                   JOSEPH SMITH'S FIRST VISION
                         Fact or Fable ?
                        By W. P. Walters

     "Sometime in the second year after our removal to 
Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual 
excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the 
Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in the 
region of country ... my mind became somewhat partial to the 
Methodists ... but so great was the confusion and strife among 
the different denominations, that it was impossible ... to come 
to any certain conclusion who was right, and who was wrong ... in 
accordance with this, by determination, to ask God, I retired to 
the woods to make an attempt. It was on the morning of a 
beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and 
twenty ... I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my 
heart to God. ... I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head 
... When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, (whose 
brightness and glory defy all description) standing above me in 
the air ... 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. I was answered that I must join none of them, for 
they were all wrong ..."  Joseph Smith, Jr.

     The well publicized story above, of Joseph Smith's First 
Vision is not a true account of the origin of the Latter Day 
Saint movement. The facts are decidedly against it!
     First, the historical evidence shows that Joseph Smith, Jr. 
could not have been stirred by an 1820 revival, to ask which 
church was true.
     Second, early Mormon statements do not support his claim 
that in 1820 he learned through a visitation of the Father and 
the Son that all existing churches were wrong.
     Third, the details known about Joseph's early life 
contradict his assertion that in 1820 he had such a divine 
visitation and was persecuted by the community for telling such a 
story.

NO 1820 REVIVAL .....

     First his neighborhood in 1820 experienced no revival such 
as he described, in which "great multitudes" joined the 
Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches. The Presbyterian 
records for the Palmyra Presbyterian Church show that it 
experienced no revival in 1820. The local Baptist Church gained 
only six on profession of faith the entire year, while the 
Methodists actually lost members that year as well as the 
preceeding and following years. (Minutes of the Annual 
Conference)
     Joseph Smith claimed that his mother, sister and two 
brothers were led to join the local Presbyterian Church as a 
result of that 1820 revival. However, four years before he made 
this claim, his own church paper had stated that the revival in 
which his family had been led to join the Presbyterian Church 
took place in 1823. (Messenger & Advocate I, pp. 42, 78) In fact, 
that account says it was the same 1823 revival that led him to go 
to his bedroom (not to a sacred grove) and pray "if a Supreme 
being did exist" and to know that "he was accepted of him." An 
angel (not a deity) is then reported to have appeared and told 
him of his forgiveness and of the gold plates.
     Joseph's mother, likewise, knew nothing of an 1820 vision. 
In her unpublished account she traces the origin of Mormonism to 
a BEDROOM VISIT by an angel. Joseph at the time had been 
"pondering which of the churches were the true one." The angel 
told him "there is not a true church on Earth, No not one." 
(First draft of "Lucy Smith's History," LDS Church Archives)
     Furthermore, she tells us that the revival which led to her 
joining the church took place following the death of her son, 
Alvin. Alvin died November 19, 1823, and following that painful 
loss she reports that: "..about this time there 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 there was a word of comfort for us that 
might relieve our over-charged feelings." (P. 86)
     She adds that although her husband would only attend the 
first meetings, he had no objection to her or the children "going 
or BECOMING CHURCH MEMBERS." (emphasis added)
     There is plenty of additional evidence that the revival Lucy 
Smith refers to did occur during the winter of 1824-1825. It was 
reported in at least a dozen newspapers and religious 
periodicals. The church records show outstanding increases due to 
the reception of new converts. The Baptist Church received 94, 
the Presbyterian 99, while the Methodist work grew by 208. No 
such revival bringing in "great multitudes" occurred in 1820.
     It is clear that the revival Joseph Smith, Jr. described did 
not occur in 1820, but in 1824. Joseph Smith arbitrarily moved 
that revival back four years to 1820 and made it fit a First 
Vision story that neither his mother nor other close associates 
had heard of in those early days. The historical facts completely 
discredit Joseph Smith's First Vision story. (For further details 
see, DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT, Spring 1969, pp. 59-
100)

BIBLE READING vs. REVELATIONS .....

     About 1832, Joseph Smith, Jr. began an account of the origin 
of the Mormon church (the only one written in his own hand), that 
contradicts the official First Vision story he dictated some six 
years later. The account was never finished and has only recently 
been published. (See the text in BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 
STUDIES, Spring 1969, pp. 278ff) In this version Joseph presents 
himself between the ages of twelve and fifteen being a committed 
and perceptive reader of the Bible. He claims that his STUDY OF 
THE SCRIPTURES led him to understand that all the denominations 
were wrong. He wrote: "...by searching the Scriptures I found 
that mankind did not come into the Lord but that they had 
apostatised 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."
     Six years later, when he set forth his official First Vision 
story, he decided that he never had reached the firm conclusion 
that all churches were wrong from his study of the Bible. 
Instead, he claimed that it was DURING A VISION OF THE FATHER AND 
THE SON that he first learned this information. He presented this 
as coming as a great surprise, for he added parenthetically - 
"for at this time it had NEVER ENTERED INTO MY HEART THAT ALL 
WERE WRONG." (emphasis added) That statement even contradicted 
what Joseph had said a few paragraphs earlier in the same 
account. There he claimed that "I OFTEN SAID TO MYSELF ... Who of 
all these parties are right; or ARE THEY ALL WRONG TOGETHER?" 
(emphasis added) Although the former statement appears in the 
original manuscript (see BYU Studies above, p. 290), such a 
serious contradiction could not be allowed to stand, and after 
Joseph's death the embarrassing words were edited out.
     Even without these words, however, the 1838 official account 
is in conflict with the 1832 version. In the 1832 account it is 
his Bible reading that stirs him to seek God, while in the 1838 
story it is a non-existent revival that motivates him.
     In the 1832 version he claims to have seen only Christ, 
while in the 1838 rendition both the Father and the Son appear. 
In the 1832 account he already knows all the churches are wrong, 
while in the 1838 story it is the dual deities who first inform 
him of this. Different people may have different views of the 
same event, but when one person tells contradictory stories about 
an event, he completely loses his credibility.

PERSECUTION vs. ACCEPTANCE .....

     The 1838 First Vision story not only runs into trouble with 
Joseph's earlier 1832 version, it is also contradicted by what we 
know about his early years in Palmyra. In his official version 
Joseph claims he was persecuted by all the churches in his area 
"because I continued to affirm I had seen a vision." However, 
Orsemus Turner, an apprentice printer in Palmyra until 1822, was 
in the same juvenile debating club with Joseph Smith. He recalled 
that Joseph "after catching a spark of Methodism ... became a 
very passable exhorter in evening meetings." (HISTORY OF THE 
PIONEER SETTLEMENT OF PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE, 1851, p. 214) 
Thus, instead of being opposed and persecuted as his 1838 account 
claims, young Joseph was welcomed and allowed to exhort during 
the Methodist's evening preaching. Furthermore, no one, either 
Mormon or non-Mormon, seems ever to have heard of Joseph's 
encounter with two divine Personages until after 1838. (see this 
admission in DIALOGUE, Autumn 1966, pp. 30-31; SAINTS HERALD, 
June 29, 1959, p. 21)

     From all available lines of evidence, therefore, Joseph's 
First Vision story appears to be a fabrication. There was NO 
REVIVAL anywhere in the Palmyra area in 1820, Joseph was 
WELCOMED, NOT PERSECUTED by the Methodists. His 1832 account 
represents him as PERCEIVING FROM HIS PERSONAL BIBLE STUDY that 
all the churches were apostate, while his 1838 account said it 
"NEVER ENTERED INTO MY HEART that all were wrong." His 1832 
version claimed ONLY A VISION OF CHRIST, while the 1838 story 
transformed this into THE FATHER AND THE SON. No one ever heard 
such a story until after he dictated it in 1838. 
     In the light of such strong contradictory evidence, the 
First Vision story must be regarded as only the invention of 
Joseph Smith's highly imaginative mind. The facts and Joseph's 
own words discredit it.


     This work is presented with the earnest prayer that sincere 
people everywhere may perceive the fallacy and danger of 
Mormonism and will not become entangled in it, and that the dear 
Mormon people who are unfortunately deceived by it, may be 
reclaimed and find the true Way of salvation in the Bible and the 
blessed Saviour whom it reveals.

     "Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." (John 14:6)

     We also pray that the earnest reader upon discerning these 
things will search the Word of God, the Bible, the only Book 
whose message is "able to make thee wise unto salvation through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus." (II Timothy 3:15)

For Further information write:

Utah Christian Tract Society
P.O. Box 725
La Mesa, California 92041


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