Apologetics: Monthly Mormon Monday – Joe Smith’s Whacky First Vision.
Behold! It came to pass that it hast been 6 months since last I wrote of The Book of Mormon, and verily, it came to pass that I began to wonder what to write of for this week, and truly, a Mormon did come into my comments section to tell me what a beauteous religion Mormonism is, and it came to pass that my interest long put on the burner on the back of the stove was once more rekindled in this topic strange.
Hence this post.
There are several directions I can go with Mormonism, such as disproving the idea that it’s a Christian religion, but right now, I want to focus on the history of Joseph Smith’s first revelation, or the First Vision. Every Mormon knows this story. Basically, when Joe was 14, he went to a grove near his family home in New York where he knelt down and prayed, wanting to know what church the true church was. He was then overcome by some dark power but was delivered when God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared and told him not to go to any church, as all of them had been corrupted. This of course was a major event, marking the young Joseph Smith as a prophet of God who would later start the LDS church.
But that version of the story is the standard version written on April 1, 1842. There are eight more versions, all of them with massive contradictions.
In a version of the story written in 1832 by Joseph Smith himself, he records himself to have been 16 years old when he was visited by Jesus alone, and was forgiven of his sins. In this version, he already knew all the churches were wrong and only prayed for the forgiveness of his sins.
In the second version written in 1835, Joseph Smith gave an account of the First Vision to a dude named Oliver Cowdry, saying that he was 17, was only praying to see if God was real, and was visited not by Jesus, not by God, but by a messenger of God. Who this messenger was, we have no clue, but he forgave Joe’s sins. But as though that wasn’t bad enough, that same year, Smith wrote a diary entry recording this event (third version), but said that many angels visited him, not Jesus and God. This diary entry was also the first time the evil power was ever mentioned.
Then, two years later, a fourth version was written, and while this is a third-hand account, it still messes up on key details, saying Smith was 17 and that the visitors were angels. It also makes no mention of the (supposed) revival that was going on that caused Smith to start (supposedly) wondering what church to be a part of. Similarly, in an 1841 third-hand account that was originally given to the writer by Smith’s brother, Smith was 17 and “glorious angel” came to visit him, not God or Jesus.
A year after the 1841 version, Smith then wrote in a letter to John Wentworth about the First Vision. In this version, he doesn’t give his age, doesn’t speak of the dark force that overtook him, and says he was visited by two personages, but they’re identified. A year after that, in 1843, he told the Pittsburgh Gazette his story, but says he was 14 and – once again – never mentions the dark power.
Then, in an 1844 journal entry by Alexander Niebaur, the First Vision story is largely the same as the standard version, but in this version, Joe was simply told not to join the Methodists. He wasn’t told that all the churches were corrupt.
So which one is the right version?
Well, that’s the question that Mormons have to struggle with as all of these accounts differ greatly from each other on key points. Was it an angel, God and Jesus, or multiple angels that visited Joseph Smith? Was he 14, 16, or 17 when it happened? Was he overtaken by a dark spirit and delivered or not? Was he praying for forgiveness of sins, praying to know if God is real, or praying to know which church to attend? Was he forgiven of sins, told all churches were corrupt, or only told that the Methodists were corrupt? Which story should the Mormons believe if there are so many discrepancies coming from credible sources, including Smith himself?
Until next time,
M.J.
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