Four Different Versions of The First Vision

It is accepted by both critics and advocates that there are four versions of the First Vision that can be attributed to the prophet Joseph Smith: an 1832 edition, an 1835 version, the 1838 account that is found in the Pearl of Great Price, and the Wentworth Letter. Naturally each version has slight differences between them as would be expected by anyone who has ever told a story twice.

Police love to get witnesses to write down their testimony when they are interviewed. The reason behind this is that they want them to be on record with what they saw happen. If they change their story at any time, they can use the original recorded version to then impeach them. Opposing lawyers love it when witnesses change their stories as they can also use it to impeach a witness. In preparation for testifying in court, an attorney does their level best to make sure that the witness does not do what is normally natural - tell the story differently. They go over their recorded testimony and coach them on how to tell the same story without repeating the same words exactly. It takes effort and it takes practice.

Joseph Smith did not live in our modern litigious world. He recorded what happened four different times and predictably there are differences. An honest investigator expects there to be differences. Identical stories would be more suspicious than ones that different modestly. Our critics say that these differences disprove the prophet. In our next few posts we will address the different accounts; point out where they differ from the version found in the Pearl of Great Price, and examine whether these differences are normal, or are they evidence of someone trying to pull off a hoax. We will cover it completely (and it will take a lot of posts to do this) and you will be the judge at the end - are our critics being fair, or are they "straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel"? Stay tuned!