Lessons from the First Vision
Faith Matters resources to accompany your Come Follow Me study: January 13-19
How can I receive answers to my prayers?
Learn why Jared Halverson says the First Vision was a “faith crisis”:
Listen to “Connection Through Prayer,” our conversation with Thomas McConkie in which Thomas fuses a traditional idea of prayer with a more contemplative practice. He shares his insights on finding real connection to God through prayer, on the intersection of acceptance and seeking for specific outcomes, and perhaps most importantly, on how contemplative connection with God can help us rid ourselves of the “wrong ideas” that cause us pain.
God can answer my questions through the scriptures.
In “Seven Gospels,” Adam Miller and Rosalynde Welch make a case that our scriptural canon is a springboard to endless interpretations that speak to us according to our spiritual needs.
The point of Scripture is not to tell us something. The point of Scripture is to do something. The point of Scripture is to introduce us to God and invite us to participate with God in the revelation of who and what he is. —Adam Miller
Scripture is this site where we can go, where God’s presence infuses the words, and if we put ourselves there and spend enough time there and open ourselves to it, then we too through the Spirit can experience some of that divine presence. —Rosalynde Welch
Jared Halverson also talks about the importance of the scriptures being a catalyst for revelations (rather than a catalog of past revelation,) and of bringing our questions and difficulties to the text and allowing the scriptures to respond to them, in “The Divinity and Humanity of the Book of Mormon.”
There’s something powerful about turning to scripture and engaging this cloud of witnesses, bringing your questions and difficulties to the text, and allowing them to respond to them. —Jared Halverson
Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
The First Vision revealed several truths about God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, that were different from what many people in Joseph’s day believed. In “Can we trust and worship the wrathful God of scripture?” Fiona Givens writes,
Two figures emerge from the fire, one of whom calls the young boy by his personal name—Joseph. In the articulation of his name, the shaken boy hears himself called by a divine voice of absolute love—a voice which never anger speaks, nor malice, unkindness, disrespect, judgment, nor blame—for God is incapable of feeling anything but absolute love toward the children struggling to gain a foothold on this bewildering planet. The voice uttering words of peace, joy, gentleness, kindness, and solace to Joseph and to each one of us, is the voice of God Almighty.
Joseph walked into the grove to address a God sometimes described as vengeful and violent in the biblical text and in Milton. The God he encountered, however, was full of love and compassion and mercy—just like His Son. This changed the entire trajectory of Joseph’s life, I believe. As a result of this encounter Joseph wrote that it was absolutely imperative that each one of us obtain “a correct idea of God’s character, perfection, and attributes.”
Hear more of Fiona’s “Gems of the Restoration” in this conversation with Tim and Aubrey:
Why are there various accounts of the First Vision?
Watch or listen to Memory and the First Vision, our conversation with Steven C. Harper, a Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, and author of the book First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins. Steve was the Managing Historian and General Editor of Saints, the Church’s remarkable new history series. He was also a Volume Editor for The Joseph Smith Papers.
I can remain true to what I know, even if others reject me.
Listen to “Cultivating a Child’s Inner Compass,” our conversation with Jon Ogden:
Or, listen to our conversation with Pete Davis on The Counter-Culture of Commitment:
What does it mean to be true to the past? Read “How Do We Live with the Past?” by James Goldberg, from Issue 3 of Wayfare Magazine:
Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration.
Read a Wayfare essay by John G. Turner, the author of Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, coming from Yale University Press in Summer 2025:
In what way is our church “the true church?”
Revisit one of our most popular podcast episodes—“God’s Many Voices”:
As part of our conversation “In what way is our church the true church?” Bill Turnbull says,
You can read the Lord’s response to Joseph’s question as kind of a narrow response to a narrow question. Of these churches that you’re considering, yeah, they’re all wrong. And it says that their creeds are an abomination. That’s a really interesting phrase because, and I think Terryl Givens explores that in really meaningful ways, the creeds that would have been familiar to Joseph Smith would have been the Protestant creeds, like the Westminster confession. And those weren’t creeds that only the elites of the religion, the professors of religion would have known. They were read by the common people and they deeply reflected some Calvinist ideas about God that we find very much misrepresent the character of God. And so God was saying, “No, this isn’t me. These creeds are an abomination.”
So I know that the statement sounds sort of harsh, but if you understand the context… We read it as being more inclusive of maybe all world religions, and I think the question was a rather narrow one that pertained to Joseph’s environment.
Read Philip Barlow’s take in “The Only True and Living Church?”
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