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Joseph Smith's First Vision/Multiple accounts of the First Vision: Difference between revisions

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{{Resource Title|Criticisms of the First Vision}}
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{{SummaryHeader
{{H1
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Criticisms of the First Vision
|L=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Multiple accounts of the First Vision
|subject=Criticisms of the First Vision accounts
|H=Multiple accounts of the First Vision
|summary=
|S=Historians have published and discussed the various accounts of Joseph Smith's first vision for decades.
}}
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts
|subject=Church discussion of the First Vision accounts
|summary=Has the Church hidden the various accounts of the First Vision over the years?
|sublink1=Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision?
|sublink2=Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages?
}}


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<small>First video published by the Church History Department.</small>
{{SummaryItem
|V=<embedvideo service="youtube">mnMnXnijgZ8</embedvideo>
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1832
|V1=<embedvideo service="youtube">Psc4v95_Geg</embedvideo>
|subject=1832
|L1=Joseph Smith's various accounts of the First Vision
|summary=Critical analysis of Joseph Smith's 1832 First Vision account
|L2=Joseph Smith's 1832 account of the First Vision
|sublink1=Question: What differences are there between Joseph Smith's 1832 First Vision account and later accounts?
|L3=Joseph Smith's 1835 accounts of the First Vision
}}
|L4=Joseph Smith's 1838 account of the First Vision
 
|L5=Joseph Smith's first and second visitation of angels
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|L6=Joseph Smith's 1832 First Vision account states he was 15 years old
{{SummaryItem
|L7=Discrepancies in Paul's account of his vision
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1835
|subject=1835
|summary=Critical analysis of Joseph Smith's 1835 First Vision account
|sublink1=Question: What are the two 1835 First Vision accounts that refer to angels?
|sublink2=Question: Why does Joseph Smith's 9 November 1835 account of the First Vision mention "many angels?"
|sublink3=Question: Does the use of the capitalized word "Angel" in the 14 November 1835 account refer to Diety?
|sublink4=Question: Does the 14 November 1835 account reference to the "first vision of Angels" mean that Joseph Smith did not see Diety?
|sublink5=Question: Was the ''History of the Church'' falsified when "first visitation of Angels" was changed to "my first vision"?
}}
 
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1838
|subject=1838
|summary=Joseph Smith's 1838 First Vision account is analyzed by critics of the Church in order to use it to prove that the First Vision never occurred. A variety of critical arguments are raised based upon the words Joseph used to describe the events leading up to his First Vision. We examine here the introduction to Joseph's 1838 First Vision account, found in the Pearl of Great Price and separate facts from opinion.
|sublink1=Question: What is the date of the Smith family's "removal to Manchester"?
|sublink2=Question: Why did Joseph Smith claim that the religious excitement in the Palmyra area in 1820 "commenced with the Methodists"?
|sublink3=Question: Why does Joseph Smith claim that his family was "proselyted to the Presbyterian faith" in 1820?
|sublink4=Question: What was Joseph Smith referring to when he said that "I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit"?
}}
 
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Criticisms of the First Vision/The first and second visitation of angels
|subject=Joseph Smith's first and second "visitation of angels"
|summary=Joseph Smith referred to the what we now know of as the First Vision as the "first visitation of angels." He referred to Moroni's visit as "another vision of angels."
|sublink1=Question: By what name did Joseph Smith refer to the First Vision?
|sublink2=Question: What is the difference between Joseph Smith's first vision and other reported visions of God at the time?
}}
}}
</onlyinclude>
{{:Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts}}
{{:Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1832}}
{{:Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1835}}
{{:Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1838}}
{{:Joseph Smith's First Vision/Criticisms of the First Vision/The first and second visitation of angels}}
{{:Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1832/Different age provided}}
{{:Joseph Smith's First Vision/Paul's accounts}}


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{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Accounts/1832/Different age provided
|subject=Joseph Smith's 1832 First Vision account states he was 15 years old rather than 14
|summary=In Joseph Smith's 1832 First Vision recital he said that he was "in the 16th year of [his] age" when the manifestation took place but when he created the 1838 account he changed this information to say that he was "in [his] fifteenth year."
|sublink1=Question: Why does Joseph Smith state in his 1832 First Vision account that he was in his "16th year" of age?
|sublink2=Question: Are the ages stated in Joseph's accounts of the First Vision 'all over the place?'
|sublink3=Question: Is there a case where Joseph stated that his age was 17 rather than 14 at the time of the First Vision?
}}
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Paul's accounts
|subject=Discrepancies in Paul's account of his vision
|summary=Paul the apostle gave more than one account of his vision of the resurrected Lord while on the road to Damascus. Like Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision, Paul's accounts differ in some details but agree in the overall message.
|sublink1=Question: How do the accounts of Paul's vision compare to the accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision?
|sublink2=Question: Do Greek scholars solve the discrepancies in Paul's vision accounts?
}}
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Doctrine and Covenants 84 says God not seen without priesthood
|subject=D&C:84 says God cannot be seen without priesthood
|summary=Critics argue that Joseph Smith claimed that he saw God in 1820 and also claimed that he received the priesthood in 1829. But in a text which he produced in 1832 ({{S||DC|84|21-22}}) it is said that a person cannot see God without holding the priesthood. Therefore, it is claimed that Joseph Smith contradicted himself and this counts as evidence against his calling as an authentic prophet of God.
}}
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Were all the churches of the day claimed to be "an abomination"
|subject=Was Joseph Smith told that "all the churches of the day were an abomination?"
|summary=It is claimed that Joseph Smith stated that during the First Vision that he was told that "all the churches of the day were an abomination."
}}
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{{SummaryItem
{{SummaryItem
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|summary=The Prophet's mother—Lucy Mack Smith—wrote a letter in 1831 which seems to indicate that her son's First Vision consisted of seeing an "angel" instead of Deity. Critics suggest that this demonstrates that the Prophet's story evolved over time and that his claim to have seen God was a relatively late addition to his story.
|summary=The Prophet's mother—Lucy Mack Smith—wrote a letter in 1831 which seems to indicate that her son's First Vision consisted of seeing an "angel" instead of Deity. Critics suggest that this demonstrates that the Prophet's story evolved over time and that his claim to have seen God was a relatively late addition to his story.
}}
}}
</onlyinclude>


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[[de:Joseph Smiths Erste Vision/Kritik]]
[[es:La Primera Visión de José Smith/Las críticas a la Primera Visión]]
[[es:La Primera Visión de José Smith/Las críticas a la Primera Visión]]
[[pt:A Primeira Visão/As críticas da Primeira Visão]]
[[pt:A Primeira Visão/As críticas da Primeira Visão]]

Latest revision as of 20:31, 13 April 2024


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Historians have published and discussed the various accounts of Joseph Smith's first vision for decades.

First video published by the Church History Department.

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Joseph Smith's 1835 accounts of the First Vision


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Joseph Smith's 1835 First Vision accounts both mention "Angels"


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Question: Was the History of the Church falsified when "first visitation of Angels" was changed to "my first vision"?

Joseph's 14 November 1835 diary entry morphs as it is copied into subsequent records

The 14 November 1835 First Vision diary reference is connected with an interview that the Prophet conducted with an investigator named Erastus Holmes. Notice that the diary entry morphs as it is copied into subsequent records.

  • "I commenced and gave him a brief relation of my experience while in my juvenile years, say from 6 years old up to the time I received the first visitation of Angels which was when I was about 14. years old and also the the visitations that I received afterward, concerning the book of Mormon, and a short account of the rise and progress of the church, up to this, date" (Joseph Smith diary, 14 November 1835, pp. 36-37).
  • "He (Smith) commenced and gave him a brief relation of his experience while in his youthful days, say from the age of six years up to the time he received the first visitation of Angels which was when he was about 14 years old. He also gave him an account of the revelations he had afterward received concerning the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and a succinct account of the rise and progress of the church up to this date" (“History, 1834–1836,” Book A-1, p. 129).
  • "I gave him a brief relation of my experience while in my juvenile years, say from six years old up to the time I received the first visitation of angels, which was when I was about fourteen years old; also the revelations that I received afterwards concerning the Book of Mormon, and a short account of the rise and progress of the church up to this date" (Deseret News, vol. 2, no. 15, 29 May 1852).
  • "I gave him a brief relation of my experience while in my juvenile years, say from six years old up to the time I received the first visitation of angels, which was when I was about fourteen years old; also the revelations that I received afterwards concerning the Book of Mormon, and a short account of the rise and progress of the church up to this date" (Millennial Star, vol. 15, no. 27, 2 July 1853, 424 - from the Deseret News).
  • "I gave him a brief relation of my experience while in my juvenile years, say from six years old up to the time I received my first vision, which was when I was about fourteen years old; also the revelations that I received afterwards concerning the Book of Mormon, and a short account of the rise and progress of the Church up to this date" (History of the Church, 2:312; written between 1902-1912).

It was B.H. Roberts that modified the diary entry in History of the Church

If the editor of the seven History of the Church volumes (Brigham H. Roberts) was not drawing information directly from the original Joseph Smith diary then he may have felt that a previous editor had made an error in description - and took it upon himself to correct it. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word falsify as "to make false by mutilation or addition." Since the Prophet's 14 November 1835 diary entry does indeed refer to his "first visitation of Angels" (which took place during the First Vision) the anti-Mormon characterization cannot be applied to Elder Roberts' editorial clarification in any legitimate sense.


Source(s) of the criticism
Critical sources
  1. REDIRECT Plural marriage/Did early Church leaders speak of plural marriage difficulties/Further Reading

Joseph Smith's first and second visitation of angels


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Source(s) of the criticism
Critical sources

Discrepancies in Paul's account of his vision


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A "mormoninfographic" erroneously indicates that the words "God the Father" and "Jesus Christ" appear in Joseph's 1838 account.

Summary: An anti-Mormon "infographic" erroneously indicates that the words "God the Father" and "Jesus Christ" appear in Joseph's 1838 account, however, Joseph only refers to them as "personages." The link between the Father and the Son is only implied by the words spoken by the Father: "This is my beloved Son."

A "mormoninfographic" states that "pillar of fire" is not mentioned in Joseph's 1832 account.

Summary: An anti-Mormon "infographic" claims that Joseph Smith's 1832 account neglects to mention a "pillar of fire."

A "mormoninfographic" indicates that the 1835 "Erastus Holmes" account describes a different vision.

Summary: An anti-Mormon "infographic" indicates that the 1835 "Erastus Holmes" account describes a different vision. This short summary account of the "first visitation of angels" was written in Joseph's journal only five days after he described seeing two "personages" and "many angels."

Prophet's mother said First Vision was of an "angel"

Summary: The Prophet's mother—Lucy Mack Smith—wrote a letter in 1831 which seems to indicate that her son's First Vision consisted of seeing an "angel" instead of Deity. Critics suggest that this demonstrates that the Prophet's story evolved over time and that his claim to have seen God was a relatively late addition to his story.
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