First Vision Accounts
Joseph Smith recorded that God the Father and Jesus
Christ appeared to him in a grove of trees near his parents’ home in western
New York State when he was about 14 years old. Concerned by his sins and unsure
which spiritual path to follow, Joseph sought guidance by
attending meetings, reading scripture, and praying. In answer, he received a
heavenly manifestation. Joseph shared and documented the First Vision, as it
came to be known, on multiple occasions; he wrote or assigned scribes to write
four different accounts of the vision.
The various accounts of the First Vision tell a
consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail.
Historians expect that when an individual retells an experience in multiple
settings to different audiences over many years, each account will emphasize
various aspects of the experience and contain unique details. Indeed,
differences similar to those in the First Vision accounts exist in the multiple
scriptural accounts of Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus and the Apostles’
experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. Yet despite the differences, a
basic consistency remains across all the accounts of the First Vision. Some
have mistakenly argued that any variation in the retelling of the story is
evidence of fabrication. To the contrary, the rich historical record enables us
to learn more about this remarkable event than we could if it were less well
documented.
Each account of the First Vision by Joseph Smith and his
contemporaries has its own history and context that influenced how the event
was recalled, communicated, and recorded.
1832 Account. The earliest
known account of the First Vision, the only account written in Joseph Smith’s
own hand, is found in a short, unpublished autobiography Joseph Smith produced
in the second half of 1832.
Autobiography written on the first pages of a book used
by Joseph to record letters he sent and received. A highly personalized
experience using the language of the revivals. He describes his consciousness
of his sins and of his frustrating inability to find forgiveness in a church
that matched the New Testament. It emphasizes the atonement and the personal
redemption it offered Joseph. He wrote in his own hand of the joy and love he
felt as a result of the vision, though he could find no one who believed him.
1835 Account. (Nov. 9) Joseph Smith
recounted his First Vision to Robert Matthews, a visitor to Kirtland, Ohio. The
retelling, recorded in Joseph’s journal by his scribe Warren Parrish. In this account Joseph cast the vision as the
first in a series of events that led to the translation of the Book of Mormon.
He emphasized the opposition he felt in the grove and how he attempted to pray
but could not at first. It says that one divine personage appeared in a pillar
of fire, followed shortly by another, and that Joseph envisioned many angels as
well. Joseph added that he was about 14.
1838 Account. (The Pearl of Great
Price account) The narration of the First Vision best known to Latter-day Saints
today is the 1838 account. First published in 1842 in the Times and Seasons, the Church’s newspaper in
Nauvoo, Illinois, the account was part of a longer history dictated by Joseph
Smith between periods of intense opposition. Whereas the 1832 account
emphasizes the more personal story of Joseph Smith as a young man seeking
forgiveness, the 1838 account focuses on the vision as the beginning of the
“rise and progress of the Church.” Like the 1835 account, the central question
of the narrative is which church is right.
It emphasizes
unusual religious excitement and Joseph's quest for a church as a catalyst for
the vision. Other accounts emphasize more the internal process. This was the
first fully organized attempt to place the events that had transpired in
relation to the restoration of the gospel into a comprehensive and
chronologically arranged record.
1842 Account. Written in response
to Chicago Democrat editor John Wentworth’s request
for information about the Latter-day Saints, this account was printed in
the Times and Seasons March 1,1842. (The “Wentworth
letter,” is also the source for the Articles of Faith.) The account,
intended for publication to an audience unfamiliar with Mormon beliefs, is
concise and straightforward. As with earlier accounts, Joseph Smith noted the
confusion he experienced and the appearance of two personages looking exactly
alike and they told him the existing churches believed in incorrect doctrines in
answer to his prayer. The following year, Joseph Smith sent this account with
minor modifications to a historian named Israel Daniel Rupp, who published it
as a chapter in his book, He Pasa Ekklesia [The
Whole Church]: An Original History of the Religious
Denominations at Present Existing in the United States.
Secondhand Accounts. Besides
these accounts from Joseph Smith himself, five accounts were written by
contemporaries who heard Joseph Smith speak about the vision.
1) Orson Pratt wrote the earliest published account of
the First Vision in 1840. "While thus pouring out his soul," he
wrote, "anxiously desiring an answer from God, he at length saw a very
bright and glorious light in the heavens above; which, at first, seemed to be a
considerable distance. He continued praying, while the light appeared to be
gradually descending towards him; and as it drew nearer, it increased in
brightness and magnitude, so that, by the time that it reached the tops of the
trees, the whole wilderness, for some distance around was illuminated in a most
glorious and brilliant manner. He expected to have seen the leaves and boughs
of the trees consumed, as soon as the light came in contact with them; but
perceiving that it did not produce that effect, he was encouraged with the hope
of being able to endure its presence. It continued descending slowly, until it
rested upon the earth, and he was enveloped in the midst of it. When it first
came upon him, it produced a peculiar sensation throughout his whole system;
and immediately his mind was caught away, from the natural objects with which he
was surrounded; and he was enwrapped in a heavenly vision" (Backman, First
Vision, 172).
2)
Orson Hyde’s revision of Orson Pratt’s pamphlet, published in 1842 for German
readers and adding some insights that may have come from his contact with
Joseph Smith; (3) Levi Richards’s diary about Joseph Smith preaching in the
summer of 1843 and repeating the Lord’s first message to him that no church was
His; (4) a newspaper interview in the fall of 1843; (5) Alexander Neibaur’s
1844 journal entry of a conversation at the Prophet’s house.
The variety and number of accounts of the First Vision
have led some critics to question whether Joseph Smith’s descriptions match the
reality of his experience. Two arguments are frequently made against his
credibility: the first questions Joseph Smith’s memory of the events; the
second questions whether he embellished elements of the story over time.
Conclusion- Joseph
Smith testified repeatedly that he experienced a remarkable vision of God the
Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Neither the truth of the First Vision nor the
arguments against it can be proven by historical research alone. Knowing the
truth of Joseph Smith’s testimony requires each earnest seeker of truth to
study the record and then exercise sufficient faith in Christ to ask God in
sincere, humble prayer whether the record is true. If the seeker asks with the
real intent to act upon the answer revealed by the Holy Ghost, the truthfulness
of Joseph Smith’s vision will be manifest. In this way, every person can know
that Joseph Smith spoke honestly when he declared, “I had seen a vision, I knew
it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”
1. Best documented theophany in history. It's not a
matter of life & death. It is much more important than that!
2. The contests about religion centering on the role of
individual choice in salvation.
A.
Calvinism - Man is depraved because of the Fall. God chooses a few to save.
Puritans who founded the Congregational church and Presbyterians.
B. Armenian
theology - God's grace endowed man with the ability to choose Christ and be
saved. (Methodists)
C.
Baptists were split. Some with A and some with B.
D.
Universalists believed God would save all
3. Smith Family
A.
Joseph Sr. has dreams which left him with questions, but doesn't believe in
organized religion. Influenced by father and brother. (Both named Asael)
B.
Lucy tries to fulfill promise to serve God. Tries Presbyterianism, but it
seemed empty. Joseph Sr. discouraged her from the Methodists. While his mother,
Hyrum, Samuel, and Sophronia joined the Presbyterian faith, he, his father, and
Alvin remained unchurched.
C.
Joseph Jr. -
a.
at about the age of twelve my mind became seriously impressed with regard to
the all important concerns for the welfare of my immortal soul.
b.
Joseph's pre-First vision revelation. James 1:5
c.
Joseph actually spoke with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.
d.
He learned that the promise of James is true. Prayers are answered.
e.
God was a loving Heavenly Father. He exists.
f.
The Father and the Son are 2 separate
and distinct glorious beings in whose literal image man is made. When
Joseph walked away from the grove of trees near his home, he knew more about
the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, than any other living soul. The heresy of
the great apostasy concerning the trinity was dispelled in a moment of vision.
No amount of philosophical debate can hold a flicker of light to the revelatory
flame, brighter than noonday sun, that Joseph witnessed.
g.
The reality of Satan. (JSH 15-16) The power of some actual being. Joseph
was not wrestling with a formless power void of body but with a spirit being
whose body is in the form and likeness of man. Devils are spirit beings that
followed Satan in his rebellion against God in pre-mortality. In one account of
this experience, Joseph said, "I heard a noise behind me like someone
walking towards me. I strove again to pray, but could not; the noise of walking
seemed to draw nearer, I sprang upon my feet and looked around, but saw no
person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking"
(Backman, First Vision, 159).
h.
Satan knew Joseph
i.
The reality of the apostasy, No church on the earth had divine approval. The
creeds were an abomination
j.
The Father introduced the Son. (3 other times)
k.
Visions make one tired: JSH 1:20; Daniel 10:8-9; 1 Nephi 1:6-7; Moses 1:9-10;
D&C 76.
l.
Joseph was promised that at some future time the fullness of the gospel would
be made known unto him. (HC 4:536)
m.
God knows us and hears and answers our prayers.
n.
Humans are, just as the Bible says, created in the image of God.
o.
Jesus and Heavenly Father exactly resemble each other in features &
likeness.
p.
An additional witness of the divine, redemptive mission of Jesus Christ.
1)Jack and 2) BYU
http://www.eldenwatson.net/harmony.htm#7
http://en.fairmormon.org/Joseph_Smith's_First_Vision/Accounts
Ensign, April, 1996 - Joseph Lloyd Anderson - Joseph Smith’s Testimony of the First Vision
