Vision-Con

[Sheamus Moore]

After the link below graced my FB feed I got to wondering whether Rusty and Company will attempt to address the multiple accounts, on any level, during the upcoming Vision-Con. I mean, if this is meant to be a blockbuster event how are they going to elevate the story above the same, time-worn schtick? Thoughts?


https://mylifebygogogoff.com/2020/03/5- ... rence.html

[Red Ryder]

After the link below graced my FB feed I got to wondering whether Rusty and Company will attempt to address the multiple accounts, on any level, during the upcoming Vision-Con. I mean, if this is meant to be a blockbuster event how are they going to elevate the story above the same, time-worn schtick? Thoughts?


https://mylifebygogogoff.com/2020/03/5- ... rence.html

They won’t acknowledge it. They let LDS living articles and Mormon mommy blogs like this one teach the hard truths.

I’ve heard the “uneducated farm boy” narrative so many times before but “he couldn’t dictate a narrative” is new. According to the author, Joseph ironically couldn’t dictate but could tell the story orally. ????

2nd. Address Multiple Versions.
Joseph Smith was a farm boy who could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter. As such, it is to be expected that as a young, 14 years old at the time of the first vision, he would’ve retold the story orally rather than writing it down. We do have a written version, but it was written down only years later.

This is a fact of oral storytelling. your emphasis changes as your audience changes. To illustrate this, if you have small kids, ask them to retell their experience with the same event. Explain to your kids that Joseph Smith when he told the First Vision story focused on different aspects with different people. This does not change the truthfulness of the First Vision if anything it adds to the authenticity.

Your honor, the shifting evidence doesn’t change the truthfulness, it just adds to the authenticity of the murder alibi!

[Corsair]

Someone in my ward or stake produced an "advent calendar" of activities leading up to conference. It was modeled on the "Light the World" calendar for Christmas. One of the early activities was to read at least two of the nine known First Vision accounts. This should lead to same trick for not noticing differences between the New Testament Gospels. Reading these stories one at a time instead of comparing differences lets readers hold the simple viewpoint that Joseph simply included different details in the various accounts.

I expect to spend my conference weekend playing video games and observing most of this silliness. We'll get a "hooray for Joseph and the First Vision" theme without really addressing any concerns.

[Hagoth]

I’ve heard the “uneducated farm boy” narrative so many times before but “he couldn’t dictate a narrative” is new. According to the author, Joseph ironically couldn’t dictate but could tell the story orally. ????

Yeah, that story is some potent B***S**t that has been globbed into members' eyes.

Here is an excerpt from a letter that Joseph Smith wrote, in his own hand, to Oliver Cowdery in 1829, the exact time period when Emma later claimed he was unable to write, let alone dictate coherently. I have cleaned up the spelling in a few places and added some punctuation, but I have left everything else completely untouched. Judge for yourself whether Joseph Smith could “neither write nor dictate a coherent well-worded letter.”

“I would inform you that I arrived at home on Sunday morning the 4th after having a prosperous Journey, and found all well. The people are all friendly to us except a few who are in opposition to everything, unless it is something that is exactly like themselves, and two of our most formidable persecutors are now under censure and are cited to a trial in the church for crimes which, if true, are worse than all the Gold Book business. We do not rejoice in the affliction of our enemies, but we shall be glad to have truth prevail. There begins to be a great call for our books in this country. The minds of the people are very much excited when they find that there is a copyright obtained, and that there is really a book about to be printed…”
(Joseph Smith Papers, Letter-to-oliver-cowdery-October-1829).

And here is an excerpt from Joseph’s 1832 account of the First Vision, written in his
own hand, just a couple of years after the publication of the Book of Mormon. Again, I have added punctuation and made some very minor spelling corrections:

“...I learned in the scriptures that God was the same yesterday, today and forever, that he was no respecter to persons, for he was God; for I looked upon the sun, the glorious luminary of the earth, and also the moon rolling in their majesty through the heavens, and also the stars shining in their courses, and the earth also upon which I stood, and the beast of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and the fish of the waters, and also man walking forth upon the face of the earth in majesty and in the strength of beauty, whose power and intelligence in governing the things which are so exceeding great and marvelous, even in the likeness of him who created them. And when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed, “Well hath the wise man said it is a fool that saith in his heart there is no God!” My heart exclaimed, “All, all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotent and omnipresent power; a being who maketh laws and decrees, and bindeth all things in their bounds, who filleth eternity, who was and is and will be, from all Eternity to Eternity!” (Joseph Smith Papers, History-October-1829).

Couldn't read or dictate?

[RubinHighlander]

Just thinking about all those mental gymnastics makes me feel mentally tired. You would be more entertained at a real gymnastics meet.

[Not Buying It]

President Hinckley already addressed the fact that there is more than one version of the First Vision in General Conference:

"So what?"

And that is more than what will be said about the matter in this Conference.

[Corsair]

President Hinckley already addressed the fact that there is more than one version of the First Vision in General Conference:

"So what?"

And that is more than what will be said about the matter in this Conference.

This will support my claims of multiple accounts of what drink was in my cup that bishop saw me imbibing. Then I have multiple accounts of the tithing I have paid in the past year. I regularly give multiple accounts of studying the Come Follow Me manual. My favorite will be multiple accounts of how I am spending Second Saturday.