Didn Joseph just make up stories of earlier divine visions in 1838, long after the events were said to have happened?
This has been a popular theme of some anti-Mormon writers in this century, including Fawn Brodie and many others. They claim that the stories of angels and heavenly visitations were not “invented” until long after Joseph had written the Book of Mormon and organized a church, and that Joseph made up these accounts to give more glory to his position as a leader of the Church. While the First Vision details most important to us now were not written until 1838, Joseph’s earlier 1832 written account does mention seeing the Lord. This remained unpublished for years, though. The earliest reference in LDS publications to the First Vision appears to be Doctrine & Covenants 20:5, which is a relatively vague reference to something that happened in the First Vision, followed by a reference to the angelic visitation that led to the Book of Mormon: 5 After it was truly manifested unto this first elder that he had received a remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world;
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