Joseph Smith's First Vision/Joining other churches

Criticism

• Critics charge that Joseph Smith joined the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches between 1820 and 1830—despite the claim made in his 1838 history that he was forbidden by Deity (during the 1820 First Vision experience) from joining any denomination.^[1]
• Critics conclude that Joseph's alleged actions argue strongly against the reality of any encounter he might have had with God in the Sacred Grove.
• Critics claim that "at some point between 1821 and 1829," after the First Vision, that Joseph served as “a very passable exhorter” at Methodist camp meetings being held “away down in the woods, on the Vienna Road.” Since one could be a licensed "exhorter" at such meetings unless one were a member of the Methodist church, critics therefore claim that this indicates that Joseph became a church member.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 35, 342n78, 348n130. ( Index of claims ) (sources Lapham, Turner, Lewis)
• Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 18, 487n62-63 (PB) ( Index of claims )
• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 253, n51. ( Index of claims )
• Wikipedia article "First Vision"–Primary editors: COgden and John Foxe, with additional contributions by multiple editors. ( FAIR's Analysis of this Wikipedia article)
• John A. Matzko, "The Encounter of Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism," Dialogue 40/3 (2007): 68.

Primary Sources

• Methodist (Sophia Lewis, quoted in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 1834. p. 269. See The Hurlbut affidavits for information regarding the reliability of Sophia Lewis as a source.)
• Baptist (Fayette Lapham - 1870)
• Methodist (Joseph and Hiel Lewis - 1879)
• Presbyterian (Sarah Anderick - 1888)

Response

Three of the primary sources that charge Joseph Smith with joining sectarian churches between 1820 and 1830 were produced in the latter part of the nineteenth century. None of the three are contemporary records; the earliest one was written 50 years after the First Vision took place. The Lapham source is secondhand at best—putting forward information that reportedly came from the Prophet's father. The Lewis source presents a scenario that would have been witnessed when the informants were quite young, and (unfortunately for their credibility) their version of events was directly contradicted in print by an adult eyewitness who was a Methodist church officer. The Anderick source may simply be recalling an occasion when the young Prophet attended a church service with his Presbyterian mother and siblings.

The two eyewitness sources that follow below indicate that up until the time that Joseph Smith announced the existence of the golden plates of the Book of Mormon to his family (23 September 1823) he was not formally attached to any church, but had instead publicly rejected all of them and manifested his desire NOT to join their ranks.

Reminiscence Around 1820

Pomeroy Tucker (a non-Mormon critic who knew Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York) said that Joseph joined the Methodist probationary class in Palmyra but soon "withdrew from the class" without being converted; announcing that "all the churches [were] on a false foundation."^[2] This information corresponds with historical details dated by Joseph Smith at around 1820.

Reminiscence of Fall 1823

Joseph Smith's mother recalled in her autobiography that shortly after her son Alvin died on 19 November 1823 Joseph "utterly refused" to attend church services with the intent to convert, and he made the specific request: "do not ask me to join them. I can take my Bible, and go into the woods, and learn more in two hours, than you can learn at meeting in two years, if you should go all the time."^[3]

As can be seen by the continuing chronological sources which follow, Joseph Smith and his associates were teaching from 1825 to 1832 that the Prophet did not belong to any church between the years 1825 and 1827.

Reminiscence Concerning 1825

Josiah Stowell, Jr. (a non-Mormon): “I will give you a short history of what I know about Joseph Smith, Jr. I have been intimately acquainted with him about 2 years. He then was about 20 years old or thereabout. I also went to school with him one winter. He was a fine, likely young man and at that time did not profess religion.”^[4]

Reminiscence Concerning 1827

In 1827 David Marks (a non-Mormon minister) went to Palmyra and Manchester, New York where he “made considerable inquiry respecting . . . [Joseph] Smith” and learned from “several persons in different places” that Joseph was “about 21 years [old]; that previous to his declaration of having found the plates he made no pretensions to religion.”^[5]

Reminiscence Concerning 1830

In October 1830 Peter Bauder (a non-Mormon minister) spoke directly to the Prophet. Bauder commented: “he could give me no Christian experience,” meaning that he did not belong to any church before his experience with the angel and plates in September 1823.^[6]

Contemporary Document - 1830

Four LDS men from New York state taught that at the time the angel appeared to Joseph Smith (22 September 1823) he “made no pretensions to religion of any kind.”^[7]

Contemporary Document - 1831

The editor of a Palmyra, New York newspaper claimed that he has been “credibly informed,” and was “quite certain,” that “the prophet . . . never made any serious pretensions to religion until his late pretended revelation” -- meaning the Book of Mormon, which was made known among Palmyra's residents in the Fall of 1827.^[8]

Contemporary Document - 1832

Orson Pratt and Lyman Johnson taught on 8 April 1832 that “in 1827 a young man called Joseph Smith of the state of New York, of no denomination [i.e., not belonging to a church], but under conviction, inquired of the Lord . . . [and] an angel [appeared to him] . . . who gave information where the plates were deposited.”^[9] Pratt clarified in a much later statement that between 1820 and 1823 Joseph Smith "was not a member of any church."^[10]

Conclusion

No critic who has charged Joseph Smith with joining a church between 1820 and 1830 has ever produced any authentic denominational membership record that would substantiate such a claim. Eyewitness reminiscences and contemporary records provide strong evidence that this claim is not valid and, therefore, does not reflect historical reality.

Endnotes

1. [note]  Times and Seasons 3 no. 9 (1 March 1842), 707. off-site GospeLink
2. [note] Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867), 17–18.
3. [note]  Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother (Salt Lake City: Stevens and Wallis, 1945), 90.
4. [note] Letter, Josiah Stowell Jr. to John S. Fullmer, 17 February 1843.
5. [note] Morning Star, 7 March 1833 [Limerick, Maine].
6. [note] Peter Bauder, The Kingdom and Gospel of Jesus Christ (Canajoharie, New York: A. H. Calhoun, 1834), 36.
7. [note] Observer and Telegraph, 18 November 1830 [Hudson, Ohio].
8. [note] The Reflector, 1 February 1831 [Palmyra, New York].
9. [note] The Catholic Telegraph, 14 April 1832 [Cincinnati, Ohio].
10. [note] Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses 14:140-141.