2017
4 First Vision Accounts by Joseph Smith
2017 Digital Articles


“4 First Vision Accounts by Joseph Smith,” Liahona, April 2017

4 First Vision Accounts by Joseph Smith

I didn’t know there were multiple accounts of the First Vision. Does that mean it’s not true?

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First Vision

One day while browsing the internet, I discovered an article about the First Vision. Thinking it would be informative, I clicked on it only to find that the author had claimed that Joseph Smith had fabricated the whole story. That wasn’t new to me—people had said that to me before, and I’d even wondered it myself. What was new was the evidence that there were other, different accounts of the First Vision, all by Joseph Smith.

After more digging, I found out that this was true. There were at least four accounts of the First Vision according to Joseph Smith, and five more known accounts written by people who had heard him talk about it, and they were all different to some extent. This came as a shock—why hadn’t I heard this before?

I decided to read the accounts for myself. I expected to find added and missing details among the accounts—and I did. What I didn’t expect was that despite the differences, the accounts all supported each other. With every account I read, the Holy Ghost testified to my skeptical heart that each was true. Together these accounts created a fuller, more miraculous picture of what the First Vision was really like. Instead of disintegrating, my testimony of the First Vision actually strengthened.

I’d like to encourage anyone who has questions or doubts to research them and pray about them. If you find truth, the Holy Ghost will testify of it to you.