Elder Stevenson on the First Vision

[Anonymous]

Elder Stevenson has described the First Vision by saying it happened “exactly as Joseph said it did”.

I love that wording. We have made the First Vision something Joseph didn’t describe – so I appreciate the way Elder Stevenson summarized it.

This is a simple thing, but I appreciate it greatly.

[Anonymous]

I’m sure I’m missing the context, but did Stevenson say which version of the first vision happened “exactly as Joseph said it did?” 😈

That’s a part of the experience. The ambiguity of the first vision, the distance between today and when it happened, and the fact that no one is a first-hand witness to it gives people the latitude to make of the first vision whatever they’d like to make of it.

Given the ambiguity I’m surprised Stevenson wouldn’t qualify his statement with something like, “I believe the first vision happened exactly as Joseph said it did.” But I suppose that’s the job of an apostle, to definitively state things.

[Anonymous]

Nope – and I don’t expect him to pick an account, but I assume he probably meant the official, published version.

I might be wrong – but I still like the wording. It gives me the ability to interpret it in whatever way makes the most sense to me, using whichever account I choose.

(Personally, I like the official version, since it is the most common story in my tribe. It also is worded in a very fascinating way when it is broken down carefully for what it actually says and not what we collectively have come to assume.).

[Anonymous]

I like it too. I usually say it as something akin to “I believe Joseph” and I do. And I agree that people have made it something different than what it probably was. From reading Rough Stone Rolling and other sources (including stuff written by Terryl Givens) it is apparent that Joseph didn’t speak about it much and most early church members knew nothing about it. Joseph’s emphasis seems much more focused on the BoM, and he thought that’s what made him a prophet. Also, I think the tendency is to make the visit more physical/temporal than it probably was. Joseph described it as a vision, and that’s the title of the official version. I believe Joseph and I believe it was a vision, I do not believe God (or angels) were physically present in the grove.

I happen to prefer the 1832 version for a few reasons, but to each his own.

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