Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
How do you think Joseph Smith saw himself as a teenager?
If you are a teenager,
or a few years older,
feeling anxious,
or not worth a lot,
know that
God hears and answers every prayer.
Dr. Milton V. Backman Jr: “The great apex of religious fervor [occurred] between 1816-1821, when revivals were reported in more towns and a greater number of settlers joined churches than in any previous period of New York history … Camp meetings were usually held on the edge of a grove of trees or in a small clearing in the midst of a forest. After traveling many miles, the settlers would locate their wagons and pitch their tents on the out-skirts of the encampment. Farmers’ markets and grog or liquor shops often sprung up near the campgrounds, thereby providing some farmers with unusual economic opportunities. The meetings…continued for several days …Ministers would rotate preaching assignments so that one minister would immediately be followed by another, and at times two or three ministers would preach simultaneously in different parts of the camp … Ministers not only preached lengthy sermons but devoted much of their time in counseling and directing prayer circles and group singing.” ( “Awakenings in the Burned-Over District: New Light on the 1st Vision,” BYU Studies, v.9 [1968-1969], p.301-320;).
Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge (A.S.K.)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie: “This single verse of scripture has had a greater impact and a more far-reaching effect upon mankind than any other single sentence ever recorded by any prophet in any age”. (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3:246–47).
Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision:
Stephen Prothero: "Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between this canonical account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith’s own hand in 1832. . . . . Such complaints however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions in competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide." ( American Jesus, 171).
That same year (1832), he wrote a friend that he felt imprisoned by “paper pen and ink and a crooked broken scattered and imperfect Language.” He called the written word a “little narrow prison.” ( Joseph Smith to William W. Phelps, Nov. 27, 1832, Joseph Smith Collection, Church History Library, Salt Lake City; www.josephsmithpapers.org).
Saints: "At first the preacher treated his words lightly. People claimed to have heavenly visions from time to time. But then he became angry and defensive, and he told Joseph that his story was from the devil. The days of visions and revelations had ceased long ago, he said, and they would never return.
"Joseph was surprised, and he soon found that no one would believe his vision. Why would they? He was only fourteen years old and had practically no education. He came from a poor family and expected to spend the rest of his life working the land and doing odd jobs to earn a meager living.
And yet his testimony bothered some people enough to ridicule him. How strange, he thought, that a simple boy of no consequence in the world could attract so much bitterness and scorn. “Why persecute me for telling the truth?” he wanted to ask. “Why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen?”
Joseph puzzled over these questions for the rest of his life. “I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me,” he later recounted, “and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true.”
“I knew it, and I knew that God knew it,” he testified, “and I could not deny it.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v1/02-hear-him?lang=eng)
References
Teaching Thoughts:
- “…all my anxieties…” (JSH 1:14)
- “…obscure boy…” (JSH 1:22)
- “…a boy of no consequence in the world…” (JSH 1:22)
- “…native cheery temperament…” (JSH 1:27)
If you are a teenager,
or a few years older,
feeling anxious,
or not worth a lot,
know that
God hears and answers every prayer.
Dr. Milton V. Backman Jr: “The great apex of religious fervor [occurred] between 1816-1821, when revivals were reported in more towns and a greater number of settlers joined churches than in any previous period of New York history … Camp meetings were usually held on the edge of a grove of trees or in a small clearing in the midst of a forest. After traveling many miles, the settlers would locate their wagons and pitch their tents on the out-skirts of the encampment. Farmers’ markets and grog or liquor shops often sprung up near the campgrounds, thereby providing some farmers with unusual economic opportunities. The meetings…continued for several days …Ministers would rotate preaching assignments so that one minister would immediately be followed by another, and at times two or three ministers would preach simultaneously in different parts of the camp … Ministers not only preached lengthy sermons but devoted much of their time in counseling and directing prayer circles and group singing.” ( “Awakenings in the Burned-Over District: New Light on the 1st Vision,” BYU Studies, v.9 [1968-1969], p.301-320;).
Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge (A.S.K.)
- Act in faith.
- Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective.
- Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie: “This single verse of scripture has had a greater impact and a more far-reaching effect upon mankind than any other single sentence ever recorded by any prophet in any age”. (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3:246–47).
Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision:
- 1832 Account -- Earliest account from Joseph written by Fredrick G. Williams
- 1835 Account -- Written by Warren Cowdery, given to Joshua traveling minister
- 1839 Account -- Written by James Mulholland (official account)
- 1840 Account -- Published by Orson Pratt – missionary tract
- 1842 Account -- Wentworth letter
- 1842 Account -- Written by Orson Hyde – German missionary tract
- 1843 Account -- Printed in New York Spectator – David Nye White
- 1844 Account -- Written by Alexander Neibaur, Joseph Hebrew teacher
- 1850 Account -- Written by John Taylor in Millennial Star (newspaper)
Stephen Prothero: "Critics of Mormonism have delighted in the discrepancies between this canonical account and earlier renditions, especially one written in Smith’s own hand in 1832. . . . . Such complaints however, are much ado about relatively nothing. Any good lawyer (or historian) would expect to find contradictions in competing narratives written down years apart and decades after the event. And despite the contradictions, key elements abide." ( American Jesus, 171).
That same year (1832), he wrote a friend that he felt imprisoned by “paper pen and ink and a crooked broken scattered and imperfect Language.” He called the written word a “little narrow prison.” ( Joseph Smith to William W. Phelps, Nov. 27, 1832, Joseph Smith Collection, Church History Library, Salt Lake City; www.josephsmithpapers.org).
Saints: "At first the preacher treated his words lightly. People claimed to have heavenly visions from time to time. But then he became angry and defensive, and he told Joseph that his story was from the devil. The days of visions and revelations had ceased long ago, he said, and they would never return.
"Joseph was surprised, and he soon found that no one would believe his vision. Why would they? He was only fourteen years old and had practically no education. He came from a poor family and expected to spend the rest of his life working the land and doing odd jobs to earn a meager living.
And yet his testimony bothered some people enough to ridicule him. How strange, he thought, that a simple boy of no consequence in the world could attract so much bitterness and scorn. “Why persecute me for telling the truth?” he wanted to ask. “Why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen?”
Joseph puzzled over these questions for the rest of his life. “I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me,” he later recounted, “and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true.”
“I knew it, and I knew that God knew it,” he testified, “and I could not deny it.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v1/02-hear-him?lang=eng)
References
- https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/william-earl-mclellin
- Saints pp. 3-5 – story of Mount Tambora (1815)
- Saints, Chapter 2: Hear Him, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v1/02-hear-him?lang=eng
- A.S.K Pattern: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/foundations-of-the-restoration-teacher-material-2019/lesson-3-class-preparation-material-acquiring-spiritual-knowledge?lang=eng
- https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/awakenings-burned-over-district-new-light-historical-setting-first-vision
- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2017-01-0100-ask-of-god-joseph-smiths-first-vision?lang=eng
- https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-vision-accounts-synthesis?lang=eng
- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng ●
Teaching Thoughts:
- God answers anxious teenager’s prayers.
- Asking sincere questions to God is a great thing to do.
- It is wonderful to have multiple accounts of the First Vision.
- Watch “Ask of God: Joseph Smith’s First Vision”