First Vision
First Vision
A Closer Look
Four First Vision Accounts
There are at least 4 different first vision accounts by Joseph Smith, which the Church admits in its November 2013 First Vision Accounts essay:
CES Letter, Page 33
CES Letter Core Question
Why don't all of the accounts contain the same details?
The CES Letter doesn't directly ask the above question but does imply that it's a sign of fraud that details found in one account might not be found in another.
Let's do a little exercise. Think back to one of the more important days of your life. It could be a graduation, wedding, birth of a child, or anything. Did you share the details of that story with others? If so, did you share the exact same details every time or did you share different details? Perhaps you focused on a certain detail because you thought the person you were sharing it with might appreciate that detail. It's common to focus on different elements when retelling an experience.
1832 Account
1835 Account
1838 Account
1842 Account
Four Different Accounts
In the only handwritten account by Joseph Smith, penned in 1832, but not publicly published until much later, describes the first vision in an unfamiliar way:
...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...
- No mention of two beings.
- 12 years after the vision happened.
- Age is 15-years-old (“16th year of my age”), not 14-years-old.
- No reference to asking the question about which church he should join.
- No description of being attacked by Satan
CES Letter, Page 33
CES Letter Core Question
In certain cases the 1832 and 1838 account appear to contradict each other. Is this a sign of fabrication?
No Mention of 2 Beings
Joseph only mentions the "Lord" as having appeared in the 1832 account. The LDS Gospel topics essay addresses this:
A basic harmony in the narrative across time must be acknowledged at the outset: three of the four accounts clearly state that two personages appeared to Joseph Smith in the First Vision. . . the 1832 account does not say that only one being appeared. Note that the two references to “Lord” are separated in time: first “the Lord” opens the heavens; then Joseph Smith sees “the Lord.” This reading of the account is consistent with Joseph’s 1835 account, which has one personage appearing first, followed by another soon afterwards. The 1832 account, then, can reasonably be read to mean that Joseph Smith saw one being who then revealed another and that he referred to both of them as “the Lord”: “the Lord opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord."
12 years after the vision happened
There are no documents pertaining to Joseph Smith between 1832 and 1827 (see Larry Morris) and very few until 1829. In 1832 is when we see an explosion of documents. The 1832 account is Joseph's first journal and it includes this experience. Joseph preferred the use of scribes likely due to his lack of education. One gets a feel of his lack of education by seeing his own writing in the 1832 account. Joseph wrote, "we were deprived of the bennifit of an education suffice it to say I was mearly instructid in reading and writing and the ground rules of Arithmatic which constuted my whole literary acquirements."
Age is 15-years-old ("16th year of my age"), not 14-years-old
In three of the accounts, Joseph said (or was reported to have said that he was "about fourteen years old" when he had the First Vision. While the 1832 account is in Joseph's handwriting, it was Fredrick G. Williams who inserted the phrase "in the 16th year of my age" (that is, fifteen years old). It's entirely possible Joseph's dating was slightly off when preparing his 1832 account twelve years after the event. There is nothing nefarious in correcting a slight miscalculation in the subsequent versions.
No reference to asking the question about which church he should join
The Lord tells Joseph in the 1832 account that the world had "turned aside from the gospel" and then cites Isaiah 29:3 in both the 1832 and 1838 account saying that the people "draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me." The Lord is conveying the same message here.
No description of being attacked by Satan
The struggle with the adversary is also absent from the 1842 Wentworth Letter account. Much like when we retell stories, this is another example of where the prophet didn't feel the need to include every detail in every account.
Contradictions
CES Letter Core Question
In certain cases the 1832 and 1838 account appear to contradict each other. Is this a sign of fabrication?
In the 1832 account , Joseph wrote that before praying he knew there was no true or living faith or denomination upon the earth as built by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. His primary purpose in going to prayer was to seek forgiveness for his sins.
...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 was built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ...
In the official 1838 account , however, Joseph wrote:
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).
This is in direct contradiction to his 1832 first vision account.
CES Letter, Page 33
Prior to the sacred grove Joseph listened to the various arguments, studied the scriptures, formulated his own opinions, and and sought answers. Joseph entered the grove in confusion with with hunch that mankind had "apostatized" (1832 account) and he left the grove with a revelation that "entered into the heart" (1838 account) that he should join none of the denominations. John Tvedtnes provided the following insight about these two descriptions: "I see no real contradiction between Joseph Smith believing, when he went to pray, that he should join none of the churches, and the Lord confirming that thought by revelation. After all, he went into the woods to get an answer. If his mind was already made up and he merely needed confirmation, this fits the pattern described in D&C 9:8, where the Lord said, “you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right.” The point of the official published version of Joseph Smith’s story is that he received a revelation on the issue. But even that version does not preclude the idea that he had already determined the answer and needed confirmation."
Joseph's Study and Doubt About Which Church to Join
Prior to entering the grove Joseph was in "intimate acquaintance with those different denominations." (1832 account) He listened closely to the debates between the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists (1838 account) and felt conflicted about which church to join. "In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? who of all of these parties are right or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?" (1838 account)
Joseph searched the scriptures as he struggled to know what faith to join. "While laboring under extreme difficulties caused by the different parties of religionists, I was reading the Epistle of James."
Through his "intimate acquaintance" (1832) of the local religions Joseph had a hunch that he shouldn't join any of the churches. "By studying the scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord but had apostatized." (1832) Still, Joseph wasn't certain and sought further answers. An 1832 newspaper, the Fredonia Censor said Joseph had "not attached himself to any party of Christians, owing to the numerous divisions among them, and being in doubt what his duty was, he had to recourse [to] prayer." Joseph wrote in his 1835 journal, "I knew not who was right or wrong and considered it the first importance that I should be right, in matters that involve eternal consequences." Oliver Cowdery said in 1835 that Joseph had the "determination to know for himself of the certainty and reality of pure and holy religion."
The Sacred Grove - A Revelation
The sacred grove is where the Lord gave Joseph a clear answer through revelation. Joseph said of the experience, "it never had entered into my heart that all were wrong." Note the phrase 'entered into my heart.' Joseph uses this language elsewhere to refer to revelation. The Lord will tell us in our "heart and mind" by the "spirit of revelation" (D&C 8:2-3). In the 1838 account the James passage struck him as if a revelation with "more power to the heart of man." This was the answer Joseph had been looking for.
1838 Account Differences
Historians in all fields of study regularly encounter documents that disagree on certain points. Historian Larry E. Morris wrote a book on Lewis and Clark and described this challenge. Morris related how John Colter went hunting on September 23, 1804 and, despite there being four accounts written the next day, they all gave different accounts on what he killed. Morris said, "of the four accounts they're all different. The one thing they agree on is that he killed at least two elk... to me that's a good feel of what historians deal with. Even when you have people recording it on the date it really happened you have interesting differences" Morris added.
Similarly, John Tvedtnes described the varying accounts of Paul's First Vision. "We have several accounts of what happened to Paul in three books of the New Testament. Not surprisingly, these accounts are at variance one with another. Indeed, there are fewer differences between the various accounts of Joseph Smith’s first vision than between the five different accounts of Paul’s first vision and his trip to Damascus."
Interestingly, Joseph contradicted himself in the 1838 account. In verse 12 he asked "are they all wrong together?" and in verse 20, while speaking to the Lord, he said "it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong." Thus, one needs to look at the other accounts to get an overall theme. One of the common themes was that Joseph felt confusion before entering the grove.
Late Appearance
CES Letter Core Question
There is absolutely no record of the "first vision" prior to this 1832 account. Why is this?
No one - including Joseph Smith’s family members and the Saints – had ever heard about the first vision from twelve to twenty-two years after it supposedly occurred. The first and earliest written account of the first vision in Joseph Smith’s journal was 12 years after the spring of 1820. There is absolutely no record of any claimed “first vision” prior to this 1832 account.
CES Letter, Page 34
CES Letter Argument From Silence (Logical Fallacy)
This is an argument from silence, a logical fallacy. Just because there isn't any documentation of the first vision prior to 1832 doesn't mean it didn't happen. Nor does it mean that it was never discussed. Joseph's 1832 journal is his very first journal and he included his first vision in that journal. The above point would be more meaningful had he been keeping an extended journal over a long period of time and neglected to include anything about this.
Joseph's Reluctance to Share the Experience Widely
Additionally, Joseph may have been reticent to share his experience much. He was a young boy when the experience happened. In his 1838 history Joseph describes how he returned home after the first vision "and as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, “Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I then said to my mother, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.” (JSH 1:20) That was an excellent opportunity for Joseph to share the most monumental experience of his life. Instead he appeared shy.
Eventually Joseph mustered up the courage to share the experience Joseph said, "I was greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days." (JSH 1:21). From then on Joseph said, "I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true;" (JSH 1:25)
1832 "Watershed" Year for Record Keeping
“The year Joseph began his first journal was a watershed one for early Mormon record-keeping. In addition to beginning a journal in 1832, Joseph also produced his first narrative history, in which he gave an account of his First Vision and of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. That same year, clerks began keeping minute books, to record deliberations and decisions of Church councils, as well as a letter book, to keep copies of the prophet’s outgoing and incoming correspondence. If Joseph was not the most accomplished journal-keeper from 1832 to 1834, he was nevertheless the driving force behind an impressive effort to keep a broad set of records documenting both his activities and those of the young Church.”
- LDS.org, Joseph Smith's First Journal
CES Letter Core Question
Despite the emphasis placed on it now, the first vision does not appear to have been widely taught to members of the Church until the 1840s. Why is this?
Despite the emphasis placed on it now, the first vision does not appear to have been widely taught to members of the Church until the 1840s, more than a decade after the Church was founded, and 20 years after it allegedly occurred.
James B. Allen, former BYU Professor and Assistant Church Historian explains :
There is little if any evidence, however, that by the early 1830’s Joseph Smith was telling the story in public. At least if he were telling it, no one seemed to consider it important enough to have recorded it at the time, and no one was criticizing him for it. Not even in his own history did Joseph Smith mention being criticized in this period for telling the story of the first vision...The fact that none of the available contemporary writings about Joseph Smith in the 1830’s, none of the publications of the Church in that decade, and no contemporary journal or correspondence yet discovered mentions the story of the first vision is convincing evidence that at best it received only limited circulation in those early days'
CES Letter, Page 34
Historian D. Michael Quinn provides additional reason why Joseph and the church may have waited to share his experience more broadly.
"Critics tend to overlook the fact that non-Mormon newspapers reported in 1829-31 that Smith had seen God and that he had even had recorded a version of his experience as early as 1832. His delay until 1842 in publishing the account of the first vision echos the actions of Protestant ministers of his time who waited decades to describe their personal visions of deity. Joseph Smith's first vision became a missionary tool only after Americans grew to regard converse with God as unusual."
- Mormon Hierarchy, Origins of Power. Ch. 1
Other Problems
Who appeared to Joseph?
- Who appears to him? Depending upon the account, a spirit, an angel, two angels, Jesus, many angels or the Father and the Son appear to him – are all over the place.
CES Letter, Pages 34-35
Joseph's First Vision accounts are remarkably consistent. Of the core four accounts, only the 1835 account mentions seeing "many angels" in addition to the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
How old was Joseph when he had the Vision?
- The dates/his ages: The 1832 account states Joseph was 15-years-old while the other accounts state he was 14-years-old when he had the vision.
CES Letter, Pages 34-35
This is answered above under section #1. More details coming from Foundational Texts of Mormonism page 380 where Ronald O. Barney addresses this. "Smith would be superhuman if his memory remained constant and undeviating year after year."
What was his reason for praying?
- The reason or motive for seeking divine help – Bible reading and conviction of sins, a revival, a desire to know if God exists, wanting to know which church to join – are not reported the same in each account.
CES Letter, Pages 34-35
Much like all of us, Joseph apparently had numerous things he was praying about. He wanted to know which church to join and how to have his sins forgiven, both related concerns.
Was there an 1820 revival in Palmyra?
- Contrary to Joseph’s account, the historical record shows that there was no revival in Palmyra, New York in 1820. [FairMormon concedes](https://cesletter.org/first-vision/10):
While these revivals did not occur in Palmyra itself, their mention in the local newspaper would have given Joseph Smith the sense that there was substantial revival activity in the region.
There was one in 1817 and there was another in 1824. There are records from his brother, William Smith, and his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, both stating that the family joined Presbyterianism after Alvin’s death 11 in November 1823 despite Joseph Smith claiming in the official 1838 account 12 that they joined in 1820 (3 years before Alvin Smith’s death).
CES Letter, Pages 34-35
An engraving of a Methodist camp meeting in 1819 (Library of Congress)
dAccording to Historian D. Michael Quinn, small newspapers of this era rarely reported on local events. See his full quote below:
"There is a reasonable explanation for the lack of local reference to religious revivals in or near Palmyra, and for why the village newspaper ignored the “camp-meeting” of June 1820 until someone died. Aside from paid advertisements, it was unusual for small newspapers of this era to report local events.
In his book about New York State’s village newspapers, Milton W. Hamilton explained more than forty years ago that “the editor’s definition of his function included neither the purveying of neighborhood gossip nor the describing of outstanding happenings in the immediate vicinity.” Why? Because small-town editors assumed that local residents would not “pay for information which they could secure by word of mouth from their neighbors.”
According to Hamilton, not until 1827 did a village newspaper start to regularly include local events, an editorial practice that took years to become common in rural newspapers of New York State.
. . . Since Palmyra’s editors did not regard a local camp-meeting of ten thousand participants as newsworthy in 1826, it is reasonable to conclude that the previous editor of the village newspaper likewise ignored an attendance of at least a thousand at Palmyra’s forest-revival in 1820.
Source: D Michael Quinn, Joseph Smith’s Experience Of A Methodist “Camp-Meeting” In 1820
Possible Conflated Memories
Additionally, it's possible Joseph conflated memories from the various events that occurred around that time. Quinn's article highlights numerous examples of this happening in 19th century America.
As a historian who has analyzed original narratives and revised documents that anachronistically changed Mormon developments, I have another perspective about the fact (and it is a fact) that Smith’s official narrative about 1820 included circumstances which occurred during Palmyra’s revivals of 1824-25. Merging (conflating) circumstances from similar events that happened years apart will certainly confuse the historical record and will perplex anyone trying to sort out basic chronology. Nonetheless, conflation of actual circumstances from separate events is not the same as fraudulent invention of events that never occurred. Conflation also is not the combination of an actual event with a fictional event. Instead, it is very common for memoirs and autobiographies to merge similar events that actually occurred, due to the narrator’s memory lapses or her/his intentional streamlining of the narrative to avoid repeating similar occurrences."
Source: D Michael Quinn, Joseph Smith’s Experience Of A Methodist “Camp-Meeting” In 1820
Further Details
Clearly the Methodists in the vicinity of Palmyra were holding “camp-ground” meetings. Since they did not have a chapel yet, they would meet in the woods on Vienna Road. These articles from the Palmyra Register refer to such meetings.
These “camp-ground” meetings were not otherwise advertised in the Palmyra Register, but were mentioned only because a death occurred at one of them. This demonstrates that religious meetings did occur that were not publicized and otherwise documented in the historical record.
It is impossible to prove something did not happen. The lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.
Pomeroy Tucker (an anti-Mormon writer) stated that “protracted revival meetings were customary in some of the churches, and Smith frequented those of different denominations…”
Larger religious “revival” activity is documented in the Palmyra area in 1817-1818 and 1824-1825.
Joseph Smith never used the term "revival" in his descriptions, rather saying there was "an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists." To a 14 year old who had been concerned about religion starting at age 12 after the 1817 revival, the ongoing camp meetings in the town where he lived would certainly have qualified as "unusual excitement on the subject of religion."
If the 1838 account mixed some historical details from the 1817-1818 revival with the circumstances surrounding the 1820 First Vision prayer, it would not be evidence of deception or a fabrication of the narrative. It would be a small discrepancy in Joseph’s memory, not unexpected in light of all the details that are consistently recounted.
Critics seem to focus on this point but it is not a strong argument against the validity of the First Vision accounts. If Joseph fabricated the whole story, memory lapses would be unexpected.
Emphasis upon this point by those hostile to Joseph Smith demonstrates an overall weakness in their argumentation. If they had more convincing evidence supporting their allegations, they would likely be focusing there rather than upon this small issue.
Trinitarian View?
- Why did Joseph hold a Trinitarian view of the Godhead, as shown previously with the Book of Mormon, if he clearly saw that the Father and Son were separate embodied beings in the official first vision?
CES Letter, Pages 34-35
This is incorrect. This is addressed in the Book of Mormon section. There are numerous scriptures and and statements by Joseph indicating he didn't hold a Trinitarian view.
Conclusion
As with the rock in the hat story, I did not know there are multiple first vision accounts. I did not know of their contradictions or that the Church members did not know about a first vision until 12-22 years after it supposedly happened. I was unaware of these omissions in the mission field, as I was never taught or trained in the Missionary Training Center to teach investigators these facts.
CES Letter, Pages 34-35