BYU ScholarsArchive

Article Title

Raising the Stakes: How Joseph Smith’s First Vision Became All or Nothing

Authors

Steven C. Harper

Keywords

Joseph Smith, restoration, first vision, conference proceedings

Abstract

Joseph Smith (1805–1844) inhabited a visionary world and belonged to a visionary family.¹ At about age twelve, he began to worry about his soul and started searching the Bible. As he compared the scriptures to the Christian denominations where he lived in western New York State, he found discord. For two or three years, he worried about “the darkness which pervaded the minds of mankind.” He became “exceedingly distressed” and “convicted” of his sins, a problem compounded by his inability to find any “society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament.”²

Recommended Citation

Harper, Steven C. (2020) "Raising the Stakes: How Joseph Smith’s First Vision Became All or Nothing," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 59: Iss. 2, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol59/iss2/4