🕶 First Vision¶
Estimated time to read: 15 minutes
Our whole strength rests on the validity of that [first] vision. It either occurred or it did not occur. If it did not, then this work is a fraud. If it did, then it is the most important and wonderful work under the heavens.
— The Marvelous Foundation of our Faith, President Gordon B. Hinckley, General Conference October 2002
🤔
Account discrepancies¶
There's a Gospel Topics Essay on this! It clearly makes the claim that the First Vision happened in Spring of 1820. Sounds awfully familiar to the verbiage I had to memorize and recite verbatim on my mission. Saw both God and Jesus, other churches are wrong, and "many other things" which cannot be written.
Timeline of Accounts¶
1830¶
The LDS church is formally established in 1830. (“Revelation, 6 April 1830 [D&C 21],” p. 28, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed December 8, 2022)
Prior to this point, there has been no record or mention of the First Vision.
1832¶
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/first-vision-accounts/1832-account?lang=eng
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-summer-1832/1
Summer of 1832 is the first recorded mention of the first vision. Cannot understate how this was written TWELVE YEARS AFTER it reportedly happened.
Excerpt:
… my mind become exceedingly distressed for I become convicted of my sins and by searching the scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatized from the true and living faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament and I felt to mourn for my own sins and for the sins of the world.
This excerpt is notorious in this case, because this is the first written account of the first vision… before even getting to the sacred grove or praying, JS has already decided that no church was true.
… and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in the attitude of calling upon the Lord in the 16th year of my age a piller of fire light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the Lord opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph my son thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy way walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life…
This version says The Lord appeared, and said Joseph’s sins were forgiven.
- No mention of being attacked by Satan
- No mention of being called to be a prophet and restore the church
- No mention of which church to join
Joseph says his intent was to seek forgiveness of his own sins and to come to peace with the sins of the world.
1835¶
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/first-vision-accounts/1835-account?lang=eng
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/25
I called upon the Lord for the first time, in the place above stated or in other words I made a fruitless attempt to pray, my toung seemed to be swolen in my mouth, so that I could not utter. I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards me, I strove again to pray, but could not, the noise of walking seemed to draw nearer, I sprung up on my feet, and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking, I kneeled again my mouth was opened and my toung liberated, and I called on the Lord in mighty prayer…
It wasn’t Satan?
… I called on the Lord in mighty prayer, a pillar of fire appeared above my head, it presently rested down upon my head, and filled me with joy unspeakable, a personage appeard in the midst, of this pillar of flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed, another personage soon appeard like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testifyed unto me that Jesus Christ is the son of God; and I saw many angels in this vision. I was about 14 years old when I received this first communication.
Two figures. One testifies of Jesus Christ. Neither are explicitly identified as being God or Jesus. Did see “many angels” though. Moreover, nothing about prophetic callings, other churches being wrong, mention of golden plates...
1838¶
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng&id=5-20#p5
The officially sanctioned version, the one I was drilled on in the mission field, the one in Preach My Gospel.
Can’t understate the 18 year gap since 1820.
1842¶
Vision of two people, saying no church is true, but the fulness will be made known to you sometime soon.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/accounts-of-the-first-vision
And this doesn’t seem to bother the members?
Problems¶
Intent¶
1832¶
Joseph wrote that, before praying, he already knew there was no true, living faith or denomination as build by Jesus in the New Testament. But, the explicitly stated purpose in praying was to seek forgiveness. Nothing to do with James 1:5.
JS wasn’t even asking about which church to join.
… by searching the scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatised from the true and liveing faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament.
1838¶
My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join"..."(for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)
They can’t both be right. They’re in direct contradiction to each other. Which is right?
Time gap¶
The first recorded version was TWELVE YEARS after the fact. This is a problem. This problem is compounded by the idea that no documents prior to 1832 demonstrate that JS had preached or shared this message.
Even without the church being founded, the 10 year gap between 1820 and 1930 has no indication that it ever happened. No contemporary periodicals in the 1820s or 1830s mention Joseph Smith. None of the publications in that decade, and no journal nor correspondence from that time mentions the First Vision.
In 1833 the Church published the Book of Commandments, a predecessor to the Doctrine and Covenants. The first printing of the Book of Commandments also contained the Lectures on Faith, a series of seven lectures outlining the doctrine and theology of the Church up to that point; no reference was made of the First Vision. The first periodical to be published by the Church was The Evening and Morning Star, but it never tells the story of the First Vision. Nor do the pages of the Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate, printed in Kirtland. In this newspaper Oliver Cowdery, who was second only to Joseph Smith in the early organization of the Church, published a series of letters dealing with the origin of the Church. These letters were written with the approval of Joseph Smith, but again, they contained no mention of any vision.
The story of the First Vision was not printed until 1840, when Orson Pratt published an account where neither personage is identified at Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ.
To me, this is incredibly problematic. For two years, at the MTC and in the mission field, we were drilled on reciting the 1838 version verbatim, because all of the church’s claims relied on this event happening. That’s how it was framed. For the church to exist for some span of time between two and eight years, and no one has heard of the first vision (see below), makes me think it didn’t happen.
Whitewashing¶
Joseph Smith published two accounts of the First Vision during his lifetime. The first of these, known today as Joseph Smith—History, was canonized in the Pearl of Great Price and thus became the most well-known account. While the 1832 account emphasizes the more personal story of Joseph as a young man seeking forgiveness, the Pearl of Great Price account focuses on the vision as the beginning of “the rise and progress of [t]he Church” (Joseph Smith—History 1:1). Like the 1835 account, the central question of the narrative is “Which church is right?”
??? Everything in that paragraph is provably wrong?
Later church leaders¶
The Lord did not come with the armies of heaven, in power and great glory, nor send His messengers panoplied with aught else than the truth of heaven, to communicate to the meek, the lowly, the youth of humble origin, the sincere enquirer after the knowledge of God. But He did send His angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith jun., who afterwards became a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and informed him that he should not join any of the religious sects of the day, for they were all wrong; that they were following the precepts of men instead of the Lord Jesus; that He had a work for him to perform, inasmuch as he should prove faithful before Him.
— Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2:171
Do you suppose that God in person called upon Joseph Smith, our Prophet? God called upon him; but God did not come himself and call, but he sent Peter to do it. Do you not see? He sent Peter and sent Moroni to Joseph, and told him that he had got the plates. Did God come himself? No: he sent Moroni and told him there was a record, and says he, “That record is matter that pertains to the Lamanites, and it tells when their fathers came out of Jerusalem, and how they came, and all about it;”
— Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 6:29
We are the people of God; we are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the foundation of which, in these last days, was begun by the Almighty sending an holy angel to Joseph Smith to reveal to him his will and establish the everlasting Gospel that was preached in the days of Jesus[.] . . .
— Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 7:18
Gospel of Jesus Christ which has been revealed in our day, by the administering of holy angels, in all its fulness, beauty, power, and glory.
That same organization and Gospel that Christ died for, and the Apostles spilled their blood to vindicate, is again established in this generation. How did it come? By the ministering of an holy angel from God, out of heaven, who held converse with man…
The angel taught Joseph Smith those principles which are necessary for the salvation of the world;
Wherever the words of the Gospel, which the angel revealed to him, were preached among the children of men, it had its effect.
— Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 2:191 (isolated excerpts; see document for fuller context)
[Joseph Smith] had read the Bible and had found that passage in James which says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not,” and taking this literally, he went humbly before the Lord and inquired of Him, and the Lord answered his prayer, and revealed to Joseph, by the ministration of angels, the true condition of the religious world. When the holy angel appeared, Joseph inquired which of all these denominations was right and which he should join, and was told they were all wrong—they had all gone astray, transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant, and that the Lord was about to restore the priesthood and establish His Church, which would be the only true and living Church on the face of the whole earth.
— George Albert Smith Journal of Discourses 12:334
Similar accounts¶
What relevance do other claims have, here?
If JS seeing God and Jesus is a deciding factor, then any of these other accounts are equally plausible inciting incidents for the restored gospel. I had been led to believe that JS’ account was unique (both to himself, excluding other accounts; and to others, meaning God only appeared to JS). Imagine my surprise to find out that circumstantial evidence looks like JS jumping on a bandwagon.
Were these other recipients of a divine vision or visitation called of God to be a prophet? Were they just not up to the task? Were they also foreordained, and named after their father?
Norris Stearns¶
Norris Stearns published his own vision in Greenfield, Massachusetts in 1815; not far from where the Joseph Smith Senior family lived in Vermont.
“At length, as I lay apparently upon the brink of eternal woe, seeing nothing but death before me, suddenly there came a sweet flow of the love of God to my soul, which gradually increased. At the same time, there appeared a small gleam of light in the room, above the brightness of the sun, then at his meridian, which grew brighter and brighter… At length, being in an ecstasy of joy, I turned to the other side of the bed, (whether in the body or out I cannot tell, God knoweth) there I saw two spirits which I knew at the first sight. But if I had the tongue of an Angel I could not describe their glory, for they brought the joys of heaven with them. One was God, my Maker, almost in bodily shape like a man. His face was, as it were a flame of Fire, and his body, as it had been a Pillar and a Cloud. In looking steadfastly to discern features, I could see none, but a small glimpse would appear in some other place. Below him stood Jesus Christ my Redeemer, in perfect shape like a man—His face was not ablaze, but had the countenance of fire, being bright and shining. His Father’s will appeared to be his! All was condescension, peace, and love!”
— The Religious Experience Of Norris Stearns, Norris Stearns, 1815
Elias Smith¶
“I went into the woods ... a light appeared from heaven ... My mind seemed to rise in that light to the throne of God and the Lamb ... The Lamb once slain appeared to my understanding, and while viewing him, I felt such love to him as I never felt to any thing earthly ... It is not possible for me to tell how long I remained in that situation”
(The Life, Conversion, Preaching, Travels, and Sufferings of Elias Smith (1, 2), Elias Smith, 1816)
Asa Wild¶
It seemed as if my mind, though active in its very nature, had lost all its activity, and was struck motionless, as well as into nothing, before the awful and glorious majesty of the Great Jehovah. He then spake to the following purport; and in such a mannor as I could not describe if I should attempt.
He told me that all the most dreadful and terrible judgments spoken of in the blessed scriptures, were to be executed within that time; that more than two thirds of the inhabitants of the world would be destroyed by these judgments
He also told me, that every denomination of professing christians had become extremely corrupt; many of which had never had any true faith at all; but are guided only by depraved reason, refusing the teaching of that Spirit which indited the scriptures, and which alone can teach us the true meaning of the same
https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-prognostication-of-asa-wild/
https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/viewFile/6482/6131
(Both of those links are from BYU’s library. The former link works, but the latter redirects due to a domain change.)
Billy Hubbard¶
“…when I came to the place of prayer, had kneeled down and closed my eyes, with my hands uplifted toward the heavens, I saw Jesus Christ at the right hand of God looking down upon me, and God the Father looking upon him. The look of Jesus on me removed the burden of my sins, while he spoke these words, “Be faithful unto death and this shall be thy place of rest.”
https://archive.org/details/memoirslifeandt00hibbgoog
John S Thompson¶
“I dreamed Christ descended from the firmament, in a glare of brightness, exceeding ten fold the brilliancy of the meridian Sun, and he came to me saying, ‘I commission you to go and tell mankind that I am come; and bid every man to shout victory.”
https://archive.org/details/christianguideto00thom
Solomon Chamberlin¶
“Dissatisfied with the religions he had tried, Chamberlain prayed for further guidance, and in 1816, according to his account, "the Lord revealed to me in a vision of the night an angel," whom Chamberlain asked about the right way. The angel told him that the churches were corrupt and that God would soon raise up an apostolic church. Chamberlain printed up an account of his visions and was still distributing them and looking for the apostolic church when he stopped in Palmyra.”
(John Taylor, Nauvoo Journal, Jan-Sept 1845, BYU Studies 23 no.3, p.45. Referring to A Sketch of the Experience of Solomon Chamberlin, Lyons, New York, 1829) (1, 2, 3)