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The First Vision (also called the grove experience) is an event of great importance to most denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by far the largest denomination within that movement, teaches that the First Vision was an appearance of God the Father and Jesus Christ—a theophany—to the fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith, Jr. that occurred in a wooded area (now called the Sacred Grove) early in the spring of 1820. Interpretations of the event vary among Latter Day Saint denominations, but most teach that the vision inaugurated the Latter Day Saint movement and laid a foundation for the restoration of the lost doctrines and authority of primitive Christianity, thus ending the Great Apostasy.

During the early years of the Latter Day Saint movement, Smith's status as a prophet was derived primarily from his publication of the Book of Mormon, which he said he had translated from golden plates revealed to him by an angel. Later, during the 1830s and 40s, Smith gave various accounts of the First Vision which were repeated by a number of his associates and acquaintances. The vision was not published until 1840, and did not become an important doctrine of the LDS Church until the late nineteenth century.

Non-Mormons and some members of Restoration church have compared Smith's 1838 account of the First Vision—which has been canonized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—to his other three or four extended descriptions and maintain that the differences demonstrate significant inconsistencies in the story. Believers, on the other hand, claim the differences in the accounts only heighten the credibility of the First Vision.

Historical context

Smith family religious beliefs

Like many other Americans living on the frontier at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Smith family easily accepted visions and theophanies. In 1811, Joseph Smith, Jr.'s maternal grandfather, Solomon Mack, described a series of visions and voices from God that resulted in his conversion to orthodox Christianity at the age of seventy-six.

Joseph Smith, Jr.'s paternal grandfather, Asael Smith, was raised in the Congregational church but was drawn to the teachings of John Murray, an early Universalist. Smith abandoned Calvinism, and for a time served as a moderator for a group of Universalists. He imparted a strong belief in universal reconciliation, the doctrine that all men would be saved, as well as a distrust of orthodox Christianity to his family, including his son, Joseph Smith, Sr. According to Lucy Mack Smith when her husband accompanied her to Methodist meetings in Tunbridge, Asael came to the door and threw Tom Paine's The Age of Reason into the house "and angrily bade him read that until he believed it." Some Vermonters remembered Joseph Smith, Sr. saying that the Bible "was the work of priestcraft" and that Paine was its "best commentary."

Between 1811 and 1819, Joseph, Sr. reported seven visions, which, according to his wife, Lucy Mack Smith, occurred when he was "much excited upon the subject of religion." The visions confirmed to Joseph, Sr. the correctness of his refusal to join any organized religious group and led him to believe that he would be properly guided to his own salvation. Before Joseph Smith, Jr. was born, his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, prayed in a grove about her husband's repudiation of evangelical religion and that night had a vision in her sleep, which she interpreted as a prophecy that Joseph, Sr. would later accept the "pure and undefiled Gospel of the Son of God."

Richard Bushman has called the spiritual tradition of the Smith family "a religious melee." Joseph Smith, Sr. insisted on morning and evening prayers, but he was spiritually adrift. "If there was a personal motive for Joseph Smith Jr.'s revelations, it was to satisfy his family's religious want and, above all, to meet the need of his oft-defeated, unmoored father." No members of the Smith family were church members in 1820, the supposed date of the First Vision.

The family also practiced a form of folk magic, also not uncommon in that time and place. Both Joseph Smith, Sr. and at least two of his sons worked at "money digging," using seer stones in (mostly unsuccessful) attempts to locate lost items and buried treasure. In a draft of her memoirs, Lucy Mack Smith referred to folk magic:

I shall change my theme for the present, but let not my reader suppose that because I shall pursue another topic for a season that we stopt our labor and went at trying to win the faculty of Abrac, drawing magic circles or soothsaying, to the neglect of all kinds of business. We never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation. But whilst we worked with our hands, we endeavored to remember the service of and the welfare of our souls.

D. Michael Quinn has written that Lucy Mack Smith viewed these magical practices as "part of her family's religious quest" while denying that they prevented "family members from accomplishing other, equally important work."

Joseph Smith, Jr.

Main article: Early life of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Joseph Smith, Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont to Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. The Smiths were a farming family who moved several times because of crop failures and ill-fated business ventures. In 1816 the family arrived in western New York, where they continued to farm just outside the border of the town of Palmyra.

Because of his family's poverty, Smith had a very limited education. Later in life, Lucy Mack Smith described her son as "remarkably quiet" and "much less inclined to the perusal of books than any of the rest of the children, but far more given to meditation and deep study.". Others described him as "taciturn"; although "proverbially good-natured," he was "never known to laugh." An acquaintance of Joseph's who helped set type for the Book of Mormon remembered that Joseph had "a jovial, easy don't-care way about him that made him a lot of warm friends. He was a good talker, and would have made a fine stump speaker if he had had the training. He was known among the young men I associated with as a romancer of the first water." As skeptical biographer Fawn Brodie has noted, "Joseph himself spoke frequently of his 'native cheery temperament,' and it is evident that from an early age he was a friendly, entertaining youth who delighted in performing before his friends."

Revivalism in the Palmyra area

Smith's First Vision occurred at the end of the Second Great Awakening, a period of intense religious excitement especially in an area of western New York later called the Burned-over district. Camp meetings were held in nearby towns during Smith's adolescence from 1818 to 1820, and in 1824-25, a religious revival occurred in the area around Palmyra and Manchester. According to Lucy Mack Smith, she and the other children joined the Palmyra's Western Presbyterian Church sometime after the death of Joseph's brother Alvin in November 1823. Joseph Smith declared himself to be "somewhat partial" to Methodism.

Smith's religious confusion

Smith said that at about the age of 12 (1818), he became concerned "for the wellfare of my immortal Soul," which led him to study the scriptures. He attended the meetings of several denominations "as often as occasion would permit: but in process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect". From age 12 to 15 he said that he became progressively more distressed both because of his sins and because he believed that "there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament." In 1842, Smith wrote that he had been unsure which church was correct or whether they were "all wrong together"—the earlier conclusion of his father. In another account, the younger man said that at the time of the vision, "it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong."

Smith's concern for his soul and confusion as to which church was right led him plead with God to know which church he should join. In later accounts, Smith says that his prayer was prompted by reading James 1:5. Many years later, Smith's younger brother William wrote that his brother's prayer had also been made at the suggestion of a clergyman.

The vision

Date of the First Vision

Smith said that his First Vision occurred during the early 1820s, when he was in his early teens and prompted by religious revivalism in the Palmyra area that had "commenced with the Methodists." Smith's various accounts mention different dates within that period. In 1832, when Joseph wrote the first account of the event in his own handwriting, he said that the vision had occurred in 1821 "in the 16th year of age", after he became concerned about religious matters in his "twelfth year" (1818). Between 1818 and 1820 there may have been two small Methodist revivals in the Palmyra area, and a large Methodist conference was held in the town of Vienna, fifteen miles from Palmyra in 1819. Nevertheless, Smith makes it clear that the revival to which he referred was interdenominational. A pre-1820 date presupposes that the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists twice sponsored evangelistic meetings within five years, even though Smith reported that the pre-vision revival ended in bitter sectarian strife.

In one of Smith's later accounts of the vision, he dated the religious revival to my "fifteenth year" (1820) and said the vision took place "early in the spring of 1820." Smith's brother William dated the vision to 1823, soon after the Rev. George Lane had visited the "neighborhood," but William's date is incorrect because Lane's visit to Palmyra occurred in 1824-25. William himself acknowledged that the account recorded in Joseph Smith's own history was more accurate and complete.

Joseph Smith said that the First Vision occurred in "the second year after our removal to Manchester." Manchester land assessment records show an increase in assessed value of the Smith property in 1823. Because the tax assessment of the Smiths' Manchester land rose in 1823, non-Mormons and some members of Restoration churches argue that the Smiths completed their Manchester cabin in 1822, which suggests an approximate date of 1824 for the First Vision. In response, some Mormon apologists argue that in 1818, the Smiths mistakenly constructed a cabin 59 feet north of the actual property line, placing it in Palmyra, rather than Manchester, township. They further suggest that the 1823 increase in the property assessment may be related to the completion of a wood frame home on the Manchester side of the Palmyra-Manchester township line. The latter interpretation would lend support for dating the First Vision to 1820.

What Smith said he saw

What Joseph Smith said he saw during the first vision may be reconstructed from the several accounts that he wrote or dictated, as well as from interviews and reminiscences of those who said they heard the story:

On a beautiful, clear spring day, Smith went to a clearing in a forested area, to a stump where he had left his axe the day before, and there knelt to pray. He said this was the first time he had ever tried to pray out loud. An 1832 account said that he "cried unto the Lord for mercy" for his sins. According to later accounts, he prayed, "O Lord, what church shall I join?"

His prayer was interrupted by an encounter with an evil spirit. According to an account from his diary, Smith stopped praying because his tongue became swollen in his mouth and because he heard a noise behind him like someone walking towards him. He tried to pray once more, and when he heard the noise grow louder, he sprang to his feet and looked around but saw no one. The third time he knelt to pray, his tongue was loosed and he received the vision. In a later description of his encounter with the evil spirit, Smith said that when he first began to pray, he was immediately overcome by an evil "being from the unseen world" whose power was greater than that of any being he had previously felt. The spirit bound his tongue and covered him with a thick darkness, and he thought he would be destroyed. Nevertheless, at his darkest moment, he summoned all his power to pray, and, as he felt ready to sink into oblivion, the vision rescued him.

Smith said he saw a pillar of "fire light," brighter than the noon-day sun, that slowly descended on him from above, growing in brightness as it descended, and lighting the entire area for some distance. When the light reached the tops of the trees, Smith worried that the trees would catch fire, but they were not consumed, thus easing his fear that he too would be burned. The light reached the ground and enveloped him, causing a "peculiar sensation." Then "his mind was caught away from the natural objects with which he was surrounded; and he was enwrapped in a heavenly vision."

While in the vision, he said he saw one or more "personages," who are described differently in Smith's various accounts. In one account, Smith said he "saw the Lord." In diary entries, he said he saw a "visitation of Angels" or a "vision of angels" that included "a personage," and then "another personage" who testified that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God," as well as "many angels". In later accounts, Smith consistently said that he had seen two personages who appeared one after the other. These personages "exactly resembled each other in their features or likeness." The first personage had "light complexion, blue eyes, a piece of white cloth drawn over his shoulders, his right arm bare." One of the personages called Smith by name "and said, (pointing to the other), 'This is my beloved Son, hear him.'" Most Latter Day Saints believe that these personages were God the Father and Jesus.

In one account, Smith said that "the Lord" told him his sins were forgiven, that he should obey the commandments, that the world was corrupt, and that the Second Coming was approaching. Later accounts say that when the personages appeared, Smith asked them "O Lord, what church shall I join?" or "Must I join the Methodist Church?" In answer, he was told that "all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his church and kingdom." All churches and their professors were "corrupt", and "all their creeds were an abomination in his sight." Smith was told not to join any of the churches, but that the "fulness of the gospel" would be known to him at a later time. After the vision withdrew, Smith said he "came to myself" and found himself sprawled on his back.

People Smith said he told about the vision in the 1820s

Smith said he told others about the vision during the 1820s, and some family members said that they had heard him mention it, but none prior to 1823, when Smith said he had his second vision.

Smith said that he made an oblique reference to the vision in 1820 to his mother, telling her the day it happened that he had "learned for self that Presbyterianism is not true," but Lucy did not mention this conversation in her memoirs, produced with Martha Jane Knowlton Coray in 1844-45. In 1883 Smith's brother William stated that Smith had told the entire Smith family about his first vision in the woods, but William understood the event to have taken place in September 1823, which according to Joseph was the date of his second vision. Because William was only 12-years-old in 1823 and did not write down his memories for more than 60 years, he may have conflated information about the first vision with information about the second. Further, William acknowledged that the account recorded in Joseph Smith's own history was more accurate and complete.

Smith said that he had mentioned the first vision to "one of the Methodist preachers, who was very active in the before-mentioned religious excitement." Smith also said that the telling of his vision story "excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase", although there is no contemporary evidence for this persecution beyond Smith's testimony. As Mormon historian James B. Allen has written, "There is little if any evidence ...that by the early 1830’s Joseph Smith was telling the story in public. At least if he were telling it, no one seemed to consider it important enough to have recorded it at the time, and no one was criticizing him for it." Smith was, however, hounded about his treasure hunting activities in the mid-1820s and was even brought to court in March 1826 for money digging, which in that time and place was a crime. Once Smith announced that he had recovered a set of gold plates, there is considerable evidence of persecution. "Newspaper editors and clergymen vilified him for reviving old superstitions, and the Palmyra magicians harassed him for not playing their game." Eventually, Smith refused to attend religious services because, he said, "I can take my Bible, and go into the woods, and learn more in two hours, than you can learn at meeting in two years, if you should go all the time."

How the vision story has been presented

The importance of the First Vision within the Latter Day Saint movement evolved over time. Early adherents were unaware of the details of the vision until 1840, when the earliest accounts were published in Great Britain. An account of the First Vision was not published in the United States until 1842, shortly before Joseph Smith's death. Smith had previously discussed the vision privately in church histories and in his diary, but his status within the movement as a prophet and a seer arose from other visions and revelations and from what he said was his ability to translate ancient documents such as the Book of Mormon. Because the story of the First Vision was not published until twenty years after the canonical date of its occurrence, several second hand accounts conflate the First Vision with Smith's 1823 vision of the angel Moroni and the golden plates.

The First Vision was not emphasized in the sermons of Smith's immediate successors Brigham Young and John Taylor. Hugh Nibley noted that although a "favorite theme of Brigham Young's was the tangible, personal nature of God," he "never illustrates by any mention of the first vision." In 1863, Taylor discussed the origins of Mormonism without allusion to the canonical First Vision story. Non-Mormon historians of religion believe that the emphasis on the vision in LDS theology was a "'late development,' only gaining an influential status in LDS self-reflection late in the nineteenth century."

Possible 1830 allusion

Mormon apologist Jeff Lindsay argues that Joseph Smith may have referred to the First Vision in the Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ, written in June 1830 and first published in 1831. In describing the beginnings of Smith's Church of Christ, the document says:

For, after that it truly was manifested unto the first elder that he had received remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world, but after truly repenting, God visited him by an holy angel . . . and gave unto him power, by the means which was before prepared that he should translate a book"

Lindsay says that the general outline, the heavenly manifestation, Smith's forgiveness and relapse into sin and his subsequent repentance and visit by an angel, is similar to subsequent accounts, but this 1830 statement does not mention an appearance of Jesus or God the Father and that there is no condemnation of contemporary churches.

Joseph Smith's 1832 account

The earliest account of the First Vision was written in 1832 in Smith's own handwriting:

he Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in <the> attitude of calling upon the Lord <in the 16th year of my age> a pillar of fire light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the <Lord> opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph <my son> thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy <way> walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life <behold> the world lieth in sin and at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned aside from the gospel and keep not <my> commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them according to thir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which <hath> been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Apstles behold and lo I come quickly as it written of me in the cloud <clothed> in the glory of my Father . . . ."

Unlike later accounts of the vision, the emphasis of the 1832 account is on the young Joseph's quest for personal forgiveness. The account does not mention an appearance of God the Father, nor does it mention the phrase "This is my beloved Son, hear him." In the 1832 account, Smith also stated that before he experienced the First Vision, his own searching of the Scriptures had led him to the conclusion that mankind had "apostatized from the true and living faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament."

According to Mormon apologist Jeff Lindsay, this account builds on the outline in the Possible 1830 allusion, a heavenly manifestation, Smith's forgiveness and relapse into sin, and then his subsequent repentance and visit by an angel, but the 1832 account provides additional details such as the Smith's quest for truth that led to the vision, and the condemnation of contemporary Christianity within the vision. A critical site, sponsored by the Institute for Religious Research notes, however, that in Smith's 1832 version "Joseph claimed to see only a vision of Christ," whereas in "the 1838 story the message came from the Father and the Son.".

1834 account by Oliver Cowdery

In several issues of the LDS periodical Messenger and Advocate (1834-35), Oliver Cowdery wrote an early biography of Joseph Smith, Jr. In one issue, Cowdery explained that Smith was confused by the different religions and local revivals during his "15th year" (1820), leading him to wonder which church was true. In the next issue of the biography, Cowdery explained that reference to Smith's "15th year" was a typographical error, and that actually the revivals and religious confusion took place in Smith's "17th year." However, Cowdery apparently confused Smith's "17th year" (1822) with Smith being "seventeen years old" (1823), and thus he gave the year as 1823.

Therefore, according to Cowdery, the religious confusion led Smith to pray in his bedroom, late on the night of September 23 1823, after the others had gone to sleep, to know which of the competing denominations was correct and whether "a Supreme being did exist." In response, an angel appeared and granted him forgiveness of his sins. The remainder of the story roughly parallels Smith's later description of a visit by angel in 1823 who told him about the Golden Plates. Thus, Cowdery's account, containing a single vision, differs from Smith's 1832 account, which contains two separate visions, one in 1821 prompted by religious confusion (the First Vision) and a separate one regarding the plates on September 22 1822. Cowdery's account also differs from Smith's 1838 account, which includes a First Vision in 1820 and a second vision on September 22, 1823.

Joseph Smith's 1835 account

On November 9, 1835, Smith recorded an account of the First Vision in his diary (Warren Parish, scribe) that mentioned a vision of two unidentified personages and "many angels" when he was "about 14 years old." Jesus is identified as the Son of God, but neither "personage" is identified with Him. Smith also noted that he had another vision in his bedroom when he was 17. Unlike previous and subsequent accounts, there is no mention of all churches being condemned as corrupt.

Joseph Smith's 1838 Account

In 1838, Joseph Smith said that eighteen years previous, in the spring of 1820, during a period of "confusion and strife among the different denominations" following a religious revival, he had debated which of the various Christian groups he should join. While in turmoil, he read from the Bible: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

One morning, deeply impressed by this scripture, the fourteen-year-old Smith went to a grove of trees behind the family farm, knelt, and began his first vocal prayer. Almost immediately he was confronted by an evil power that prevented speech. A darkness gathered around him, and Smith believed that he would be destroyed. He continued the prayer silently, asking for God's assistance though still resigned to destruction. At this moment a light brighter than the sun descended towards him, and he was delivered from the evil power.

In the light, Smith "saw two personages standing in the air" before him, whom Smith later identified as God the Father and Jesus Christ. (One pointed to the other and declared Him to be his "Beloved Son.") Once Smith could speak again, he asked which religious sect he should join. Smith was told to join none of them, that all existing religions had corrupted the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Mormon apologist Jeff Lindsay points out that this account follows the same general outline as previous ones, noting Smiths' quest for truth, a supernatural manifestation, the condemnation of contemporary Christianity, Smith's relapse into sin, and his subsequent repentance and visit by an angel, but that the 1838 account provides additional details, including clarification of who the two personages were. Commentary by Wesley P. Walters from a critical site notes, however, that in Smith's 1838 version Joseph claimed for the first time to have seen a vision of God the Father in human flesh.

Accounts created for publication

An 1840 missionary tract by Orson Pratt stated that after Smith saw the light, "his mind was caught away, from the natural objects with which he was surrounded; and he was enwrapped in a heavenly vision." Pratt's account referred to "two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in their features or likeness", but did not identify them as angels or as God and Jesus, or otherwise.

In 1842, two years before his assassination, Joseph Smith, Jr. wrote a letter to John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat. In the letter, Smith outlined the basic beliefs of the Latter Day Saint movement and included an account of the First Vision. Smith said that he was "about fourteen years of age" when he had the First Vision. Like the Orson Pratt account, Smith's Wentworth letter said that his "mind was taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded, and I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision." In language paralleling that used two years earlier by Orson Pratt, Smith said he "saw two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in features, and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noon-day", but Smith did not identify the personages or note whether they were angels or dieties. Smith said he was told that no religious denomination "was acknowledged of God as his church and kingdom" and that he was "expressly commanded to 'go not after them.'"

Smith's accounts found in later reminiscences

Late in his life, Smith's brother William gave two accounts of the First Vision, dating it to 1823, when William was twelve years old. William said the religious excitement in Palmyra had occurred in 1822-23 (rather than the actual date of 1824-25), that it was stimulated by the preaching of a Methodist, the Rev. George Lane, a "great revival preacher," and that his mother and some of his siblings had then joined the Presbyterian church.

William Smith said he based his account on what Joseph had told William and the rest of his family the day after the First Vision:

light appeared in the heavens, and descended until it rested upon the trees where he was. It appeared like fire. But to his great astonishment, did not burn the trees. An angel then appeared to him and conversed with him upon many things. He told him that none of the sects were right; but that if he was faithful in keeping the commandments he should receive, the true way should be made known to him; that his sins were forgiven, etc.

In an 1884 account, William also stated that when Joseph first saw the light above the trees in the grove, he fell unconscious for an undetermined amount of time, after which he awoke and heard "the personage whom he saw" speak to him. William's account describes the visit of an angel, and neither of William's accounts makes a distinction between the First Vision and the vision of Moroni Smith said he experienced three and a half years later. William also acknowledged that Joseph's account was more accurate.

How people have responded to the First Vision

In the oldest known account of the First Vision, written in his own hand in 1832 (twelve years after the commonly accepted date of its occurrence), Joseph Smith, Jr. said he "could find none that would believe" his experience. According to Smith, shortly after the experience, he told the story of his revelation to a Methodist minister who responded "with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there was no such thing as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there never would be any more of them." Nevertheless, there is little if any evidence that Smith mentioned (or, for that matter, did not mention) the First Vision publicly to anyone prior to 1830.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has canonized Smith's 1838 account of the First Vision, and most believers consider this account the most complete and accurate.

Beliefs about the First Vision

Most contemporary denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the First Vision as part of their doctrine and history. However, they differ in their teachings about both the details and significance of the First Vision, and a few denominations reject it altogether.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has canonized Smith's 1838 account of the First Vision within the book Joseph Smith—History in the Pearl of Great Price, and it is a foundational belief of the Church. An official website of the Church calls the First Vision "the greatest event in world history since the birth, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ," and the Vision is often cited to support such uniquely LDS doctrines as the nature of the Godhead. Gordon B. Hinckley, Church President and Prophet, has declared,

Our entire case as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the validity of this glorious First Vision. It was the parting of the curtain to open this, the dispensation of the fullness of times. Nothing on which we base our doctrine, nothing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration. I submit that if Joseph Smith talked with God the Father and His Beloved Son, then all else of which he spoke is true. This is the hinge on which turns the gate that leads to the path of salvation and eternal life.

In 1961 Hinckley went even further, "Either Joseph Smith talked with the Father and the Son or he did not. If he did not, we are engaged in a blasphemy." Likewise, in a January 2007 interview conducted for the PBS documentary "The Mormons," Hinckley said of the First Vision, "t's either true or false. If it's false, we're engaged in a great fraud. If it's true, it's the most important thing in the world....That's our claim. That's where we stand, and that's where we fall, if we fall. But we don't. We just stand secure in that faith."

Community of Christ

In 1883, William B. Smith, younger brother of Joseph Smith, Jr., and key figure in the early days of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints gave his own account of the First Vision but stated: "A more elaborate and accurate description of his vision, however, will be found in his own history," referring to the 1838 account written by Joseph Smith, Jr. and later published as part of his History of the Church.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the RLDS Church did not emphasize the First Vision. In the early twentieth century, there was a revival of interest, and during most of the century, the First Vision was viewed as an essential element of the Restoration. In many cases, it was taught as the foundation and even embodiment of the Restoration. The Vision was also interpreted as a justification for the exclusive authority of the RLDS Church as the Church of Christ.

In the mid- to late-twentieth century, writers within the RLDS church emphasized the First Vision as an illustration of the centrality of Jesus. The church began taking a broader view of the Vision, and emphasized it as an example of how God evolves the church over time through revelation and restoration. There was less emphasis on the Great Apostasy and an understanding that the First Vision itself was not necessarily the same as Joseph Smith's later reconstructions and interpretations of the vision, what an RLDS Church Historian called "genuine historical sophistication."

In the late 20th Century, the RLDS church changed its name to Community of Christ. Today, the Community of Christ generally refers to the First Vision as the "grove experience" and takes a flexible view about its historicity, emphasizing the healing presence of God and the forgiving mercy of Jesus Christ felt by Joseph Smith.

The Church of Jesus Christ

The Church of Jesus Christ, a Rigdonite branch with 15,000 members headquartered in Pennsylvania, has had an independent history from the Brighamite branches since the 1844 succession crisis. The church does not refer to the First Vision by name, but the vision is described in a lengthy excerpt from Smith's 1838 account that is included in its official literature. The date "1820" and a "personage" (singular, not plural) are mentioned in paraphrases.

Church of Christ (Temple Lot)

The Church of Christ (Temple Lot), a non-Brighamite branch with 5000 adherents, follows the David Whitmer tradition in rejecting many of Smith's post-1832 revelations. Nevertheless, the church uses several elements of the 1838 account of the First Vision including Smith's desire to know which church he should join, his reading of James 1:5, his prayer in the grove, the appearance of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, the statement by Jesus Christ that all existing churches were corrupt, and the instruction that he should join none of them.

Alleged problems with the First Vision

Writing of the revivals described in the 1838 First Vision story (which has been canonized by the LDS Church), Milton V. Backman Jr., associate professor of history and religion at Brigham Young University said that although "the tools of the historian" could neither verify nor challenge the First Vision, "records of the past can be examined to determine the reliability of Joseph's description regarding the historical setting." Opponents of Mormonism claim that there are serious discrepancies between the various accounts, as well as anachronisms revealed by lack of contemporary corroboration.

For instance, in his 1838 account, Smith said that when he shared his vision with a Methodist minister, the latter treated his "communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days." Smith said that he became the "subject of great persecution, which continued to increase." But according to emeritus Brigham Young University history professor James B. Allen, there is no evidence beyond Smith's word that he ever mentioned his vision to a minister—or in fact, to anyone else—for years after the event is supposed to have occurred. Nor is there any evidence that the young Smith was persecuted for telling the First Vision story during the 1820s.

Apologetic Response

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have acknowledged that the differences in the accounts can be troublesome. Apostle Neal A. Maxwell wrote:

In our own time, Joseph Smith, the First Vision, and the Book of Mormon constitute stumbling blocks for many—around which they cannot get—unless they are meek enough to examine all the evidence at hand, not being exclusionary as a result of accumulated attitudes in a secular society. Humbleness of mind is the initiator of expansiveness of mind."

Some believers view differences in the accounts as overstated. Richard L. Anderson, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University wrote, "What are the main problems of interpreting so many accounts? The first problem is the interpreter. One person perceives harmony and interconnections while another overstates differences."

Other believers view the differences in the accounts as reflective of Smith's increase in maturity and knowledge over time. In a recent PBS interview, Marlin K. Jensen, General authority and Church Historian said:

I've actually studied the various accounts of Joseph's First Vision, and I'm struck by the difference in his recountings. But as I look back at my missionary journals, for instance, which I've kept and other journals which I've kept throughout my life, I'm struck now in my older years by the evolution and hopefully the progression that's taken place in my own life and how differently now from this perspective I view some things that happened in my younger years.

In another interview on the same PBS documentary, Richard Mouw, an evangelical theologian and student of Mormonism summarized his feelings about the First Vision in this way:

My instinct is to attribute a sincerity to Joseph Smith. And yet at the same time, as an evangelical Christian, I do not believe that the members of the godhead really appeared to him and told him that he should start on a mission of, among other things, denouncing the kinds of things that I believe as a Presbyterian. I can't believe that. And yet at the same time, I really don't believe that he was simply making up a story that he knew to be false in order to manipulate people and to gain power over a religious movement. And so I live with the mystery.

Notes

The first extant account of the First Vision is the manuscript account in Joseph Smith, "Manuscript History of the Church" (1839); the first published account is Orson Pratt, An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions and of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records (Edinburgh: Ballantyne and Hughes, 1840); and the first American publication is Joseph Smith's letter to John Wentworth in Times and Seasons, 3 (March 1842), 706-08, only two years before Smith's assassination. (These accounts are available in Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996), volume 1.) As the LDS historian Richard Bushman has written in his authoritative biography, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), "At first, Joseph was reluctant to talk about his vision. Most early converts probably never heard about the 1820 vision." (39)
"Historians have pondered the various phrases of this vision's evolution and tend to see its present form as a 'late development,' only gaining an influential status in LDS self-reflection late in the nineteenth century." Douglas J. Davies, An Introduction to Mormonism (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 136. A chapter on this development is in Kurt Widmer, Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1833-1915 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2000), 92-107. Nevertheless, LDS apologists assert that the doctrine played a significant part in new religion by the time of Smith's martyrdom www.fairwiki.org - historical timeline of First Vision presentation
^ Palmer, 248-252. Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were excommunicated on April 12-13, 1838. The following week Smith contemplated rewriting his history. On April 26, he renamed the church. The next day he "started dictating a new first vision narrative." (248)
^ "One person perceives harmony and interconnections while another overstates differences. Think of how you retell a vivid event in your life—marriage, first day on the job, or an automobile accident. A record of all your comments would include short and long versions, along with many bits and pieces. Only by blending these glimpses can an outsider reconstruct what originally happened. The biggest trap is comparing description in one report with silence in another. By assuming that what is not said is not known, some come up with arbitrary theories of an evolution in the Prophet’s story. Yet we often omit parts of an episode because of the chance of the moment, not having time to tell everything, or deliberately stressing only a part of the original event in a particular situation. This means that any First Vision account contains some fraction of the whole experience. Combining all reliable reports will recreate the basics of Joseph Smith’s quest and conversation with the Father and Son."(Anderson 1996)
(Quinn 1998)
"About midnight I saw a light about a foot from my face as bright as fire; the doors were all shut and no one stirring in the house. I thought by this that I had but a few moments to live, and oh what distress I was in....Another night soon after, I saw another light as bright as the first, at a small distance from my face, and I thought I had but a few moments to live. And not sleeping nights and reading, all day I was in misery; well you may think I was in distress, soul and body. At another time in the dead of the night I was called by my Christian name; I arise up to answer to my name. The doors all being shut and the house still, I thought the Lord called, and I had but a moment to live."(Mack 1811, p. 25)
(Bushman 2005, p. 17)
Bushman, 25; Lucy Mack Smith in EMD 1: 250. Eventually Asael became a Mormon.
Green Mountain Boys to Thomas C. Sharp, February 15, 1844, in EMD 1: 597.
(Smith 1853, pp. 56, 58–59, 70–72, 74)
Joseph Smith, Sr.'s second vision as reported by Lucy Mack Smith exhibits many similarities to a dream given in the early chapters of the Book of Mormon. (Bushman 2005, p. 36)
(Bushman 2005, p. 26)
(Smith 1853, pp. 55–56)(Quinn 1998)
(Bushman, pp. 25–27) harv error: no target: CITEREFBushman (help)
(Quinn 1998)
Smith 1838a, pp. 42–43 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSmith1838a (help) (admitting that he was what he called a "money digger," but saying that it "was never a very profitable job to him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it"). Elders’ Journal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,1: 43 (July 1838). For a discussion of Joseph Smith's money-digging activities by a sympathetic academic biographer, see Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 48-49.
Lucy Smith "Preliminary Manuscript," LDS Church Archives, in EMD, 1: 285
D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View ((Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987), 55: "Joseph Smith's mother did not deny her family participation in occult activities but simply affirmed that these did not prevent family members from accomplishing other, equally important work." In a note at EMD 1: 285 (n. 84), Dan Vogel argues that this sentence from the draft may have been excised from the 1853 edition of Lucy Mack Smith's memoirs because of its allusion to folk magic, "which was a sensitive subject for those not wishing to give credence to claims made in affidavits collected in 1833 by Philastus Hurlbut."
(Smith 1832, p. 1)
(Smith 1853, p. 73)
(Smith 1853, p. 84)
(Tucker 1867, p. 16)
(Tucker 1867, p. 16–17)
Fawn Brodie, No Man Knows My History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), 26.
"Wave after wave of diverse religious excitements made New York State notoriously 'burned-over.'" Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972), 477n.; see Whitney R. Cross, The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1950).
Backman 1969, p. 4-5.
"About this time their was a great revival in religion and the whole neighborhood was very much aroused to the subject and we among the rest flocked to the meeting house to see if their was a word of comfort for us...." Lucy Smith, "Preliminary Manuscript" LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah in EMD, 1: 306.
Lua error: Book <js_h> not found in Standard Works.. Nevertheless, a childhood acquaintance, Lorenzo Saunders, recalled that the first time he ever attended Sabbath School he went with “young Joe Smith at the old Presbyterian Church." Lorenzo Saunders interviewed by William H. Kelley, 17 September 1884, 1-18, E. L. Kelley Papers, RLDS Church Library-Archives, Independence, Missouri in EMD, 2: 127.
Smith 1832, pp. 1–2. Smith's concern was due in part to revivalism in the Palmyra area and in part to the "importunities and exertions" of Smith's mother. Smith 1883, p. 7.
Smith 1842b, p. 727.
Smith 1832, p. 2.
Smith 1842b, p. 727
Smith 1853, pp. 56, 58–59, 70–72, 74.
Smith 1842c, p. 748
Waite 1843.
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth unto all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him."Smith 1842b, pp. 727–28
Smith 1884.
Joseph Smith-History 1: 5.
(Smith 1832, p. 3)
Backman 1969, p. 309 (June 1820). These, however, followed rather than preceded the traditional date of the First Vision in the early spring of 1820.
(Porter 1969, p. 330)
Joseph Smith-History 1: 5-6
Palmer, 244.
(Roberts 1902, vol. 1, ch. 1, p. 7) According to two LDS scholars, the most likely exact date was Sunday, March 26th, 1820, a date based partly on weather reports and partly on maple sugar production Meridian Magazine.
(Smith 1883, pp. 6, 7–8)
Vogel, EMD, 1: 61, note 25. William was only 12 at the time he said the event occurred, and his account was written sixty years after that.
^ (Smith 1883, p. 9).
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/js_h/1/5.
Joseph Smith, Sr. was first taxed for Manchester land in 1820. In 1821 and 1822, the land was valued at $700, but in 1823, the property was assessed at $1000, "which indicates that the Smiths had completed construction of their cabin and cleared a significant portion of their land." Vogel, EMD, 3: 443-44.
(Ray 2002, p. 4-5) The matter is complex. For a counter argument—that there was a second cabin on the Smith property in Manchester—see Dan Vogel, EMD, 3: 416-19. Vogel argues that based on archaeological and documentary evidence, the Manchester cabin was constructed prior to the Smiths' building of their frame home. "To argue for the existence of only the Jennings cabin, which the Smiths inadvertently built on the Palmyra side of the township line, one must assume that the error was perpetuated not only by the Smiths but also by authorities in both counties. However, the existence of the names of Joseph Sr., Alvin, and Hyrum on the Palmyra road lists for 1820-22 strongly argues that both the Smiths and village authorities understood that the cabin was in Palmyra township." (419)
Smith 1842b, p. 728.
Waite 1843.
Smith 1842b, p. 727.
Smith 1832, p. 3.
Waite 1843.
Smith 1835, p. 23.
Smith 1842c, p. 748; Pratt 1840, p. 5.
Smith 1842c, p. 748.
Smith 1842c, p. 748.
Smith 1832, p. 3;Smith 1842c, p. 748.
Pratt 1840, p. 5.
Pratt 1840, p. 5; 1835, p. 24 harvnb error: no target: CITEREF1835 (help).
Pratt 1840, p. 5
Pratt 1840, p. 5; Smith 1842a, p. 706.
Smith 1832, p. 3.
Smith 1835, p. 37.
Smith 1835, p. 24.
Neibaur 1844, May 24, 1844 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNeibaur1844 (help); Waite 1843.
Pratt 1840, p. 5; Smith 1842a, p. 707.
Neibaur 1844, May 24, 1844 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNeibaur1844 (help).
Smith 1842c, p. 748.
Taylor 1879, p. 161. Taylor, who stated he had heard the story from Smith himself, said the personages were "the Lord" and "his Son Jesus."
1832, p. 3 harvnb error: no target: CITEREF1832 (help).
Waite 1843.
Neibaur 1844, May 24, 1844 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNeibaur1844 (help).
Smith 1842a, p. 707; Pratt 1840, p. 5.
Waite 1843 Smith 1842c, p. 748.
Smith 1842c, p. 748.
Smith 1842a, p. 707; Pratt 1840, p. 5. One account also said that "many other things did say unto me which I cannot write at this time." Smith 1842c, p. 748.
Waite 1843; Smith 1842c, p. 748.
(Roberts 1902, vol. 1, ch. 1, p. 6)
Lucy Smith's Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, first published in Liverpool in 1853. EMD, 1: 227.
(Smith 1883, p. 9). William also described the vision by referring to several elements Joseph Smith had ascribed to his first vision as well as several elements he ascribed to his second vision.Smith 1883, p. 6
(Roberts 1902, vol. 1, ch. 1, p. 6).
(Roberts 1902, vol. 1, ch. 1, p. 7).
"The fact that none of the available contemporary writings about Joseph Smith in the 1830’s, none of the publications of the Church in that decade, and no contemporary journal or correspondence yet discovered mentions the story of the first vision is convincing evidence that at best it received only limited circulation in those early days.” James B. Allen, “The Significance of Joseph Smith's First Vision in Mormon Thought,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 1 (Autumn 1966), . "What Joseph said explicitly was that the vision led to trouble, though his youthful sensitivity probably exaggerated the reaction." Bushman, 43. Nevertheless, Bushman gives no evidence to support or refute any persecution that can be attributed to Smith's First Vision. In No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie writes, "the Palmyra newspapers, which in later years gave plenty of unpleasant publicity, took no notice of Joseph's vision at the time it was supposed to have occurred." In Milton V. Backman, Jr., Joseph Smith's First Vision: Confirming Evidences and Contemporary Accounts (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1971) an entire section (114-121) is spent on "Evidence of Oppression", but mentions no persecution of Smith before 1830 other than the mysterious rifle shot reported by Lucy Mack Smith in her memoirs.
Bushman, 51-52.
Bushman, 57.
(Smith 1853, p. 90).
Improvement Era (November 1961), 868.
"How did this state of things called Mormonism originate? We read that an angel came down and revealed himself to Joseph Smith and manifested unto him in vision the true position of the world in a religious point of view. He was surrounded with light and glory while the heavenly messenger communicated these things unto him, after a series of visitations and communications from the Apostle Peter and others who held the authority of the holy Priesthood, not only on the earth formerly but in the heavens afterwards." Journal of Discourses 10: 123@ 127
"Historians have pondered the various phrases of this vision's evolution and tend to see its present form as a 'late development,' only gaining an influential status in LDS self-reflection late in the nineteenth century." Douglas J. Davies, An Introduction to Mormonism (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 136. A chapter on this development is in Kurt Widner, Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1833-1915 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2000), 92-107. Nevertheless, LDS apologists assert that the doctrine played a significant part in new religion by the time of Smith's martyrdom www.fairwiki.org - historical timeline of First Vision presentation
(Phelps 1833, p. 47)
(Howe 1831)
(Howe 1831)
Jeff Lindsay - Joseph Smith and His Accounts of the First Vision: Fatal Contradictions??
Palmer, 240.
(Smith 1832, p. 2). Angle brackets indicate insertions by Smith.
Joseph Smith History, 1832, EMD, 1:28.
Jeff Lindsay - Joseph Smith and His Accounts of the First Vision: Fatal Contradictions??
Institute of Religious Research website
See the full text of the Messenger and Advocate December 1834, page 42 and January 1835, pages 78-79.
Abanes, 16; the 1835 account. In 1835, Smith approved the Lectures on Faith, an orderly presentation of Mormonism (probably by Sidney Rigdon) in which it was taught that although Jesus Christ had a tangible body of flesh, God the Father was a spiritual presence--a view not out of harmony with orthodox Christian belief. The Lectures on Faith were canonized as scripture by the LDS Church and included as part of the Doctrine and Covenants until de-canonized after 1921. (Bushman, 283-84.)
James 1: 5; Joseph Smith's History, an account of his First Vision.
See Great Apostasy.
Jeff Lindsay - Joseph Smith and His Accounts of the First Vision: Fatal Contradictions??
Institute of Religious Research website
(Pratt 1840, p. 5)
(Pratt 1840, p. 5)
(Smith 1842a, pp. 706–710).
(Smith 1842a, pp. 706)
(Smith 1842a, pp. 706)
(Smith 1842a, pp. 707)
(Smith 1842a, pp. 707)
(Smith 1883, pp. 6, 7–8)
(Smith 1883, p. 6)
Harv|Smith|1883|pp=6, 8–9}}
(Smith 1883, pp. 6, 8–9)
(Smith 1884)
(Smith 1832, p. 2)
According to Mormon apologist Larry C. Porter, the Methodist minister George Lane may have passed very near the Smith home and preached at a camp meeting along the way in July of 1820. "In the pursuit of his ministerial duties Rev. Lane was in the geographical proximity of Joseph Smith on a number of occasions between the years 1819-1825. The nature degree or indeed the actuality of their acquaintanceship during this interval poses a number of interesting possibilities... In July 1820 Lane would have had to pass through the greater Palmyra-Manchester vicinity..unless he went by an extremely circuitous route. Present records do not specify Lane's itinerary or exact route... but they do for Lane's friend, Rev. George Peck... conference route took him north to Ithaca, then on to a camp meeting in the Holland Purchase, subsequently passing along the Ridge Road to Rochester... As Rev. Peck, may even have stopped at a camp meeting somewhere along the way. A preacher of his standing would always be a welcome guest." However, Smith never mentions the name of the minister.
(Smith 1842c, p. 748)
"The earliest allusion, oral or written, to the first vision is the brief mention that was transcribed in June 1830 and originally printed in the Book of Commandments." Palmer, 235. Mormon historian James B. Allen has stated: "There is little if any evidence...that by the early 1830’s Joseph Smith was telling the story in public. The fact that none of the available contemporary writings about Joseph Smith in the 1830’s, none of the publications of the Church in that decade, and no contemporary journal or correspondence yet discovered mentions the story of the first vision is convincing evidence that at best it received only limited circulation in those early days.” James B. Allen, “The Significance of Joseph Smith's First Vision in Mormon Thought,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 1 (Autumn 1966), [http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?
(Anderson 1996)
(Bitton 1994, p. 86)as quoted in(Anderson 1996)
http://www.josephsmith.net/portal/site/JosephSmith/menuitem.da0e1d4eb6d2d87f9c0a33b5f1e543a0/?vgnextoid=497679179acbff00VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD JosephSmith.net, a website of the LDS Church.
Gordon B. Hinkley (November 1998). "What Are People Asking about Us?". Ensign. Retrieved 2007-05-12..
Improvement Era (December 1961), 907. David O. McKay, the ninth president of the LDS Church, also declared the First Vision to be the foundation of the faith. David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1951), 19.
PBS interview with Hinckley
Howard 1980, p. 24.
Howard 1980, p. 25.
Howard 1980, p. 25–26.
Howard 1980, p. 27.
Howard 1980, p. 27–28.
Howard 1980, p. 28.
According to its website, the church "does not legislate or mandate positions on issues of history. We place confidence in sound historical methodology as it relates to our church story. We believe that historians and other researchers should be free to come to whatever conclusions they feel are appropriate after careful consideration of documents and artifacts to which they have access. We benefit greatly from the significant contributions of the historical discipline." Community of Christ website.
http://www.cofchrist.org/history/default.asp
In an unpublished e-mail exchange on September 19, 2007, General Church Correspondent Richard Lawson was asked: "1. Does The Church of Jesus Christ traditionally refer to a vision of Smith's prior to the visitation of Moroni? 2. If so, does the Church have a name for the experience? 3. Does the church have a published story of the experience? 4. Does the church have sermons or discourses that discuss the experience?" Lawson answered, "The very short answer to your questions is 'no' to each."
Timothy Dom Bucci, "Apostasy and Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ" (Bridgewater, Michigan: The Church of Jesus Christ Print House, 2004), 5-10. The reference quotes the 1838 account as found in the LDS Church Pearl of Great Price, with some exceptions including the noted paraphrasings as follows: 1) "As the light shown down on him, a personage appeared...." (p. 6) and 2) "This was in the year 1820" (p. 6). The summary following the excerpt (p. 10) emphasizes the importance of the Book of Mormon, but makes no additional comment about the First Vision.
Church of Christ (Temple Lot) website - History
Church of Christ (Temple Lot) website - Book of Mormon
Backman 1969, p. 2
The best recent skeptical summary of the First Vision stories is Grant Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 235-54. Palmer, a retired paid LDS religious instructor was disfellowshipped by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after publishing this book. Palmer concludes his chapter, "The 1832 account describes Joseph's experience most accurately. Joseph's 1832 description does not forbid him from joining a church, nor does it mention a revival or persecution. Instead, he became convicted of his sins from reading the scriptures and received forgiveness from the Savior in a personal epiphany. He stated that his call to God's work came in 1823 from an angel, later identified as Moroni. When a crisis developed around the Book of Mormon in 1838, he conflated several events into one. Now he was called by God the Father and Jesus Christ in 1820 during an extended revival, was forbidden to join any existing church, and was greatly persecuted by institutions and individuals for sharing his vision of God. This version is not supported by historical evidence."(253-54)
"I was greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them. I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase."(Smith 1842c, p. 748)
"The fact that none of the available contemporary writings about Joseph Smith in the 1830’s, none of the publications of the Church in that decade, and no contemporary journal or correspondence yet discovered mentions the story of the first vision is convincing evidence that at best it received only limited circulation in those early days.” James B. Allen, “The Significance of Joseph Smith's First Vision in Mormon Thought,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 1 (Autumn 1966). In No Man Knows My History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), the skeptical Fawn Brodie is more biting: "Joseph's first published autobiographical sketch of 1834, already noted, contained no whisper of an event that, if it had happened, would have been the most soul-shattering experience of his whole youth." (24) "If something happened that spring morning in 1820, it passed totally unnoticed in Joseph's home town, and apparently did not even fix itself in the minds of members of his own family." (25)
...from the age of twelve years to fifteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the situation of the world of mankind the contentions and divisions the wickedness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the minds of mankind my mind become exceedingly distressed for I become convicted of my Sins and by Searching the Scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatized from the true and living faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament..." in EMD 1: 28.
JSH:1:10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be aright, which is it, and how shall I know it?
JSH:1:18 ... No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.
The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) is part of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, formerly known as the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, at Brigham Young University (BYU), which is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
FARMS FAQ webpage
JSH 1:20 ... And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, “Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I then said to my mother, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.” ...
Lucy Mack Smith notes that after the family's third wheat harvest in Palmyra/Manchester (1823), "we were sitting till quite late conversing upon the subject of the diversity of churches that had risen up in the world and the many thousands opinions in existence as to the truths contained in scripture. Joseph never said many words upon any subject but always seemed to reflect more deeply than common persons of his age upon everything of a religious nature. After we ceased conversation he went to bed and was pondering in his mind which of the churches were the true one but he had not laid there long till he saw a bright light enter the room where he lay he looked up and saw an angel of the Lord standing by him." Lucy Smith, "Preliminary Manuscript" LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah in EMD, 1: 289.
He may have even spoken during some Methodist meetings—a childhood acquaintance of Smith's, Orsamus Turner (1801-1855) described him as a "very passable exhorter," which Dan Vogel has interpreted to mean some involvement with the Methodists "during the 1824-25 revival in Palmyra. Nevertheless, Vogel admits that Smith "could not have been a licensed exhorter since membership was a prerequisite."EMD, 3: 50, n. 15; Turner 1851, p. 429 Turner says that "after catching a spark of Methodism in the camp meeting, away down in the woods, on the Vienna road, he was a very passable exhorter in evening meetings." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an "exhorter" is either "One who exhorts or urges on to action" or "a person appointed to give religious exhortation under the direction of a superior minister." Exhorters were common in early Methodism. (For instance, see Abel Stevens, History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America (New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1884), 2: 235.) Nevertheless, according to Craig N. Ray, the word "exhorter" refers to Smith's activities in a debating club, not in Methodist meetings. (No other reputable scholar has adopted this interpretation.)Brown The full text of the Turner quote can be found at Olivercowdery.com It is a single very lengthy sentence, but in summary, it says: "...the mother's intellect occasionally shone out in him feebly, especially when he used to help us to solve some portentous questions of moral or political ethics, in our juvenile debating club... and, subsequently, after catching a spark of Methodism in the camp-meeting, away down in the woods, on the Vienna road, he was a very passable exhorter in evening meetings." Smith was also said to have been influenced by the preaching of the Rev. George Lane, a Methodist presiding elder.Cowdery 1834, p. 13; Smith 1883
Bushman, 69-70. The Methodists did not acquire property on the Vienna Road until July 1821, so it is likely that Smith's first dabble with Methodism occurred during the 1824-25 revival in Palmyra.
(Lewis & Lewis 1879; McKune 1879).
Joseph Lewis and Hiel Lewis, Statement, in EMD, 4: 305. Richard Bushman writes: "Sometime in this dark period, Joseph attended Methodist meetings with Emma, probably to placate her family. One of Emma's uncles preached as a Methodist lay minister, and a brother-in-law was class leader in Harmony. Joseph was later said to have asked to be enrolled in the class. Joseph Lewis, a cousin of Emma's rose in wrath when he found Joseph's name....He confronted Joseph and demanded repentance or removal. For some reason Joseph's name remained on the roll for another six months, although there is no evidence of attendance." Bushman, 69-70.
Neal A. Maxwell, Meek and Lowly (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1987), 76).
Interview with Marlin Jensen for PBS documentary "The Mormons"
Interview with Richard Mouw for PBS documentary "The Mormons"

References

Abanes, Richard (2002), One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church, New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.
Allen, James B. (1966), "The Significance of Joseph Smith's "first Vision" in Mormon Thought", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 1 (6): 29.
Anderson, Richard Lloyd (April 1996), "Joseph Smith's Testimony of the First Vision", Ensign{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link).
Anderson, Richard Lloyd (1969), "Circumstantial Confirmation Of the first Vision Through Reminiscences" (PDF), BYU Studies, 9 (3): 373–404.
Backman, Milton V., Jr. (1969), "Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the first Vision" (PDF), BYU Studies, 9 (3): 301–315{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
Bauder, Peter (1834), "The Kingdom and the Gospel of Jesus Christ", in Vogel, Dan (ed.), Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, pp. 16–17 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |publication-year= ignored (help).
Bitton, Davis (1994), Historical Dictionary of Mormonism, Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press.
Brown, Matthew B., Historical or Hysterical— Anti-Mormons and Documentary Sources, Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research.
Bushman, Richard Lyman (2005), Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, New York: Knopf, ISBN 1400042704.
Cowdery, Oliver (June 9 1830), "Minutes of the Church of Christ", in Cannon, Donald Q.; Cook, Lyndon W. (eds.), Far West Record: Minutes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1844, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |publication-year= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link).
Cowdery, Oliver (1834), "Letter III", Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, 1 (3): 41–43.
Cowdery, Oliver (1835), "Letter IV", Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, 1 (5): 77–80.
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