1.
Teachings of LDS
Church regarding nature of the Godhead and the First Vision-
"Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision. It either occurred or it did not occur. If it did not, then this work is a fraud. If it did, then it is the most important and wonderful work under the heavens." Gordon B. Hinckley, October 2002,
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/10/the-marvelous-foundation-of-our-faith?lang=eng
"Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision. It either occurred or it did not occur. If it did not, then this work is a fraud. If it did, then it is the most important and wonderful work under the heavens." Gordon B. Hinckley, October 2002,
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/10/the-marvelous-foundation-of-our-faith?lang=eng
· Book of Mormon: Compare the original, 1830
version to the current one:
1830 (original)
|
Current
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“And he said unto me, Behold, the virgin
which thou seest, is the mother
of God, after the manner of the flesh.”
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“And he said unto me: Behold,
the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God,
after the manner of the flesh.”
1 Ne 11:18
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“And the angel said unto me, behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the
Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father
saw?”
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“And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God,
yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest
thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?”
1 Ne 11:21
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“And it came to pass that the angel spake
unto me again, saying, look! And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the
people; yea, the
Everlasting God, was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.”
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“And it came to pass that the angel spake
unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he
was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of
the world; and I saw and bear record.”
1 Ne 11:32
|
·
2 Nephi 11:7
“For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we
are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he
cometh in the fulness of his own time.”
·
2 Nephi 31:21
“….And now, behold, this is the doctrine of
Christ, and the only and
true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is
one God, without end. Amen.”
·
1832, Joseph Smith's
handwritten, first account of the First Vision
(https://www.lds.org/manual/first-vision-accounts/1832-account?lang=eng): Only
mentions one personage, the Lord. Not
two. Not God the Father and Jesus. Just one. https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-summer-1832/2
"I cried
unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go
and to obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and
while in the attitude of
calling upon the Lord in the 16th year of my age a piller of fire light above the
brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me
and I was filled with the spirit of god and the Lord; opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord16 and he spake unto me saying Joseph, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee. go
thy way walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was
crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have
Eternal life behold the world lieth in sin and at
this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the
gospel and keep not my commandments they
draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and
mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to
visit them acording to thir ungodliness and to bring to pass that
which hath been spoken by the mouth of the
prophets and Ap[o]stles17behold
and lo I come quickly as it [is?] written of me in
the cloud clothed in the glory of my Father18 and
my soul was filled with love and for many days I could rejoice with great
Joy and the Lord was with me but could find none that would believe the hevnly vision
nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart19 about
that time my mother and20but
after many days"
·
1832 June 6: private letter
of Joseph Smith to Emma Smith:
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-emma-smith-6-june-1832/1
"I have visited a
grove which is Just back of the town almost every day where I can be
secluded from the eyes of any mortal and there give vent to all the
feelings of my heart in meaditation and praiyr I have Called to mind all
the past moments of my life and am left to mo[u]rn and Shed tears of sorrow for my folly in Sufering the
adversary of my Soul to have so much power over me as he has had in times past5 but God is merciful6 and has fo[r]given my Sins and
I r[e]joice that he Sendeth forth the Comferter unto as many
as believe and humbleeth themselves before him7"
·
BTW, theophany claims were
not unheard of in the early 19th Century, as evidenced by the following
examples from 1815 through 1826:
a. Norris
Stearns published his own vision in Greenfield, Massachusetts in 1815; not far
from where the Joseph Smith Senior family lived in Vermont.
“At
length, as I lay apparently upon the brink of eternal woe, seeing nothing but
death before me, suddenly there came a sweet flow of the love of God to my
soul, which gradually increased. At the same time, there appeared a small gleam
of light in the room, above the brightness of the sun, then at his
meridian, which grew brighter and brighter… At length, being in an ecstasy of
joy, I turned to the other side of the bed, (whether in the body or out I
cannot tell, God knoweth) there I saw two spirits, which I knew at the
first sight. But if I had the tongue of an Angel I could not describe their
glory, for they brought the joys of heaven with them. One was God, my
Maker, almost in bodily shape like a man. His face was, as it were a flame of
Fire, and his body, as it had been a Pillar and a Cloud. In looking steadfastly
to discern features, I could see none, but a small glimpse would appear in some
other place. Below him stood Jesus Christ my Redeemer, in perfect shape
like a man—His face was not ablaze, but had the countenance of fire, being
bright and shining. His Father’s will appeared to be his! All was
condescension, peace, and love!”
(The Religious Experience Of Norris Stearns,
1815 https://archive.org/details/TheReligiousExperienceOfNorrisStearns)
b. Minister
Elias Smith published a book in which he told of his conversion in 1816.
“...
I went into the woods ... a light appeared from heaven.... My mind seemed to
rise in that light to the throne of God and the Lamb.... The Lamb once slain
appeared to my understanding, and while viewing him, I felt such love to him as
I never felt to any thing earthly.... It is not possible for me to tell how
long I remained in that situation...”
(The Life, Conversion, Preaching, Travels, and
Sufferings of Elias Smith, 1816 https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE4547707)
c. Asa
Wild claimed to have a revelation that was published on October 22, 1823.
“It
seemed as if my mind ... was struck motionless, as well as into nothing, before
the awful and glorious majesty of the Great Jehovah. He then spake ... He also
told me, that every denomination of professing Christians had become extremely
corrupt...”
(Asa Wild, Wayne Sentinel, 1823.
https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/viewFile/6482/6131)
d. John
S Thompson, a New York minister, published another similar account in 1826.
“I
dreamed Christ descended from the firmament, in a glare of brightness,
exceeding ten fold the brilliancy of the meridian Sun, and he came to me
saying, ‘I commission you to go and tell mankind that I am come; and bid every
man to shout victory.”
(The Christian Guide to a Right Understanding
of the Sacred Scriptures, John S Thompson, 1826 https://archive.org/stream/christianguidet00thomgoog#page/n5/mode/2up)
e. Solomon Chamberlin, who had joined the Church in 1831--11 years before Joseph Smith's first telling of the First Vision--published a pamphlet of his experience before he met Joseph Smith. According to John Taylor, third president of the LDS church,
"I will relate it in his [Solomon Chamberlin's] own words: [p. 50] 'I joined the Methodists when I was 19 years of age. * * * This year (1816) we found we were mistaken in many things. At this time I felt very anxious to know whether there were any people on the earth whose principles were right in all things; for I was tired of all orders unless they had the true principles of God: I believed we might receive revelation for ourselves: I believed if we lacked wisdom and humbled ourselves before God in mighty prayer, and asked in sincerity give us; I did so with all my heart, and he answered my prayer. The Lord revealed to me in a vision of the night an angel, I thought if I could ask him, he could tell me all I wanted to know. I accordingly asked him if we were right. He said not one of us were right, and that there were no people on earth that were right; but that the Lord would in his own due time raise up a church, different from all others, and he would give power and authority as in the days of Christ;... . I proclaimed it to the world and all people what I had seen and heard; [p. 51] and that all denominations on earth were as John said constituted the great whore of all the earth. * * * I took [a] boat for Lockport; when the boat came to Palmyra, I felt as if some genii or good spirit told me to leave the boat, and or travel a south course; I did so for about three miles. (I had not yet heard of the gold bible so called at that time, nor any of the Smith family, I was an entire stranger in that part of the country.) * * * I soon arrived at the [Smith] house, and found Hyrum walking the floor; as I entered the room, I said peace be to this house; he looked at me and said “I hope it will be peace.” I then said is there any one here that believes in visions and revelations. He said yes, we are a visionary house. I then said I will give you one of my pamphlets, (which was visionary and of my own composition) and if you are a visionary house, I wish you would make [p. 52] known some of your discoveries, I think I can bear them. They then began to make known to me, that they had obtained a gold record, and had just finished translating it. * * * I carried [8 or 10 copies of the printed Book of Mormon] to the reform Methodist Conference, there I found Phineas and Brigham Young with whom I had been acquainted before. * * * Soon after this I was bap-[p. 53]tized by Joseph Smith in the waters of Seneca Lake, and emigrated to Ohio. In the fall of 1831 I with my family emigrated to Jackson County, Missouri;... .”
(John Taylor, Nauvoo Journal, Jan-Sept
1845, BYU Studies 23 no.3, p.45. https://byustudies.byu.edu/file/2738/download?token=oRH_eCbg
Referring to A Sketch of the Experience of
Solomon Chamberlin, Lyons, New York, 1829)
·
1834-35 (winter), Lectures on
Faith (History of the Church Vol. 2, p. 175 https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-2-chapter-12;
https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Lectures_on_Faith): Lecture #5:
The Godhead, or the collective
persons
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is expounded upon:
·
1835: Joseph Smith includes
the Lectures on Faith in the first version of Doctrine and Covenants
https://www.lds.org/study/history/topics/lectures-on-faith?lang=eng
·
1838: The third (by the Church's Essay count)
version of the First Vision now includes for the first time that Joseph Smith
mentions that he had seen two distinct personages, God the Father and Jesus, in
1820.
https://www.lds.org/topics/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng
·
1921: The Church permanently removes what
Joseph Smith had included in the Doctrine and Covenants, i.e., the Lectures on Faith.
https://www.lds.org/study/history/topics/lectures-on-faith?lang=eng, as they
changed the theology of the Godhead from Joseph Smith's two personages to
three, and God the Father being a 'personage of tabernacle' (having a physical
body) as he (and mainstream Christianity) had taught all along that Jesus is
(and has).
Questions:
1a-If
Joseph Smith's 1920 theophany in the grove happened, why was it not recorded or
mentioned for 7 to 12 years later?
1b-If
two beings, God the Father and Jesus, why did not God the Father get any
mention until the third telling of the First Vision?
1c-Why
did Joseph Smith's theology through at least 1835 include just the mainstream
Christian notion of a Trinitarian god (one being that manifests three different
ways), as evidenced by the Book of Mormon and the first two accounts of the
First Vision?
1d-Why
did Joseph Smith teach in the 1835 Lecture on Faith #5 that God the Father was
a spirit, but only Jesus was then described as a "personage of
tabernacle"?
1e-By
what authority AND WHY did the Church in 1921 begin leaving the Lectures on
Faith out of the Doctrine and Covenants as they had been accepted as canonized scripture
before that?
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