When I was mormon didn't know there were seven different version of the First vision.
2007-10-14 20:07:42 · 11 answers · asked by Tinkerbelle2007 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I think that the question isn't about why there are minor differences in the accounts (like you would have telling about last night's dance) but rather that key elements of the story are significantly different.
In one, it was an angel who appeared to him. In another it was just Jesus, and in the one the church uses now it was both Heavenly Father and Jesus.
Some historians have noted that whenever Joseph got into a bind with his followers he would recieve a revelation or doctrinal change and refocus their attention away from his poor managerial skills. If you read Joseph's history with this in mind, the stories make sense for the issue they were meant to address.
Do you people even read!? It's not about minor differences in the account...it's about the main characters involved!!! If you told your wife that your friend told you a naughty joke when really it was your beautiful secretary, you wouldn't just be telling the same version to a different audience, you would be deceiving your wife! It's not the same thing when the content (angels, Jesus only, the Father and the Son) changes!!
2007-10-16 16:52:43 · answer #1 · answered by jungle84025 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Think about it......
Lets say you go to a Dance, meet a girl, romance is in the air, and you kiss her (assuming you're a guy) at the end of the night.
The next day, the following people ask you "How was the dance. Tell me about it".
They are:
Your 10 year old brother
Your Mom
Your Dad
Your sister
Your best friend
Another cute girl
Her best friend.
You can give all of them truthful answers and at the same time be very different answers.
These might range from "It was cool" to "o my heck, he was the cutest guy ever"
What are the chances that each and every answer would be exactly the same?
Some accounts have more detail while others have less. They weren't all written by Joseph Smith, and so there's a possibility of misinterpretation.
Is this really that hard to understand???
The Mormon-Haters out there will say "just one more thing to show that he's a scam, and the at the Mormons are demons, etc."
It's called being human.
2007-10-15 15:26:20 · answer #2 · answered by Ender 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
There are 8 versions of the First Vision, but three of them are "hearsay" versions. They were written by people like Oliver Cowdery or Lucy Mack Smith (his mother).
The 5 that Joseph wrote were each very different and unique from the others. One trend that holds constant, however, is that Joseph's role seemed to grow with each new version he told. At the beginning, he said he saw an angel, had his sins forgiven, and that his earlier notion that no church was true was a correct one. Later, it was two angels, then a "multitude of angels", then "The Lord", and finally, the Father and the Son. Of course, by the end of it, he had grown from an inspired farmboy to "a tool in the hand of the Lord for good" to "a translater" to "a prophet" to "the restorer of the True Church of Jesus Christ."
2007-10-15 13:25:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Mormon For Jesus has it dead right. How many times have you shared an event with others and as you share the event each time, some of the details are expressed slightly different? (I'll answer it for you....it happens all the time)
What is important is the major significance of the First Vision, that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph and informed him that there was a work for him to do.
That one single event taught the world some amazingly significant stuff. That God lives, that he hears and answers prayers, that he has the form of a man, that he knows us individually, that he knows us by our names, that he reveals his will to mankind in this day, as in days of old.....
That is a glorious message. And I am so glad I have heard the message.
2007-10-15 13:30:10 · answer #4 · answered by Kerry 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Why did Paul change his story?
Acts 9:1-9 The men with Paul stood, heard a voice but saw no man.
Acts 22:6-11 men with him saw a light but didn't hear a thing.
Acts 26:12-17 men with him fell to earth (must have seen and/or heard something)
And what about the four gospels? They don't get everything right? How many women came to the tomb? How many angels? Where were the angels stationed? None of them agree.
2007-10-15 06:12:27 · answer #5 · answered by mormon_4_jesus 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
If you told a story to 7 different people, would it be the same version? NO! You would make the story applicable to the audience you are telling the story to. If I told a story to my wife and then my kids, it would be two versions of the same story.
2007-10-17 11:52:49 · answer #6 · answered by Fishgutts 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Strange- I have only heard of one version. You should be more specific.
2007-10-15 13:54:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
There are only five.
By next year, some will exaggerate it to 9.
.
2007-10-15 03:11:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
You gotta get your story right or people won't believe what story your spinning
2007-10-15 03:22:52 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
It's called schizophrenia
2007-10-15 03:16:12 · answer #10 · answered by notsonormalgrl 4 · 1⤊ 4⤋