Multiple accounts of the First Vision

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Questions

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Joseph Smith gave several accounts of the First Vision. Critics charge that differences in the accounts show that he changed and embellished his story over time, and that he therefore had no such vision.

To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]

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Answer

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Critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often seek to point out differences between the various accounts which Joseph Smith gave of his First Vision. In defense of their position that the Prophet changed his story over a six year period (1832 to 1838) they claim that the earliest followers of Joseph Smith either didn’t know about the First Vision, or seem to have been confused about it. The Church, however, has discussed the various accounts in a number of publications. Joseph Smith's various accounts of the First Vision were targeted at different audiences, and had different purposes. They, however, show a remarkable degree of harmony between them. There is no evidence that the early leaders of the LDS Church did not understand that the Prophet saw two Divine Personages during his inaugural theophany.

Church sources discussing the First Vision accounts

• LDS.org: The Church has a description of four of the First Vision accounts located on lds.org.
  Accounts of the First Vision
• January 1985 Ensign: On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820. Possibly he penned or dictated other histories of the First Vision; if so, they have not been located. The four surviving recitals of this theophany were prepared or rendered through different scribes, at different times, from a different perspective, for different purposes and to different audiences. It is not surprising, therefore, that each of them emphasizes different aspects of his experience.
  —Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Joseph Smith's Recitals of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1985): 8.
• April 1970 Improvement Era: Here printed for the first time is a report on eight different accounts of the First Vision.
  Dr. James B. Allen, "Eight Contemporary Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision - What Do We Learn from Them?", Improvement Era, April 1970, 4-13. off-site

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Sub-articles

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"Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store." - Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.

Church response

Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience—an answer to a specific question. Over time, however, illuminated by additional experience and instruction, it became the founding revelation of the Restoration.
—“Joseph Smith: An Apostle of Jesus Christ,” Dennis B. Neuenschwander, Ensign, Jan 2009, 16–22 off-site

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.
—“God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

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Topics

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Censorship and revision of LDS History: The First Vision?

Summary: Critics charge that the existence of multiple accounts of the First Vision have been suppressed or hidden.

One personage?

Summary: Did Joseph Smith claim to see only one Personage in his 1832 vision account?

Different age?

Summary: Did Joseph give a different age in the 1832 account?

Revivals in 1820?

Summary: Did Joseph's 1832 account not mention any religious revivals in his area?

Motivation for praying

Summary: Was Joseph's motivation in the 1832 account different than later accounts?

New dispensation

Summary: Was the idea of a new dispensation a later addition to Joseph's account?

Forbidden to join

Summary: Did Joseph really not mention being forbidden to join other churches in 1832?

Persecution

Summary: Was persecution for his vision absent in Joseph's 1832 account?

Struggle with Satan

Summary: Why isn't the Prophet's struggle with Satan in the 1832 account?

Destruction of wicked

Summary: Why does the 1832 account mention destruction of the wicked but the 1838 account doesn't?

Heaven or earth?

Summary: Is the 1832 vision set in heaven or on the earth?

Eternal life

Summary: Does the 1832 account say that eternal life is given to everyone regardless of church affiliation?

Angels

Summary: The 1835 account mentions "Angels"

[[../Smith family place of residence in 1820|Removal to Manchester]]

Summary: Where was the Smith family living in the second year after their "removal to Manchester?"

[[../Methodist camp meetings|Commenced with the Methodists]]

Summary: Joseph said that the religious excitement "commenced with the Methodists"

[[../Lucy Mack Smith and the Presbyterians|Joseph's family joining Presbyterians]]

Summary: When was Joseph's family "proselyted to the Presbyterian faith?"

Leadership crisis?

Summary: Did Joseph create the 1838 account to offset a leadership crisis?

George Q. Cannon referred to angels

Summary: Did George Q. Cannon claim Joseph only had the ministering of angels?

Oliver Cowdery's 1834 account of the First Vision/Moroni's visit

Summary: Was Oliver Cowdery unaware of the First Vision as late as 1834–1835?

Orson Hyde referred to angels

Summary: Did Orson Hyde really claim Joseph only had the ministering of angels?

Personage as an angel

Summary: Did Andrew Jenson call Joseph's heavenly visitor "an angel," rather than God?

Kimball denial?

Summary: Did Heber C. Kimball really deny that the Father appeared to Joseph?

Pratt calls personage an angel

Summary: Was Orson Pratt confused about who appeared at the First vision?

God only appeared?

Summary: Did Parley P. Pratt only mention the appearance of God?

George A. Smith unaware?

Summary: Was George A. Smith unaware of the visit of the Father and the Son?

Lucy Mack Smith mentions an angel

Summary: Did Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's mother, refer to "an angel," rather than God?

William Smith mentions and angel

Summary: Where did William Smith get the idea that an "angel" appeared?

Orson Spencer mentions an angel

Summary: Did Orson Spencer say that the Prophet's first manifestation was of an "angel"?

John Taylor's understanding of the First Vision

Summary: Did John Taylor teach that Joseph Smith saw only one Deity?

Wilford Woodruff mentions an angel

Summary: Did Wilford Woodruff speak of an "angel" appearing during the First Vision?

Brigham Young's understanding of the First Vision

Summary: Did Brigham Young really never mention the First Vision in his lifetime of preaching?

Brigham said the the Lord "didn't appear?"

Summary: Did Brigham Young claim only an angel appeared?

== Notes ==