HANK HANEGRAAF:
Would you say that the Mormon Church has become expert at revisionism?
RICHARD ABANES:
Oh goodness yes. Not only expert but they are really compelled to employ historical revisionism and in many ways they do this by changing revelations that Joseph Smith originally had, they cover up historical events either saying they never happened or that they happened in a different way and sadly all of this is done behind the backs of faithful Mormons. Good hardworking honest people who really believe what their leaders are telling them, for example many Mormons don’t know really that that story you gave, the official version, really developed from a series of stories Joseph Smith originally gave that started around 1826 to 1827. He, for example, actually first started saying he found the golden plates through this peepstone that he had. He was an occultist and he would gaze into this stone and look for buried treasure and then he said that it was in a dream that some spirit appeared to him and that also he was able to see a ghost of a Spaniard that had his throat cut and was bleeding. He also then changed it to an angel and then eventually it became the Father and the Son which is what you talked about. So we have all these stories that over time blended in and merged and a lot of people just don’t know that and that’s what you see throughout all of Mormonism when it comes to many of the things that today most Mormons would find probably somewhat offensive.
The Truth About Joseph’s First Vision Account:
- Joseph Smith’s First Vision—Joseph Smith’s claim that he saw the Father and the Son in 1820 has produced a wide variety of criticism. This set of articles addresses the various critical claims related to the First Vision. The linked articles below are designed to help readers to see some of the weaknesses that are found in arguments that are made against Joseph Smith’s First Vision accounts. Some of these arguments are currently being advocated in anti-Mormon literature that is handed out near the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York. (Link)
