Revision as of 10:40, 21 September 2013

1. REDIRECTTemplate:Test3

Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: Vagabond Visionaries"

6

Claim

• Did "most" of Joseph Smith's contemporaries consider him "a charlatan from a family of illiterate wanderers; a shiftless trouble-maker—albeit a charismatic and imaginative one—with a penchant for superstitions, storytelling, and decision-making based on the occult traditions of nineteenth century rural folk magic?"

• Nathaniel Lewis cited in *Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, OH, 1834), 267. (Affidavits examined)

• Lazy Joseph Smith?
• The Hurlbut affidavits—Nathaniel Lewis

9-11

Claim

• Did the Smith family eventually give up on any sort of "legitimate" employment to become lazy money-diggers?

• Joseph Capron, cited in *Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, OH, 1834), 260. (Affidavits examined)
• Roswell Nichols, cited in Howe, 257
• Parley Chase, cited in Howe, 248
• Howe, 261
• Richard L. Anderson, ""Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reappraised,"" BYU Studies (Spring 1970), vol. 10, 283-314."

• The "lazy" claims are belied by records from the period.
  • Lazy Smiths?
• The Hurlbut affidavits
• Loaded and prejudicial language
• Presentism
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 24

15

Claim

• Do local newspapers show that no revival occurred in 1820 in the area of Palmyra-Manchester, New York?

• H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters, Inventing Mormonism, 15-41.

• First Vision/Religious revivals in 1820
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 35

15

Claim

• Did Joseph incorporate a documented 1824 revival into his First Vision story?

• Marvin S. Hill, "The First Vision Controversy: A Critique and Reconciliation," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Summer 1982), vol. 15, 31-46.

• First Vision/Lucy Mack Smith and the Presbyterians

15

Claim

• Why does Joseph's 1832 First Vision account state that he was 15 rather than 14 years old?

• No source provided.

• First Vision/Accounts/1832/Different age provided

15

Claim

• Why does Joseph's 1832 account state that he only saw Jesus without mentioning God the Father?

• No source provided.

• First Vision/Accounts/1832/Only one Personage appears
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 30, 337n52

15

Claim

• Was the main message of the 1832 account was the forgiveness of Joseph's sins?

• No source provided.

• First Vision/Accounts/1832/Motivation is different

15

Claim

• Why does the 1832 account omit information about "God condemning Christian churches as corrupt?"

• No source provided.

• First Vision/Accounts/1832/Doesn't forbid joining a church
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 30

16

Claim

• Did LDS leaders only begin teaching that Joseph saw both Jesus and God the Father in the 1870s-80s?

• No source provided.

•  The author's claim is false There are at least 39 published sources mentioning the First Vision which include the phrase "This is my Beloved Son" spanning 1843 to 1863—many of these prior to 1870. See them here: Use of sources: "This is My Beloved Son"

16-17

Claim

• Why did Orson Pratt say that the two personages that appeared to Joseph were angels?

• Orson Pratt, sermon by Orson Pratt, reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, 146-147.

• First Vision/Accounts/Orson Pratt confused about "angel" or Father-Son
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 31

17

Claim

• Why did Church historian Andrew Jenson say that "The angel again forbade Joseph to join any of these churches?"

• Andrew Jenson, Joseph Smith, The Prophet, Jan. 1888, vol. 3, nos. 1-3, p. 355.

• First Vision/Accounts/Andrew Jenson called personage an "angel"
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 31

18

Claim

• Why does John Taylor only call the Father and Son "two glorious personages" in 1850 without mentioning the phrase "this is my beloved son?"

• John Taylor, letter to the Editor of the Interpreter Anglais et Francais, June 25, 1850 cited in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, 191.

• First Vision/Accounts/John Taylor's understanding of the First Vision
• Use of sources: "This is My Beloved Son"

18

Claim

• Did the 1824 revival cause Joseph's mother, sister and two brothers to join the Presbyterian church?

• Wesley Walters, "New Light On Mormon Origins From the Palmyra N.Y. Revival," Evangelical Theological Society (Fall 1967), vol. 10, no. 4, 227-244; Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, (Spring 1969), vol. 4, no 1, 60-81.

• First Vision/Lucy Mack Smith and the Presbyterians

18, 487n62-63 (PB)

Claim

• Did the 1824 revival actually cause Joseph to join a Baptist church? Wasn't this contrary to his instructions in the First Vision?
• Joseph is also claimed to have become an "exhorter" for the Methodists after his First Vision.

• Fayette Lapham cited in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1 458.
• Orasmus Turner, Lockport Daily Courier, May 5, 1854.; Orsamus Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase.

• First Vision/Joseph Smith joined other churches
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 35, 342n78, 348n130

18

Claim

• Why did no publications from the Palmyra or Manchester areas in the 1830s mention Joseph's vision?

• Persuitte, p. 21.

• First Vision/No reference to First Vision in 1830s publications
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 34

22, 490 n.78 (HB)

Claim

• Was the vision of Moroni the only vision that was discussed for many years? After all, didn't Lucy Mack Smith say that the first vision was that of a "holy Angel?"

• Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, 216.

• First Vision/Accounts/Prophet's mother said First Vision was of an "angel"
• This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 34

Further reading