“Why did some early members like Joseph Smith’s mother and brother not mention the First Vision in their accounts of the beginnings of the Restoration?,” First Vision Accounts (2022)
“Why did some early members like Joseph Smith’s mother and brother not mention the First Vision in their accounts of the beginnings of the Restoration?,” First Vision Accounts
Why did some early members like Joseph Smith’s mother and brother not mention the First Vision in their accounts of the beginnings of the Restoration?
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Some early Church members spoke of Joseph’s first visionary experience as an encounter with angels. For example, Joseph’s mother, Lucy, and his brother William both narrated Joseph’s early visions beginning with Moroni’s visit without clearly referencing the appearance of the Father and the Son. Joseph’s accounts of the First Vision suggest he considered the experience to be personal and may have been reluctant initially to share details of the vision with his family.1 In contrast, Moroni commanded Joseph Smith to tell his family about his calling to translate the Book of Mormon.2 Joseph’s family, like other early members of the Church, were accustomed to thinking of the appearance of Moroni as the beginning of the Prophet’s calling. For this reason, they may have omitted the First Vision from their accounts.
We don’t know how accurately Lucy, William, and others remembered the details of Joseph’s visionary experiences. They may have conflated details from both stories as they gave their accounts. We do know their narratives were produced after the First Vision was already part of the public record. In any event, their secondhand accounts don’t undermine the validity of Joseph’s own testimony.