Joseph Smith's First Vision/The Father as Spirit vs. Embodied

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Criticism

When the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was published in 1835 it portrayed God the Father as a personage of spirit whereas Jesus Christ was portrayed as a personage of tabernacle or one having a physical body. Yet the official LDS First Vision story portrays the Father as a physical Being.

This is evidence of an evolution of story; the evolution of this story is evidence of fraud.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Christian Research and Counsel, “Documented History of Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” full-color pamphlet, 10 pages. [There is a notation within this pamphlet indicating that research and portions of text were garnered from Utah Lighthouse Ministry]

Response

The "offical" 1838 First Vision account (first published in 1842 in the Times and Seasons) does not say anything about God the Father possessing a physical body. In fact, it says nothing at all about the Father's body: spirit or otherwise. Critics of the LDS Church should be much more careful in what they say about the content of historical documents.

However, it is correct to say that the Lectures on Faith which were contained within the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants did refer to God the Father as a personage of spirit with a human or bodily form.

LECTURE #5, paragraph 2: “the Father being a personage of spirit, glory, and power, possessing all perfection and fullness, the Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle, made or fashioned like unto man, or being in the form and likeness of man, or rather man was formed after his likeness and in his image; he is also the express image and likeness of the personage of the Father”

LECTURE #5, questions and answers section: "What is the Father? He is a personage"

It becomes obvious from an examination of the "Questions and Answers" section of lecture #5 that the person who constructed this lecture drew heavily from the book of John in the New Testament (7 direct quotations are utilized). It is more than likely, therefore, that the statement in lecture #5 which reads "the Father being a personage of spirit" was drawn directly from John 4:24. It is curious, however, that even though this was listed as an attribute of the Father in the main text of the lecture it was deleted in the question and answer section.

MAIN TEXT:

"the Father being a personage of spirit, glory, and power"

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

5. Q-What is the Father? A-He is a personage of glory and of power (Lecture 5:2). 6. Q-How do you prove that the Father is a personage of glory and of power? A-First, of glory. . . . Secondly, of power . . . .

This brings up a very interesting question . . . . .

The Lectures on Faith were probably written sometime between the end of October 1834 and January 1835 and it seems to be beyond doubt that Joseph Smith was involved in preparing/editing the texts of the lectures in preparation for their inclusion in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants (see History of the Church, 2:169-70, 180). But whether or not Joseph Smith was himself ultimately responsible for the initial creation of the texts is a vigorously debated issue. http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:3R79i3A-z7wJ:fhss.byu.edu/polsci/reynoldn/Lectures%2520on%2520Faith.final%2520version%2520submitted%2520to%2520JMH.pdf+noel+reynolds+lectures+faith&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us Is is possible that this text was edited by Joseph Smith (or the entire preparation/editorial committee) to delete the mention of God being a spirit in the question and answer section of lecture #5?

It is significant that shortly after the Lectures on Faith were presented before the School of the Elders in Kirtland, Ohio a Presbyterian minister named Rev. Truman Coe - who had lived among the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio for a span of four years - wrote that the Mormons "believe that the true God is a material being, composed of body and parts; and that when the Creator formed Adam in his own image, he made him about the size and shape of God himself" (Ohio Observer, 11 August 1836, 1-2 [Hudson, Ohio]; reprinted in Cincinnati Journal and Western Luminary, 25 August 1836, 4 [Cincinnati, Ohio]).

It is also significant that on 5 January 1841 - shortly before the so-called "official" First Vision story was released to the public via the Church's press - Joseph Smith was teaching in Nauvoo the very same thing that Rev. Truman Coe had heard in Kirtland: "That which is without body or parts is nothing. There is no other God in heaven but that God who has flesh and bones" (Ehat and Cook, eds., Words of Joseph Smith, 60).

Conclusion

There is no documentary evidence that indicates exactly when Joseph Smith learned that God the Father had a glorified and perfected body of flesh and bone. And there is no indication that Joseph Smith learned any such thing during his 1820 First Vision. Regardless of when this revelation was bestowed upon the Prophet, it has not been established beyond doubt that he was responsible for the teachings about the nature of God found in the Lectures on Faith.

Endnotes

None

Further reading

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide: