Multiple accounts of the First Vision

Criticism

Joseph Smith gave several accounts of the First Vision. Critics charge that differences in the accounts show that he changed and embellished his story over time, and that he therefore had no such vision.

Source(s) of the Criticism

• Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 29–36. ( Index of claims )
• Isaiah Bennett, Inside Mormonism: What Mormons Really Believe (Catholic Answers: 1999).
• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 24–25. ( Index of claims )
• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) Chapter 8. ( Index of claims )
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Case Against Mormonism, 2 vols., (Salt Lake City, 1967), 1:120–128.
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), Chapter 6.( Index of claims )
• Search for the Truth DVD (2007) Resources
• Tower to Truth Ministries, "50 Questions to Ask Mormons," towertotruth.net (accessed 15 November 2007). 50 Answers

Response

Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience—an answer to a specific question. Over time, however, illuminated by additional experience and instruction, it became the founding revelation of the Restoration.
—Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander (of the Seventy), Ensign, January 2009, p. 28.

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Critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often seek to point out differences between the various accounts which Joseph Smith gave of his First Vision. In defense of their position that the Prophet changed his story over a six year period (1832 to 1838) they claim that the earliest followers of Joseph Smith either didn’t know about the First Vision, or seem to have been confused about it.

Criticisms of Joseph's 1832 account of the First Vision

• Did Joseph Smith claim to see only one Personage in his 1832 vision account?
• Did Joseph give a different age in the 1832 account?
• Did Joseph's 1832 account not mention any religious revivals in his area?
• Was Joseph's motivation in the 1832 account different than later accounts?
• Was the idea of a new dispensation a later addition to Joseph's account?
• Did Joseph really not mention being forbidden to join other churches in 1832?
• Was persecution for his vision absent in Joseph's 1832 account?
• Why isn't the Prophet's struggle with Satan in the 1832 account?
• Why does the 1832 account mention destruction of the wicked but the 1838 account doesn't?
• Is the 1832 vision set in heaven or on the earth?
• Does the 1832 account say that eternal life is given to everyone regardless of church affiliation?

Criticisms of Joseph's 1835 account of the First Vision

• The 1835 account mentions "Angels"

Criticisms of Joseph's 1838 account of the First Vision

• [[Multiple accounts of the First Vision/Smith family place of residence in 1820|Where was the Smith family living in the second year after their "removal to Manchester?"}}

Other individuals' accounts of the First Vision

• Did George Q. Cannon claim Joseph only had the ministering of angels? FAIRWiki link
• Was Oliver Cowdery unaware of the First Vision as late as 1834–1835? FAIRWiki link
• Did Orson Hyde really claim Joseph only had the ministering of angels? FAIRWiki link
• Did Andrew Jenson call Joseph's heavenly visitor "an angel," rather than God? FAIRWiki link
• Did Heber C. Kimball really deny that the Father appeared to Joseph? FAIRWiki link
• Was Orson Pratt confused about who appeared at the First vision? FAIRWiki link
• Did Parley P. Pratt only mention the appearance of God? FAIRWiki link
• Was George A. Smith unaware of the visit of the Father and the Son? FAIRWiki link
• Did Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's mother, refer to "an angel," rather than God? FAIRWiki link
• Where did William Smith get the idea that an "angel" appeared? FAIRWiki link
• Did Orson Spencer say that the Prophet's first manifestation was of an "angel"? FAIRWiki link
• Did John Taylor teach that Joseph Smith saw only one Deity? FAIRWiki link
• Did Wilford Woodruff speak of an "angel" appearing during the First Vision? FAIRWiki link
• Did Brigham Young really never mention the First Vision in his lifetime of preaching? FAIRWiki link
• Did Brigham Young claim only an angel appeared? FAIRWiki link

Conclusion

Joseph Smith's various accounts of the First Vision were targeted at different audiences, and had different purposes. They, however, show a remarkable degree of harmony between them. There is no evidence that the early leaders of the LDS Church did not understand that the Prophet saw two Divine Personages during his inaugural theophany.

Endnotes

1. [note]  Richard L. Anderson, "Parallel Prophets: Paul and Joseph Smith," Ensign (April 1985): 12.off-site