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 didn't have any such vision.

Source(s) of the Criticism

• Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005).
• Isaiah Bennett, Inside Mormonism: What Mormons Really Believe (Catholic Answers: 1999).
• Grant Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 2002).
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Case Against Mormonism, 2 vols., (Salt Lake City, 1967), 1:120–128.
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Changing World of Mormonism (Salt Lake City: 1980), 164.
• Dan Vogel, "The Earliest Mormon Concept of God," in Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine, edited by Gary James Bergera, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 17–33.

Response

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.

Comparison to Paul's vision

Paul the apostle gave several accounts of his vision of the resurrected Lord while on the road to Damascus. Like Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision, Paul's accounts differ in some details but agree in the overall message. Richard Lloyd Anderson made the following comparisons.

Many Christians who comfortably accept Paul’s vision reject Joseph Smith’s. However, they aren’t consistent in their criticisms, for most arguments against Joseph Smith’s first vision would detract from Paul’s Damascus experience with equal force.

For instance, Joseph Smith’s credibility is attacked because the earliest known description of his vision wasn’t given until a dozen years after it happened. But Paul’s earliest known description of the Damascus appearance, found in 1 Corinthians 9꞉1, was recorded about two dozen years after his experience.

Critics love to dwell on supposed inconsistencies in Joseph Smith’s spontaneous accounts of his first vision. But people normally give shorter and longer accounts of their own vivid experiences when retelling them more than once. Joseph Smith was cautious about public explanations of his sacred experiences until the Church grew strong and could properly publicize what God had given him. Thus, his most detailed first vision account came after several others—when he began his formal history.

This, too, parallels Paul’s experience. His most detailed account of the vision on the road to Damascus is the last of several recorded. (See Acts 26:9–20.) And this is the only known instance in which he related the detail about the glorified Savior prophesying Paul’s work among the Gentiles. (See Acts 26:16–18.) Why would Paul include this previously unmentioned detail only on that occasion? Probably because he was speaking to a Gentile audience, rather than to a group of Jewish Christians. Both Paul and Joseph Smith had reasons for delaying full details of their visions until the proper time and place.^[1]

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.

Specific First Vision Issues

• Was the Smith family in the proper area at the proper time for Joseph's 1820 vision? FAIRWiki link
• Was Joseph Smith mistaken about religious revivals in his area in 1820? FAIRWiki link
• Did Joseph Smith conflate his 1820 narrative with an 1824-25 revival? FAIRWiki link
• Was Joseph unsure about God's existence in 1823? FAIRWiki link
• Did Joseph Smith join other churches after the First Vision, despite his later claim that he was told not to? FAIRWiki link
• When missionaries said that the Prophet had seen "God" personally did they mean Jesus Christ? FAIRWiki link
• Was the First Vision story fabricated to provide the Prophet with "Godly authority"? FAIRWiki link
• Did the Church really not publicize the First Vision until 1877? FAIRWiki link
  • Longer version FAIRWiki link

1832 account issues

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

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 Jensen 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
• Was William Smith's account of a First Vision "angel" accurate FAIRWiki link
• Did John Taylor teach that Joseph Smith saw only one Deity? FAIRWiki link
• Did Wilford Woodruff speak of an "angel" apearing 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 early leaders of the Church did not understand tha 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