Events leading to the First Vision

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First Vision Articles

Accounts of the First Vision

• What accounts do we have?
• Why are there multiple accounts?
• What differences are there in the accounts?

Historical context

• What events led to the First Vision?
• What happened after the vision?

Doctrinal impact

• How did our understanding of doctrine change?

Events leading to the First Vision

Summary: Joseph Smith lived in a time of religious excitement.

Video published by Doctrine and Covenants Central.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Joseph Smith and the Methodists
• Lucy Mack Smith and the Presbyterians
• Religious activity in the Palmyra area in 1820
• The Smith family place of residence in 1820

Joseph Smith and the Methodists

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: What critical claims are related to Joseph Smith becoming "partial to the Methodist sect" near the time of the First Vision?
• Question: When did Joseph Smith become "partial to the Methodist sect?"
• Question: When did the Methodists acquire property near Palmyra to hold their camp meetings?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith join the Methodists as an "exhorter" years after being told not to join another church during the First Vision?

Lucy Mack Smith and the Presbyterians

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: When was Lucy Mack Smith baptized?
• Question: Did Lucy Mack Smith join the Presbyterian Church after her son Alvin died in 1823?
• Question: Did Lucy Mack Smith state when she joined the Presbyterians?

Religious activity in the Palmyra area in 1820

Summary: It is claimed that there were no religious revivals in the Palmyra, New York area in 1820, contrary to Joseph Smith's claims that during that year there was "an unusual excitement on the subject of religion...indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it"

Jump to Subtopic:

• Christofferson (2013): "Critics have also claimed that there were no religious revivals in the Palmyra, New York, area in 1820"
• Question: What religious excitement was occurring in Palmyra in 1820?
• Question: Was there no mention of revival activity in 1820 in the newspaper?
• Question: At what age did Joseph Smith become concerned about religion?
• Question: What evidence of religious excitement is there from non-Mormon sources?
• Question: Were revivals and religious excitement too common to be noticed in the newspapers?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith simply conflate elements of the 1818 and 1824-25 revivals in his story of the First Vision?
• Palmyra Register (1820): "It was far from our intention to charge the Methodists with retailing ardent spirits while professedly met for the worship of their God"
• Benajah Williams (1820): "Had a two Days meeting at Sq Bakers in Richmond. Br. Wright being gone to campmeeting on Ridgeway circuit I expected to find Br. J. Hayes at the Meeting"
• Question: Did Gordon B. Hinckley cite false information regarding an 1820 Palmyra revival in a book called Truth Restored?

The Smith family place of residence in 1820

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Is there evidence that the Smith family was in the Palmyra area in 1820?

A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia article "First Vision"

Summary: FairMormon analyzes the Wikipedia treatment of the First Vision.