Looks like a weird angle and little buddy seems to have mushed its lower lip up against the counter. Their teeth really look a bit more human-like than many animals’. As an ex-Mormon, we learn about tapirs and their cute floppy snouts, because… reasons.
Exactly that. Something called linguistic “loanshifting.” It was suggested by a Mormon “scholar” in the 80s and is trotted out from time to time by later apologists. It’s a somewhat niche suggestion even among Mormons, but that’s because nothing in the Book of Mormon makes any damn sense at all in any field’s scholarship without world class mental gymnastics, so most of the rank and file simply choose not to worry about it.
A couple of my favorites: there are literally extant court records of Joseph Smith scamming people before he started the religion, and the “ancient papyrus” he supposedly translated for a side project was utterly invalidated a few years later when the Rosetta stone helped early Egyptologists crack the language.
Starting a “trust me, bro” religion in an era of scientific advancement and systematic record keeping is certainly one way to go, LOL. Kudos to him and the subsequent leaders for keeping the grift going… I guess.
Looks like a weird angle and little buddy seems to have mushed its lower lip up against the counter. Their teeth really look a bit more human-like than many animals’. As an ex-Mormon, we learn about tapirs and their cute floppy snouts, because… reasons.
Do they try to argue there was a miscommunication and that the horses mentioned in the Mormon Bible were actually tapirs? I’m confused
Exactly that. Something called linguistic “loanshifting.” It was suggested by a Mormon “scholar” in the 80s and is trotted out from time to time by later apologists. It’s a somewhat niche suggestion even among Mormons, but that’s because nothing in the Book of Mormon makes any damn sense at all in any field’s scholarship without world class mental gymnastics, so most of the rank and file simply choose not to worry about it.
It really is the least believable of bigger religions
A couple of my favorites: there are literally extant court records of Joseph Smith scamming people before he started the religion, and the “ancient papyrus” he supposedly translated for a side project was utterly invalidated a few years later when the Rosetta stone helped early Egyptologists crack the language.
Starting a “trust me, bro” religion in an era of scientific advancement and systematic record keeping is certainly one way to go, LOL. Kudos to him and the subsequent leaders for keeping the grift going… I guess.