Joseph Smith and the First Vision
Official Statement on Joseph Smith’s First Vision (document)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng
The official statement by the LDS Church reviewing Joseph Smith’s First Vision
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Social Media Resources:
Why the First Vision Accounts Don’t Match — Explained by Science (41 min)
Why are there different accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision? Was he misremembering, exaggerating, or telling the truth? In this episode, we explore the science of memory and how new research sheds light on Joseph’s accounts. With insights from Stephen C. Harper and a recent article in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, we show why the differences actually reflect authentic memory, not fabrication. Topics in this episode: • How memory really works (it’s not a perfect recording ) • What “flashbulb memories” reveal about the First Vision • Why historians and neuroscientists see consistency in Joseph’s accounts
Why Are There Different Accounts of the First Vision? - Church History Matters Podcast (52 min)
Joseph Smith’s First Vision is foundational to our narrative of the Restoration today, but it was not always so from the Church’s beginning. So how did the First Vision go from what began as a very personal experience of Joseph’s, to growing in institutional significance for the whole Church as it has today? Also, given that there are unique differences in Joseph Smith’s 4 separate accounts of his First Vision, what role does our personal “hermeneutic” play in how we make sense of these? And what might a letter Joseph wrote from Indiana to his wife Emma tell us about the context of his 1832 account of his vision?
How THIS RARE First Vision Account Made 'Ex Mormon' LDS Historian, Don Bradley Return to The Church (12 min)
Recounting how different versions of Joseph Smith’s first vision helped Don Bradley confirm his faith and helped him connect to ancient doctrine rather than destroy his faith.
Joseph Smith’s First Vision as Endowment (or Why I Came Back to the Church) - Don Bradley (46 min)
It’s funny how the deeper you dig into Joseph Smith’s history, the more authentic he becomes and the deeper the connections are found with ancient scripture and doctrine that Joseph himself didn’t even know about. If you are speaking truth, eventually the truth will defend itself.
Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith's First Vision (53 min)
Some have created a controversy out of nothing with regard to the various times Joseph Smith shared his first vision story. The various versions of the first vision were of course given many years apart, to various different audiences for various different purposes. It is obvious that he would have focused on various aspects of the vision to make different points in different circumstances. This presentation investigates these details and supposed controversies.
Joseph Smith's First Vision Accounts Explained! (21 min)
Join Casey Griffiths as he explores the locations and context where each primary account of the First Vision was written down. There are four accounts in which Joseph Smith was directly involved. Yet, these accounts aren't exactly the same. In this video Casey helps make sense of the context of each account. He also interviews Steve Harper, a Church History researcher who has studied this subject extensively.
Joseph Smith spoke honestly when he declared:
“I had seen a vision, I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”
“But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
-Joseph Smith Jr.