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FIRST VISION - SECTION 2
Total Articles:
3
The Mormon Church relies and heavily uses what is referred to as the "First Vision." The First Vision is an account of Joseph Smith, a 14 year old boy, who puzzled over which church to join, knelt in a grove of trees in 1820 and prayed for an answer. According to the Mormon Church First Vision, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and told him that all churches were corrupt and that Joseph would be called to bring forth the "True Church Of God." The Mormon Church continues to publish and preach this version of the First Vision to current membership and to potential converts.
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 | Does Everything Rest On The First Vision, Or The Book Of Mormon?
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011, at 07:47 AM
Original Author(s): Jod3:360
Topic: FIRST VISION - SECTION 2 -Guid- | ↑ | Supposedly, everything stands or falls on the Book of Mormon.
Likewise, everything stands or falls on the [1820]First Vision.
The Book of Mormon does not teach that God and Jesus were seperate beings. It teaches that they are the same. The BoM teaches that Jesus is the very Father.
Mosiah 3:8, 15:1-5,
Ether 4:7, 12
Alma 18:26-28
At the time that the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants was printed, it included the Lectures on Faith which essentially mirrored the Book of Mormon idea of God.
In 1830 Joseph Smith created the Book of Moses which again portrays God and Jesus as the same beings as described in the Book of Mormon- one a personage of Glory, the other the Only begotten Son in the flesh.
In todays LDS Bible Luke 10:22, the footnote refers to the JST again indicating that Jesus is the very Father.
The current Doctrine and Covenants also held this view of an almost interchangeable role as God and creator, prior to section 130. 130 is the first instance where God the Father now has a body of flesh and bone, and included in the Utah 1876 D&C.;
If, as the church declares today, Joseph Smith had a vision of God and Jesus standing side by side as physical beings, he made no effort to correct the Book of Mormon, and he proceeded to deny that vision by incorporating the Book of Mormon view into subsequent scriptures. The Mormon church says that scripture is what is written by the prophet when moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
It also declares that the Holy Ghosts prime mission is to testify of truth, and of Jesus Christ.
If the Holy Ghost witnessed to Joseph Smith during those formative years when the scriptures were produced, then it stands to reason that in later years Joseph (being guilty of adultery, and of other crimes) had lost the spirit when he proclaimed his famous King Follett Discourse. This discourse was also given only a couple years after the first tellings of the First Vision story.
And because the church subscribes to Josephs later speculation as revealed in the King Follet Discourse, then the church has fallen from the truth as well. Providing of course, that the Book of Mormon is true...
Only by dismissing the Book of Mormon, The Book of Moses, The sections of the Doctrine and Covenants prior to 130, as well as the JST, can the church justifiably adhere to its present theology.
But by doing so, it is necessarily false.
Only by admitting that the church was wrong to follow the King Follett Discourse and all related Man-God teachings, can the church claim that it is true according to the scriptures, but by doing so reveals that the Utah brand of Mormonism is again false.
| '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!'
Is this experience important to the Church and it's members?
"Our entire case as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the validity of this glorious First Vision. ... 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."
- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign Mag., Nov. 1998, pp.70-71
So it would be a bit of a battleship sinker were it not to be the case...
It would appear that Joseph did not initially believe that God and Christ were different people, even after the date given for the First Vision 1820.
'...a piller 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.'
This is the description that Joseph wrote himself in his notebook in 1832 (12 years after the date of when it is stated that he saw God and Christ).
How do you explain that Jospeh initially only wrote about seeing one personage? Did he forget that he saw God?
This is how Milton V, Backman Jnr answers the question on LDS.org (Joseph Smith’s Recitals of the First Vision)
'This does not mean that in 1832 Joseph said that only one personage appeared or in any way disclaimed the appearance of two personages. In fact, Joseph Smith may have referred to the Father in his 1832 account when he declared that he “cried unto the Lord” and the “Lord opened the heavens,” even though Joseph was referring to the Son when he wrote that the Lord spoke to him. The Prophet (and other early General Authorities) used the word God, meaning the Father, and Lord interchangeably'
Not convinced? No, neither am I...
Some more torpedoes for that old 'two personage' battleship:
Some verses within the Book of Mormon have been changed since it's original publication. In fact lots have been changed but let's stick to the subject in hand.
1st Nephi 13:40
original 1830 - '...the lamb of God is the Eternal Father...'
currently - '...the lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father...'
1st Nephi 11:21
original 1830 - '...Behold the lamb of God, yea even the Eternal Father...'
currently - '...Behold the lamb of God, yea even the Son of the Eternal Father...'
1st Nephi 11:32
original 1830 - '...and beheld the lamb of God...yea the Everlasting Father...'
currently - '...and beheld the lamb of God...yea the Son of the Everlasting Father...'
It is worth bearing in mind that, according to the Church, the Book of Mormon was given through divine inspiration, word for word.
Even after these alterations the current Book of Mormon is still conflicted on the subject.
Mosiah 15: 1-4
'...God himself shall come down among the children of men...'
'...being the Father and the Son...'
'...they are one God, yea the very Eternal Father of Heaven and Earth...'
And before we run away with thinking that this is just the fault of bad dictation or typesetting or other 'human error' let us consider Joseph Smiths inspired translation of the Bible.
Luke 10:22
original KJV - '...no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father and who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him...'
JST - '...no man knoweth that the Son is the Father and the Father is the Son but him to whom the Son will reveal it...'
This is perhaps the most compelling as it is a conscious retranslation that happened AFTER the date that Joseph is reported to have seen God and Jesus are completely seperate beings.
To repeat the main question: The First Vision, did it happen...?
| | | Joseph Smith Plagiarized His First Vision Account! 12 Possible Sources
Monday, Dec 12, 2011, at 09:31 AM
Original Author(s): Captainmoroni
Topic: FIRST VISION - SECTION 2 -Guid- | ↑ | Mormons like to teach that Joseph Smith was radically different than the rest of the people at his time in claiming to have seen angels or Jesus Christ. They say that his community mercilessly persecuted him for his great vision. However, this is extremely unlikely.
First of all, neither Joseph Smith or his family even mention his First Vision until 12 years after it supposedly happened. There is absolutely no evidence of widespread persecution.
Secondly, almost everyone was claiming to have their own visions of angels and God. Pastors and their flock regularly published and told such accounts of childhood visions. Joseph Smith was not special. In fact, his account is suspiciously similar to several other popular accounts of visions in Upstate New York. Here are possible sources for his plagiarism.
1. Norris Stearns in 1815 published his own vision. "There appeared a small gleam of light in the room, above the brightness of the sun..." Norris saw two beings. "One was God, my Maker, almost in bodily shape like a man. His face was , as it were a flame of fire ... Below him stood Jesus Christ my Redeemer, in a perfect shape like a man-- His face was not ablaze, but had the countenance of fire, being bright and shining."
2. Lorenzo Dow dreamed, "he was taken up by a whirlwind" He saw God sitting upon an ivory throne (apparently God is no environmentalist) and Jesus Christ was at his right hand. In fact, Brigham Young's brother was named after this man.
3. Elias Smith reported that he had a morning vision in the woods in 1816. He said that, "While in this situation, a light appeared to shine from heaven.... My mind seemed to rise in that light to the throne of God and the Lamb.... The lamb once slain appeared to my understanding, and while viewing him, I felt such love to him as I never felt to any thing earthly."
4. Benjamin Putnam from Vermont reported in 1821 that, "I instantly had a view as I thought , of the Lord Jesus Christ with his arms extended in an inviting posture."
5. An unnamed universalist minister published an account saying, "I dreamed Christ descended from the firmament, in a glare of brightness, exceeding ten fold the brilliancy of the meridian Sun, and he came to me saying, 'I commission you to go and tell mankind that I am come; and bid every man to shout victory." This man went on to teach in Palmyra in 1825.
6.Asa Wild of Amsterdam NY was reported to have had a remarkable vision and revelation by the Palmyra newspaper.
7. Emanuel Swedenborg, who authored one of the most widely read occult works of the period, wrote, "On a certain night, a man appeared to him in the midst of a strong shining light, and said, 'I am God the Lord, the Creator and Redeemer." Swedenborg went on to converse with angels and spirits as if they were men after the vision.
8. Catharine Hummer, the founder of an American occult religion known as the Ephrata commune, claimed to have had several visions. In once she saw, "the Savior and the Father... These two, that Father and the Son stood together."
9. Billy Hibbard claimed that he had a vision when he was just 11 years old in the late 1700s. He said, "When I came to the place of prayer , had kneeled down, and closed my eyes, with my hands uplifted toward the heavens, I saw Jesus Christ at the right hand of God, looking down upon me, and God the Father looking upon him." He published his accounts all around Upstate New York where Joseph lived.
10. Benjamin Abbott had a popular account of his 1772 vision where the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him with his arms extended and said, "I died for you." Abbot continues, "I then looked up and by faith I saaw the Ancient of Days, and he said to me, 'I freely forgive thee for what Christ has done.'"
11. Richard Brothers published accounts of visions he had in the 1790s in New York and Pennsylvania. He claimed that "I was in a vision, and being carried up to heaven, the Lord God spoke to me from the middle of a large white cloud."
12. David Brainerd's conversion account was so popular between 1748 and 1835 that he published 25 editions. He said, "My soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see such a God, such a glorious divine Being."
My source is Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview by D Michael Quinn.
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