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Historical context | A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: Mormonism and Wikipedia/First Vision A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)
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How the vision story has been presented |
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[I]t's this sort of editing that makes palpable my declarations about Mormon intent to deliberately degrade the NPOV character of this article. Backman is a Mormon apologist, and you deliberately gave no indication of that fact in your edit. Furthermore, no non-Mormon scholar believes there was any "flaming spiritual advance" in Palmyra during this period--none, zero, zip--the notion is purely Mormon, conceived for apologetic purposes.
—Wikipedia editor John "Foxe" to LDS editor. (3 October 2007) off-site
- | Wikipedia Main Article: First Vision–Dating_the_First_Vision | Wikipedia Footnotes: First Vision–Notes | A FAIR Opinion |
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1A |
Smith said that his First Vision occurred in the early 1820s, when he was in his early teens but his accounts mention different dates within that period. In 1832, Joseph wrote that the vision had occurred "in the 16th year of [his] age" (about 1821), after he became concerned about religious matters beginning in his "twelfth year" (about 1817). |
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1B |
In a later account Smith said the vision took place "early in the spring of 1820" after an "unusual excitement on the subject of religion" ending during his 15th year (1820). |
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- | Wikipedia Main Article: First Vision–Dating_the_First_Vision | Wikipedia Footnotes: First Vision–Notes | A FAIR Opinion |
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1C |
According to non-Mormon critics, H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters, there is no evidence that large multi-denominational revivals took place in the immediate Palmyra area between 1819 and 1820, the period specified by Smith in the canonized account of the First Vision. Joseph's statement that "great multitudes" joined the various religious denominations "in the neighborhood where I lived," is not borne out by the surviving documents. Neither the Presbyterian, Baptist, nor Methodist churches in Palmyra experienced any remarkable religious outpouring. The Methodist circuit in the area even showed net losses from 1819 to 1821. "Denominational magazines of that day were full of reports of revivals, some even devoting separate sections to them." While these magazines covered the 1816-17 and the 1824-25 revivals in the Palmyra area, there is "not a single mention of any revival taking place in the Palmyra area" in 1819-20. |
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1D |
Mormon apologists, such as Milton Backman, argue that religious outbreaks occurred within a larger fifty-mile radius of Joseph's home. |
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1E |
But these apologists for the Mormon position tend to treat Joseph words "whole district of country" as if they referred to "some kind of statewide revival, without notice of the fact that he is talking about a revival that commenced with the Methodists 'in the place where we lived' and then 'became general among all the sects in that region of country.'" |
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- | Wikipedia Main Article: First Vision–Dating_the_First_Vision | Wikipedia Footnotes: First Vision–Notes | A FAIR Opinion |
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2A |
Others move backward in time and use local Methodist camp meetings as the spark that ignited Smith's religious quest in 1820. For instance, D. Michael Quinn notes a Methodist camp meeting in Palmyra in June 1818. |
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2B |
In 1819, a large Methodist conference was held in the town of Vienna (now Phelps), about fifteen miles from Palmyra, but there is no indication that there were any revival meetings held in conjunction with it. |
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A souring in the relationship between Joseph Smith and the Presbyterians seems to have occurred after the sudden and still mysterious death of his eldest brother, Alvin, on November 19, 1823.
—John Matzko, "The Encounter of the Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism," Dialogue 40/3 (2007), p. 77
- | Wikipedia Main Article: First Vision–Dating_the_First_Vision | Wikipedia Footnotes: First Vision–Notes | A FAIR Opinion |
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3A |
In Smith's 1838 narrative, his family's decision to join the Presbyterian Church occurs prior to his First Vision. |
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3B |
But Lucy Mack Smith said that she and some of her children sought comfort in the church after the death of her oldest son, Alvin, in November 1823, which if her memory was correct, would place the date of the first vision no earlier than 1824. |
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3C |
In 1845, Lucy recalled that she tried to persuade her "husband to join with them as I wished to do so myself." |
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3D |
Her three oldest children Hyrum, Samuel, and Sophronia also joined the Presbyterian church, but "the two Josephs resisted her enthusiasm." |
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3E |
Wesley Walters argues that "Smith's family could not have joined the Presbyterian Church in 1820 as a result of revival in the area, and then joined the same church again in 1823 as a result of another revival." |
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3F |
D. Michael Quinn says that Smith's account is a conflation of events over several years, a typical biographical device for streamlining the narrative. |
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- | Wikipedia Main Article: First Vision–Dating_the_First_Vision | Wikipedia Footnotes: First Vision–Notes | A FAIR Opinion |
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4A |
Local moves of the Smith family have also been used in attempts to identify the date of the vision. In 1838 Joseph Smith wrote that the First Vision occurred in "the second year after our removal to Manchester." |
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4B |
The evidence for the date of this move has been interpreted by believers as supporting 1820 and by non-believers as supporting 1824. |
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4C |
The LDS Church has canonized the 1838 account in which Joseph Smith said that this vision occurred "early in the spring of 1820." |
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4D |
Two LDS scholars, researching weather reports and maple sugar production records, argue that the most likely exact date for the First Vision was Sunday, March 26th, 1820. |
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- | Wikipedia Main Article: First Vision–Smith's_accounts_of_the_First_Vision | Wikipedia Footnotes: First Vision–Notes | A FAIR Opinion |
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5A |
What Joseph Smith said he saw during the first vision is recorded in several accounts that he wrote or dictated, as well as in interviews and reminiscences of those who said they heard the story: On a beautiful, clear spring day, |
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5B |
Smith went to a clearing in a forested area, to a stump where he had left his axe the day before, and there knelt to pray. |
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5C |
He said this was the first time he had ever tried to pray out loud. |
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5D |
An 1832 account said that he "cried unto the Lord for mercy" for his sins. |
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5E |
According to later accounts, he prayed, "O Lord, what church shall I join?" |
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5F |
His prayer was interrupted by an encounter with an evil spirit. According to an account from his diary, Smith stopped praying because his tongue became swollen in his mouth and because he heard a noise behind him like someone walking towards him. He tried to pray once more, and when he heard the noise grow louder, he sprang to his feet and looked around but saw no one. The third time he knelt to pray, his tongue was loosed and he received the vision. |
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5G |
In a later description of his encounter with the evil spirit, Smith said that when he first began to pray, he was immediately overcome by an evil "being from the unseen world" whose power was greater than that of any being he had previously felt. |
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5H |
The spirit bound his tongue and covered him with a thick darkness, and he thought he would be destroyed. |
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5I |
Nevertheless, at his darkest moment, he summoned all his power to pray, and, as he felt ready to sink into oblivion, the vision rescued him. |
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5J |
Smith said he saw a pillar of "fire light," brighter than the noon-day sun, that slowly descended on him from above, |
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5K |
growing in brightness as it descended, and lighting the entire area for some distance. |
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5L |
When the light reached the tops of the trees, Smith worried that the trees would catch fire, but they were not consumed, thus easing his fear that he too would be burned. |
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5M |
The light reached the ground and enveloped him, causing a "peculiar sensation." |
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5N |
Then "his mind was caught away from the natural objects with which he was surrounded; and he was enwrapped in a heavenly vision." |
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5O |
While in the vision, he said he saw one or more "personages", who are described differently in Smith's various accounts. In one account, Smith said he "saw the Lord." |
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5P |
In diary entries, he said he saw a "visitation of Angels" |
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5Q |
or a "vision of angels" that included "a personage," and then "another personage" who testified that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God," as well as "many angels". |
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5R |
In later accounts, Smith consistently said that he had seen two personages who appeared one after the other. |
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5S |
These personages "exactly resembled each other in their features or likeness." |
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5T |
The first personage had "light complexion, blue eyes, a piece of white cloth drawn over his shoulders, his right arm bare." |
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5U |
One of the personages called Smith by name "and said, (pointing to the other), 'This is my beloved Son, hear him.'" |
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5V |
Most Latter Day Saints believe that these personages were God the Father and Jesus. |
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5W |
In one account, Smith said that the Lord told him his sins were forgiven, that he should obey the commandments, that the world was corrupt, and that the Second Coming was approaching. |
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5X |
Later accounts say that when the personages appeared, Smith asked them "O Lord, what church shall I join?" |
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5Y |
or "Must I join the Methodist Church?" |
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5Z |
In answer, he was told that "all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his church and kingdom." |
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5AA |
All churches and their professors were "corrupt", |
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5AB |
and "all their creeds were an abomination in his sight." |
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5AC |
Smith was told not to join any of the churches, but that the "fulness of the gospel" would be known to him at a later time. |
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5AD |
After the vision withdrew, Smith said he "came to myself" and found himself sprawled on his back. |
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Wikipedia references for "First Vision" |
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The ability to quickly and easily access literature critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been made significantly easier through the advent of the Internet. One of the primary sites that dominates search engine results is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that “anyone can edit.” Wikipedia contains a large number of articles related to Mormonism that are edited by believers, critics, and neutral parties. The reliability of information regarding the Church and its history is subject to the biases of the editors who choose to modify those articles. Even if a wiki article is thoroughly sourced, editors sometimes employ source material in a manner that supports their bias. This essay explores the dynamics behind the creation of Wikipedia articles about the Church, the role that believers and critics play in that process, and the reliability of the information produced in the resulting wiki articles.
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