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Revision as of 22:41, 26 April 2024

Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article


Multiple accounts of the First Vision

I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision anymore than I am worried that there are four different writers of the gospels in the New Testament, each with his own perceptions, each telling the events to meet his own purpose for writing at the time. I am more concerned with the fact that God has revealed in this dispensation a great and marvelous and beautiful plan that motivates men and women to love their Creator and their Redeemer, to appreciate and serve one another, to walk in faith on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life.

—Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2 off-site

∗       ∗       ∗
Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between the canonical [1838 PGP] account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith's own hand in 1832. For example, in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions or competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide. In each case, Jesus appears to Smith in a vision. In each case, Smith is blessed with a revelation. In each case, God tells him to remain aloof from all Christian denominations, as something better is in store.

—Stephen Prothero, American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 171.
∗       ∗       ∗

Template loop detected: Question: What are the criticisms related to Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision? Template loop detected: Richard J. Maynes: "Joseph wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision" Template loop detected: Gospel Topics: "The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail" Template loop detected: Church History Seminary Teacher Manual:2013:Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts Template loop detected: Backman (1985): "On at least four different occasions, Joseph Smith either wrote or dictated to scribes accounts of his sacred experience of 1820" Template loop detected: Allen:Improvement Era:April 1970:he continued to do so in varying detail until the year of his death Template loop detected: Neuenschwander:Ensign:January 2009:Joseph's vision was at first an intensely personal experience...it became the founding revelation of the Restoration Template loop detected: Hinckley:Ensign:October 1984:I am not worried that the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a number of versions of the first vision Template loop detected: Prothero:American Jesus:2003:in the 1832 version, Jesus appears to Smith alone, and does all the talking himself. Such complaints, however, are much ado about relatively nothing Template loop detected: Question: Did the details of Joseph’s First Vision experience appear to have changed when communicating to his followers such that the elders of the Church did not know that Joseph saw two personages? Template loop detected: Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood? Template loop detected: Question: Did Moroni tell Joseph Smith that all of the churches of the day were an "abomination"? Template loop detected: Question: Did Joseph Smith change his stated motivation for praying in later years after he received the First Vision?

See FAIR Evidence:
More evidence related to the First Vision accounts


Specific criticisms of the 1832 account of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1832 account of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of the First Vision

Summary: Articles that address specific criticisms of the 1835 accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision

Steven C. Harper, "Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision"

Steven C. Harper,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

There are essentially three arguments against the first vision. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event announced that there were no such things these days. More than a century later Fawn Brodie wrote with literary grace to mask historical deficiencies that Joseph concocted the vision years after he said it happened. Then a generation later Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none, and therefore no subsequent vision as a result. So by now it has become a foregone conclusion for some there are no such things as visions, and Joseph failed to mention his experience for years and then gave conflicting accounts that didn’t match historical facts.

Click here to view the complete article

Template loop detected: Joseph Smith's First Vision/Did the Church hide accounts of the First Vision

Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes


Learn more about multiple accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
Wiki links
Online
  • Roger Nicholson, "The Cowdery Conundrum: Oliver's Aborted Attempt to Describe Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1834 and 1835," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 8/4 (6 December 2013). [27–44] link
  • Robert A. Rees, "Looking Deeper into Joseph Smith's First Vision: Imagery, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Construction of Memory," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25/3 (21 April 2017). [67–80] link}
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Variants in the Stories of the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 2/5 (2 November 2012). [73–86] link
Video
  • "Multiple accounts of the First Vision," BH Roberts Foundation print-link.
Navigators

Notes