is a response to Abraham's questions.  Not all of them are answered.  I equate this to my own life, and I view it as permission and encouragement from God to ASK QUESTIONS.  If the only way I'm going to get the information and blessings I so desire is to ask, you better believe I'll be asking the hard questions.  Most of my questions I don't have answers for yet, but I sure keep asking them. 

To take it one step further, if you really get into the details of how people perceive colors, what I see as blue may not be the same as the color you identify as blue.  There are too many variables, rods, cones, light refracting differently in your eyeball than in mine.  Not to mention the incredibly complicated system of nerves and chemicals that get the image to your brain, then the complexities of how a brain processes that information.  If our biology is so complicated, and I believe God designed it that way, how can a book be entirely factually true or entirely false?

I recognize that for a black and white thinker, my answer of "chartreuse" to this issue about the book of Abraham may sound like a game of Duck Duck Goose where instead of Goose, I proclaim "Skyscraper!"  I just don't think that you can solve a problem with the same black and white thinking that created it, so this is how I reason through the problem of the historicity of the book of Abraham.