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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Chapter 8
| Claims made in "Chapter 7: Priesthood Restoration" | A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: Grant Palmer
|
Claims made in "Conclusion" |
Claims made in "Chapter 8: The First Vision"
Over time, spiritual events were retold in a way that was more literal, more physical,
as if they occurred in the material rather than in a metaphysical realm.
This may have been a function of selective memory on the one hand and,
more particularly in Joseph Smith's case, a life lived as much in the invisible as in the temporal world.
—An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, p. 254
235, n2
Claim
- The author claims that Joseph Smith's First Vision account was "simplified" and "retrofitted" to make it more authoritative.
Author's source(s) - James B. Allen, "The Significance of Joseph Smith's 'First Vision' in Mormon Thought," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 1 (Autumn 1966): 29-45; rpt. in The New Mormon Hisotry: Revisionist Essays on the Past, ed. D. Michael Quinn, 37-52.
239
Claim
- Author's quote: The Book of Commandments...contains nothing on such important events as Joseph's first vision...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...
Author's source(s) - Book of Commandments 24:6
- DC 20꞉5
- Internal contradiction: The author claims that the Book of Commandments "contains nothing" on the First Vision, yet in the subsequent paragraph the author points out that it contains the "earliest allusion" to it.
239
Claim
- The Book of Commandments states that it was the Book of Mormon that constituted Joseph's call to the work.
Author's source(s) - Book of Commandments 24:7-11
- DC 20꞉6-11
239, n5
Claim
- Oliver Cowdery claimed that it was Moroni that called Joseph to the work rather than Jesus in the First Vision.
Author's source(s) - Oliver Cowdery, "Letter IV," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate 1 (Feb. 1835): 78-79; quoted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:427-429.
239
Claim
- Joseph viewed his First Vision in "evangelical Protestant fashion" until 1838 and "viewed his epiphany" in this fashion until 1838.
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
- The author's claim is false
- It is odd that the 1835 account is not mentioned here. Here is what the 1835 account says about Joseph's motivation to pray in the grove:
...respecting the subject of religion and looking at the different systems taught the children of men, I knew not who was right or who was wrong and I considered it of the first importance that I should be right, in matters that involve eternal consequ[e]nces; being thus perplexed in mind I retired to the silent grove and bow[e]d down before the Lord, under a realising sense that he had said (if the bible be true) ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened seek and you shall find and again, if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men libarally and upbradeth not; information was what I most desired at this time, and with a fixed determination to obtain it, I called upon the Lord for the first time... (emphasis added)
- The motivation in the 1835 account matches that in the 1838 account, yet the author claims that Joseph "viewed his epiphany" in "evangelical Protestant fashion" as a forgiveness for his sins until the 1838 account was written. This is apparently done to support the author's desired conclusion that the 1838 account was written to deal with a leadership crisis in Kirtland.
- First Vision/Accounts/1832/Motivation is different
240, n7
Claim
- Joseph is claimed to "not yet mention the appearance of God the Father" in his 1835 First Vision account.
Author's source(s) - In footnote 7, the author uses Joseph's 1835 account to claim that his concept of the Godhead had evolved from one personage to two personages.
- Boyd Kirkland, "The Development of the Mormon Doctrine of God," Line upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine, ed. Gary James Bergera, 35-52.
- Dan Vogel, "The Earliest Mormon Concept fo God," Line upon Line, 17-33.
- Melodie Moench Charles, "Book of Mormon Christology," New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology, ed. Brent Lee Metcalfe, 81-114.
- The author's claim is false
- Here is the relevant passage from Joseph's 1835 First Vision account:
...a personage appeard in the midst of this pillar of flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed, another personage soon appeard like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testified unto me that Jesus Christ is the Son of God;
- Joseph didn't explicitly identify the first personage as God the Father, but it is clear from the context (the second personage identified as Jesus Christ as being "like unto the first") that this is who is being referred to. To claim that Joseph "does not yet mention the appearance of God the Father" is a misrepresentation of this narrative.
240
Claim
- The author claims that Joseph rewrote his personal conversion experience in 1838 to satisfy institutional needs.
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
240, n8
Claim
- The 1820 revival described by Joseph better fits the 1824-25 revival.
Author's source(s) - Marvin S. Hill, "The First Vision Controversy: A Critique and Reconciliation," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 15 (Summer 1982), 37-39.
- Wesley P. Walters, "New Light on Mormon Origins from the Palmyra Revival," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 4 (Sprint 1969), 60-67.
242, n14
Claim
- William Smith said that the revival occurred in 1823.
Author's source(s) - William Smith, interview by James Murdock, 18 April 1841, quoted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:478.
- William Smith, William Smith on Mormonism, 6.
- Saints' Herald, 16 June 1883, 338; quoted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:494.
242, n15
Claim
- Oliver Cowdery said that the revival that affected Joseph came in 1823.
Author's source(s) - Oliver Cowdery, "Letter III," Messenger and Advocate 1 (Dec. 1834), 42.
- Oliver Cowdery, "Letter IV," Messenger and Advocate 1 (Feb. 1835), 78.
245
Claim
- Joseph is claimed to have been persecuted not for his vision, but because of his treasure digging.
- Author's quote: If his report that "all the sects...united to persecute me" were accurate, one would expect to find some hint of this in the local newspapers...
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
- First Vision/No reference to First Vision in 1830s publications
- First Vision/Accounts/1832/Doesn't mention persecution
245, n26
Claim
- According to the author, "not even [Joseph's] family remembers [the First Vision]."
Author's source(s) - James B. Allen, "Emergence of a Fundamental: The Expanding Role of Joseph Smith's First Vision in Mormon Thought," Journal of Mormon History 7 (1980), 43-45.
- Hill, "First Vision Controversy," 31-32.
- Joseph Smith—History 1:22.
245
Claim
- Joseph's vision was similar to other's experiences and no one took notice of it.
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources
245, n27
Claim
- In 1838, Joseph is claimed to have shifted his calling from 1823 to 1820 because of apostasy in the Church.
Author's source(s) - William I. Appleby, Biography and Journal, 30-31, LDS archives, quoted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:145-47.
246, n31
Claim
- Martin Harris is claimed to have publicly stated that "none of the witnesses had physically seen or handled the plates" and that they had not seen them with their "natural eyes."
Author's source(s) - Stephen Burnett to Lyman E. Johnson, 15 April 1838, Joseph Smith Letterbook, 2:64-66, quoted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:291.
- Warren Parrish to E. Holmes, 11 Aug. 1838, The Evangelist, 1 Oct. 1838, 226.
248, n44-45
Claim
- Joseph wrote his 1838 narrative to secure his position and authority within the church.
Author's source(s) - Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:226-27; 232-33.
- DC 115꞉3-4
251
Claim
- Joseph moved his calling from 1823 to 1820 in order to disassociate himself from "troubling questions" regarding the Book of Mormon witnesses, who had left the Church.
Author's source(s) - No sources provided. Author's conjecture.
- What "troubling questions?" The author doesn't say.
- If this is the case, then why was the Testimony of the Three and the Testimony of the Eight Witnesses retained in the Book of Mormon? Why did the witnesses hold fast to their testimonies of the Book of Mormon?
251-252
Claim
- Joseph's motive for praying was different in the 1832 account than in the 1838 account.
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
- Once again, the author fails to deal with the 1835 account, even though he is clearly aware of it and mentions it several times earlier. Why only compare the 1832 and 1838 accounts? Because he is continuing to make the point that the account was modified in 1838 due to a leadership crisis.
- First Vision/Accounts/1832/Motivation is different
252
Claim
- In the 1832 account of the First Vision, the author claims that Joseph "knows that the pure gospel is not on the earth and therefore does not ask which church is right."
Author's source(s) - Author's conjecture.
252
Claim
- Author's quote: During the leadership crisis of April 1838, Joseph remembered a different purpose in going to pray...he now says, 'My object in going to enquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right'.
Author's source(s) - No source provided.
- Yet again, the 1835 account (recorded in Joseph's journal) mentioned earlier by the author is not mentioned here. And again, we note in the 1835 account the following:
...respecting the subject of religion and looking at the different systems taught the children of men, I knew not who was right or who was wrong and I considered it of the first importance that I should be right, in matters that involve eternal consequ[e]nces; (emphasis added)
- How is it that the author, who mentions the 1835 account earlier in the chapter, does not mention Joseph's stated motivation for praying? It is simply because it does not fit with his theory that this "change" in motivation recorded in the 1838 account was in response to a leadership crisis.
253, n51
Claim
- Joseph is claimed to have "sought membership with the Methodists in Harmony, Pennsylvania" in 1828, well after he was instructed to join no churches in 1820. The footnote claims that Joseph Lewis reported the Joseph "joined the Methodist Episcopal class in Harmony, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1828."
Author's source(s) - Jospeh and Hiel Lewis, "Mormon History, A New Chapter about to be Published," Amboy Journal, 30 April 1879, 1.
- "A Word from Utah," Amboy Journal, 2 July 1879, 1.
Further reading
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