BILL MCKEEVER Joseph Smith’s First Vision and the Book of Mormon
Summary
When theological problems within Mormonism do not seem to shake a Mormon’s testimony, historical problems sometimes will. Mormon leaders have pointed to certain events that are necessary for Mormonism to be true, and Christians can use these events to have a productive conversation.
Introduction
The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical event that must be true or the claims of Christianity fall apart. As the apostle Paul affirmed, if Christ did not rise from the grave, the Christian’s faith is useless and believers remain in their sins (1 Corinthians 15:16). In the same way, Mormonism has two “do-or-die” historical events. One is the First Vision when Joseph Smith claimed he was visited by both God the Father and Jesus Christ in the spring of 1820. The second is the angel Moroni leading Smith to an ancient set of gold plates known as the Book of Mormon. Showing the problems with these events can be useful in evangelistic conversations with a Mormon.
According to Gordon B. Hinckley, Mormonism’s fifteenth president,
Every claim that we make concerning divine authority, every truth that we offer concerning the validity of this work, all finds its roots in the First Vision of the boy prophet…If the First Vision did not occur, then we are involved in a great sham. It is just that simple.1
It is rare to find a Mormon who is not familiar with Smith’s First Vision testimony. Most are familiar with the version in the 1838 account, which can be found in the Pearl of Great Price. Smith recounted that when he was 14 years old and living with his family in the area of Palmyra, New York, there arose “an unusual excitement on the subject of religion.” Smith was concerned by the fact that “some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.”
Deeply troubled, he took James 1:5 as his guide and proceeded to go into the nearby woods to ask God which of all the churches were true. During that encounter according to the first chapter of Joseph Smith—History found in the Pearl of Great Price, he claimed that he “saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”2 When he asked these personages “which of all the sects was right,” he reported,
I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”3
Joseph Smith claimed that this experience led to him being persecuted:
I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects—all united to persecute me.4
No evidence supports this claim. While Smith did, on very rare occasions, speak of a first heavenly visitation, the details are not always consistent. For example, in his 1832 diary, Smith testified that he was concerned about his personal forgiveness of sins, not which church is true. When he prayed in his “sixteenth year,” he said he was visited only by “the Lord.” In this version, Smith said he already knew the churches were corrupt and teaching false doctrine.5
An unpublished account dated November 9, 1835 stated that Smith was “about 14 years old.” No revival is mentioned, but Smith does introduce two unidentified personages and many angels. He says nothing about corrupt churches.6
In a November 14, 1835 account, Smith does not mention a revival or that he was told that the churches were wrong. He does say that he was visited by “angels,” but nothing was said about the Father or the Son. In the first published version of the First Vision (September 1840), Smith failed to mention the revival but said he was visited by two unidentified “glorious personages.” He learned from these personages that the churches were teaching “incorrect doctrines.”7
It was not until 1842 that the church published what is known as Smith’s 1838 account. This version has become the church’s official version.8 Today Mormon missionaries use the First Vision to invite investigators to join the “only true and living church” that possesses the “restored Gospel.” Missionaries are instructed to explain how “a universal apostasy occurred following the death of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. If there had been no apostasy, there would be no need of a Restoration.”9
Meanwhile, Smith’s account in the Pearl of Great Price gives enough details about this “religious excitement” that it is possible to accurately pinpoint the exact revival he described. The historical event described by Smith took place in 1824, not 1820. “Great multitudes” were not added to the churches in 1820, but statistical records show considerable growth in 1824.10
This date creates another problem. If this 1824 revival led Smith to pray about which church was true, then the appearance of the angel Moroni in 1823 (described below) becomes his actual “first vision.” Mormon historians must be aware of this incongruity since the church tenaciously sticks to the erroneous 1820 date. The contradictions surrounding this truly fantastic event have caused many to conclude that Smith fabricated the story and embellished it as the years went by.11
The Book of Mormon
Besides the First Vision, Mormonism is dependent upon the story of the origin of the Book of Mormon. Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland insisted that
everything of saving significance in the Church stands or falls on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and, by implication, the Prophet Joseph Smith’s account of how it came forth is as sobering as it is true. It is a “sudden death” proposition. Either the Book of Mormon is what the Prophet Joseph said it is, or this Church and its founder are false, a deception from the first instance onward.12
Seventy Tad R. Callister explained that, if the Book of Mormon “is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet and this is the restored Church of Jesus Christ, regardless of any historical or other arguments to the contrary.”13
According to Joseph Smith—History 1:34, the angel Moroni appeared to Smith on September 21, 1823, to tell him that “there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and source from which they sprang.”
Born as a mortal man about 14 centuries earlier, Moroni had buried the plates in a stone box near the Smith home. Smith was not allowed to retrieve the plates for another four years. Several LDS historians and official church manuals have used the story given by Lucy Mack Smith, the mother of the Mormon prophet, to explain when and how Smith took the plates from their earthly hiding place.14 She reported that her son took the plates and, “wrapping them in his linen frock, placed them under his arm and started for home.” After “traveling some distance,” he
came to a large windfall, and as he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind it and gave him a heavy blow with a gun. Joseph turned around and knocked him down, then ran at the top of his speed.15
She said her son was attacked at least two more times as he traveled the three miles between the place where the plates were hidden and his home. There is no record of Smith rendering his assailants unconscious or incapacitated. It must be assumed, then, that he was able to outrun them, even though he would have been hindered by a slight limp caused by a childhood surgery.
The Weight of the Gold Plates
In hundreds of conversations I’ve had with members of the LDS Church, I have found that virtually everyone is familiar with the basic story of the gold plates; however, very few have ever stopped to seriously consider the details of the story. Contemporaries of Smith gave varying dimensions for the plates as well as a wide range of estimated weights.
Smith claimed that the record he received from the angel was “six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin.” He also said the “volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed.”16 Given these dimensions, the plates were one-sixth of a cubic foot. Since gold weighs 1,204 pounds per cubic foot, this would equal about two hundred pounds. We can agree with Apostle John Widtsoe who said, “If the gold were pure, [the plates] would weigh two hundred pounds, which would be a heavy weight for a man to carry, even though he were of the athletic type of Joseph Smith.”17
In an effort to reconcile the weight of gold plates, Mormons have offered several clever explanations, including “Joseph was a buff farm boy.” Though I’m sure Smith probably was a strong young man, it is highly unlikely that he could “carry and run with” plates weighing more than his own body weight. When Mormons realize the silliness of such an argument, they often move on to what I call “the miracle theory”; after all, couldn’t God give Smith supernatural strength to carry such a load?
While I certainly do believe that God could have given Smith divine strength, this theory is refuted by Mormon leaders and apologists who work hard to concoct theories that get the weight of the plates down to a manageable level. If God truly intervened by bestowing Smith and others with superhuman abilities, this effort would be unnecessary. Rather than insist in a miracle, Widtsoe offered the following theory:
For the purpose of record keeping, plates made of gold mixed with a certain amount of copper would be better, for such plates would be firmer, more durable and generally more suitable for the work in hand. If the plates were made of eight karat gold, which is gold frequently used in present-day jewelry, and allowing a 10 percent space between the leaves, the total weight of the plates would not be above one hundred and seventeen pounds—a weight easily carried by a man as strong as was Joseph Smith.18
It seems obvious that Widtsoe didn’t see the need for a miracle if the plates were only a mere 117 pounds, a weight he claims is “easily carried.” But is this even plausible? I decided to create a visual experiment by producing a set of plates made out of sheet metal. These plates are the same dimension (8 by 6 by 6 inches) as Smith’s gold plates but are “only” eighty pounds in weight. For many years I have used these plates on a public street outside an annual Mormon pageant in central Utah to invite passersby to “lift the plates.” I ask if the Mormon volunteer believes that Smith’s plates were created out of the metal gold. Rarely does anyone deny this; after all, Joseph Smith—History 1:34 cites Moroni telling Smith that there was “a book deposited, written upon gold plates.”
My 80-pound plates are not impossible to lift, but those who take me up on my challenge normally conclude that plates this size are extremely heavy. At this point, I explain how these replica plates are just 40 percent of the weight of Smith’s plates. If they were made of gold, the 80-pound weight would have to be doubled (add 80 pounds) with a half stack (add 40 pounds) on top of that! It seems obvious that it would be impossible to carry such a weight for any considerable distance (with a limp), much less the three miles mentioned by Smith’s mother.
Replica plates are not absolutely necessary to make this challenge effective. When illustrating this point, suggest that your Mormon acquaintances lift and carry two bags of Portland cement (a bag weighs about 92 pounds) the next time they visit a hardware store. While there, they might try carrying six 16-by-8-by-8-inch concrete blocks (a block weighs 34 pounds). Or challenge them to lift five boxes of printer paper (a box containing 10 reams weighs about 40 pounds) at an office supply store. Or ask them to go to the gym and lift two 100-pound grip plates…at the same time. You get the idea. Be creative to show the impossibility of such a feat.
Though LDS leaders often continue to use the phrases “gold plates” or “plates of gold,” some Mormons interpret this to be a reference to the color of the plates rather than the content of the metal. If so, ask them to explain what kind of metal was used that could withstand being buried in the ground for centuries. The selections are very limited, but one alloy has become the most common answer from Latter-day Saints. Dr. John Sorenson, a former professor from Brigham Young University who is a strong defender of the Book of Mormon, wrote,
R. H. Putnam has argued persuasively that the Book of Mormon plates that were in Joseph Smith’s hands were of tumbaga. (Had they been unalloyed gold, they would have been too heavy for a single person to carry.)19
Tumbaga is an alloy composed mostly of gold and copper, the percentage or carat weight of each metal varying dramatically. Like Sorenson, Putnam did not believe that Smith needed supernatural strength to carry the plates:
The plates were not so heavy that a man could not carry them. Joseph Smith was a man of youth and vigor, yet Mormon was 74 years of age when he turned them over to his son. (See Morm. 6:6) We are not led to believe that the weight of the plates was a great hindrance. The witnesses testified that they had “hefted” them, indicating the weight seemed tolerable.20
Putnam stated that the tumbaga plates could not have been made of an “extremely low-gold alloy because of the danger of electrolysis and brittleness.” At the same time, he surmised that they “were probably not of an extremely high-gold-alloy either, since the weight would thereby be increased.”21
Given these factors, Putnam surmised that plates made of 8-carat gold with “3-percent native impurity would weigh 106.88 pounds.” Assuming that the plates were not perfectly flat, he then arbitrarily added an amazing 50 percent air gap, not just a 10 percent air gap as John Widtsoe did. This, he believed, would bring the plates’ weight down to around 53 pounds.
By doing this, Putnam created another problem. Smith claimed to have translated only the top two inches of the plates since the bottom four inches were sealed. A 50 percent air gap drops that to a mere one inch, which is hardly enough space for a book as extensive as the Book of Mormon.
Conclusion
Understanding the problems with the First Vision and Book of Mormon accounts has shaken the faith of many Latter-day Saints, especially in recent years. When doctrinal discrepancies don’t seem to faze a Mormon, the history may. It could be the jolt necessary for a Latter-day Saint to realize how problematic Mormonism’s history really is, opening the door to sharing gospel truth.22
Bill McKeever is the founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, based in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area. He hosts the daily radio program Viewpoint on Mormonism (mrm.org/podcast). He also has authored In Their Own Words (Morris, 2016) while coauthoring (with Eric Johnson) Answering Mormons’ Questions (Kregel, 2013) and Mormonism 101 (Baker, 2015).