Lack of contemporary Father and Son vision until 1838?

From FAIRMormon

Jump to: navigation, search
FAIRwiki portal
First Vision &
Related Issues
Image:First_vision_b&w1.jpg
FAIRwiki articles

Joseph Smith:

1832 Account:

Others' accounts:

FAIR web site
FARMS web site
  • [Pending]
Additional reading
Other portals

Contents

Criticism

There is no mention of Joseph Smith seeing the Father and Son in any “contemporary” newspaper, diary, LDS publication, or writing of any kind until the year 1838.

Source(s) of the criticism

  • Christian Research and Counsel, “Documented History of Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” full-color pamphlet, 10 pages. [There is a notation within this pamphlet indicating that research and portions of text were garnered from Utah Lighthouse Ministry]

Response

Even the currently-available contemporary documents demonstrate that this charge against the First Vision story cannot be upheld with any degree of confidence.

  • Mormon missionaries were teaching in November 1830 that Joseph Smith “had seen God . . . personally” (The Reflector, vol. 2, no. 13, 14 February 1831).
  • The 1832 First Vision account – which is in Joseph Smith’s own handwriting – states explicitly that the Prophet saw Jesus Christ personally, in vision, BEFORE he saw an angel several years later and learned about the golden plates of the Book of Mormon. Furthermore, it is demonstrated in the article attached to this link that the Father's presence is obliquely referred to in the 1832 history.
  • Sometime during the week of 17–23 February 1833 Joseph Smith told an audience in Newburg, Ohio that he had “seen Jesus Christ” and spoken with Him (Rev. Richmond Taggart to Rev. Jonathan Goings, 2 March 1833, 2, Jonathan Goings Papers, American Baptist Historical Society, Rochester, New York [quoted in Prince, 1995, 8]).
  • On 31 May 1835 Joseph Smith spoke for 3.5 hours on the theme: “This is my Beloved Son, hear Him” and unfolded many “mysteries” in the course of his talk (William W. Phelps to Sally Phelps, 2 June 1835, Journal History, LDS Church Archive, Salt Lake City, Utah).
  • In the Joseph Smith diary entry for 9 November 1835 he spoke of the two personages who appeared to him before he was visited by a single angel who told him about the Book of Mormon plates. There are several clues in this text that help to more clearly identify the two personages:
#1 – the “pillar of flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed” is a biblical theme connected directly with the presence of Deity (see Ex. 13:21; 1 Kings 8:10–11).
#2 – the two personages were said to be “like unto” each other. This is another biblical theme which is associated directly with the Father and the Son (see Heb. 1:3).
#3 – one of the personages told Joseph Smith that his sins were forgiven. In the 1832 history Joseph Smith explicitly identified the personage who did this as Jesus Christ.
#4 – one personage told Joseph Smith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In the 1838 history Joseph Smith explicitly identified the personage who said this as God the Father.
  • On 13 November 1836 Joseph Smith told a standing-room-only crowd inside the Kirtland Temple about “his first visions, etc.” (Parley P. Pratt to the Elders and Brethren of the Church of Latter-day Saints in Canada, 27 November 1836, MS, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah). Exactly one year previous (November 1835) the Prophet had related the story of the two personages he saw before the single angel who told him about the plates. Therefore, he likely told his November 1836 audience of the same event—since it came first in sequence.

Conclusion

There is plenty of contemporary evidence pointing toward a Father and Son vision before the 1838 Church history document was composed. The idea that before 1838 a First Vision story which told of the visit of both the Father and the Son was being told is on safe ground. Such a contention is strengthened considerably with the addition of eyewitness reminiscences for the time period in question.

Endnotes

None

FAIR wiki articles

First Vision wiki articles
Claims about the 1832 First Vision account
Claims about other members and the First Vision
Joseph Smith other visionary issues wiki articles
God wiki articles

FAIR web site

First Vision FAIR links
  • FAIR Topical Guide: The First Vision FAIR link
  • D. Charles Pyle and Cooper Johnson, "Did early LDS leaders really misunderstand the First Vision?" FAIR link
  • Craig Ray, "Joseph Smith's History Confirmed," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, August 2002) FAIR link (Key source)
Joseph Smith other visionary issues FAIR links
  • Craig Ray, "Joseph Smith's History Confirmed," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, August 2002) FAIR link

External links

First Vision on-line links

Primary sources

Articles about the First Vision

  • Richard L. Anderson, "Circumstantial Confirmation of the First Vision through Reminiscences," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 1–27. PDF link
  • Milton V. Backman Jr., "Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the First Vision," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 301. PDF link
  • Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Confirming Witnesses of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1986): 32. off-site
  • Milton V. Backman, "First Vision," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 2:515–516. ISBN 002904040X. off-site off-site off-site
  • Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Joseph Smith's Recitals of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1985): 8. off-site
  • Richard L. Bushman, "The First Vision Story Revived," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 4:1 (Spring 1969): 82–93. off-site
  • Eugene England, "Orson Scott Card: The Book of Mormon as History and Science Fiction (Review of Homecoming, vols. 1-5; A Storyteller in Zion: Essays and Speeches; by Orson Scott Card)," FARMS Review of Books 6/2 (1994): 59–78. off-site PDF link
  • Dean C. Jesse, "Early Accounts of Joseph Smith (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 275–294. PDF link
  • Dean C. Jesse, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 9–20. ISBN 1573457876. off-site  (Key source)
  • Elden Watson, "Joseph Smith's First Vision—A Harmony";—complete text of all Joseph Smith's accounts on-line off-site  (Key source)
  • Elden Watson, "Joseph Smith's First Vision (introduction)" off-site
Joseph Smith other visionary issues on-line links
  • Dean C. Jesse, "Early Accounts of Joseph Smith (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 275–294. PDF link
  • David L. Paulsen, "The Doctrine of Divine Embodiment: Resotration, Judeo-Christian, and Philosophical Perspectives," Brigham Young University Studies 35:4 (1995–96): 6–94. PDF link (Key source)

Printed material

First Vision printed works
  • James B. Allen, "The Emergence of a Fundamental: The Expanding Role of Joseph Smith’s First Vision in Mormon Thought," Journal of Mormon History 7 (1980): 437–461.
  • James B. Allen, "Eight Contemporary Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision–What Do We Learn From Them?," Improvement Era (April 1970): 4–13. GospeLink
  • Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition, 1987), 56–. ISBN 0252060121.
  • Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 30–56. ISBN 1400042704
  • James B. Allen and John W. Welch, "The Apperance of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith in 1820," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 35–75. ISBN 0842526072. See also BYU Studies version: PDF link
  • Milton V. Backman, Joseph Smith’s First Vision: The first vision in its historical context (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1971).
  • Milton V. Backman Jr., Joseph Smith’s First Vision: Confirming Evidences and Contemporary Accounts, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980).
  • Dean C. Jesse, "The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 1–33. ISBN 0842526072. (Key source) See also BYU Studies version: PDF link
  • Dean C. Jesse, The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision (Mormon Miscellaneous reprint series) (Mormon Miscellaneous, 1984).
  • Dean C. Jessee (editor), The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Vol. 1 of 2) (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1989), 6–7, 127, 272–73, 429–30, 444, and 448–49.. ISBN 0875791999
  • Dean C. Jesse, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 5–6, 75–76, 199–200, 213. ISBN 0877479747. Rev. ed. off-site
  • Hugh W. Nibley, Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales About Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Vol. 11 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by David J. Whittaker, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 55–101. ISBN 0875795161. GospeLink
Joseph Smith other visionary issues printed works
  • Hugh W. Nibley, Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales About Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Vol. 11 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by David J. Whittaker, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 1. ISBN 0875795161. GospeLink
Retrieved from "http://en.fairmormon.org/Lack_of_contemporary_Father_and_Son_vision_until_1838%3F"
Personal tools