Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Tonight on Mormonism Live we tackle one of the most controversial and uncomfortable documents in LDS history: Joseph Smith’s 1832 First Vision account. Not the polished 1838 version members know from the Pearl of Great Price. Not the story that has been repeated in manuals and General Conference over a hundred years. We’re going back to Joseph’s own handwritten account—the one hidden away in a vault, physically cut from his letterbook with a penknife, and unavailable to the public for over a century.
We examine the major differences that made this account so troubling. In 1832 Joseph says he was in his 16th year rather than 14. He says he sought forgiveness of sins instead of asking which church was true. He already believed all denominations had apostatized, while the later account says “it had never entered into my heart” that they were all wrong. And perhaps most significant of all, the 1832 account centers on one divine being—Jesus Christ—with no mention of God the Father appearing.
Then we follow the strange trail surrounding the account itself. Who removed the pages? Why were they cut out? Why was Levi Edgar Young told not to copy or discuss what he called a “strange account”? Why was it stored in a private vault? And why do the Church’s explanations seem to require increasingly complex assumptions to reconcile what appears, on the surface, to be a very different story?
We’ll examine the historical evidence, the apologetic arguments, Joseph Fielding Smith’s role, and ask a simple question: Which explanation requires the fewest assumptions and best fits the evidence?
Was this merely another version of the same event? Or did the earliest First Vision account create discomfort because it told a substantially different story?
Join Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon as we take a deep dive into one of Mormonism’s most fascinating historical problems.
Donate to Mormonism Live: donorbox.org/mormonism-live
If anyone needs support dealing with spiritual trauma, 1-on-1 coaching and support groups are available at awakenandthrive.org
#MormonismLive #JosephSmith #FirstVision #LDSHistory #MormonHistory #Mormonism #ExMormon #1832FirstVision #RadioFreeMormon #billreel
RESOURCES:
archive.org/details/creationofbookof0000pete/page/n13/mode/2up
mormonthink.com/files/eight-contemporary-accounts-1st-vision-improvement-era-1974.pdf
fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Joseph_F._Smith%27s_Attempt_at_Suppressing_the_1832_Account_of_Joseph_Smith%27s_First_Vision
churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/first-vision-accounts-faq/04-was-the-1832-account?lang=eng
dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V47N02_210.pdf
dialoguejournal.com/articles/the-significance-of-joseph-smiths
youtu.be/D6Deoh20oAk
youtu.be/jSlaOwcuwqg
youtu.be/Dw-22jafYUc
dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V01N03_31s.pdf
exploringmormonism.com/our-own-peek-into-the-first-presidency-vault
Tonight on Mormonism Live we tackle one of the most controversial and uncomfortable documents in LDS history: Joseph Smith’s 1832 First Vision account. Not the polished 1838 version members know from the Pearl of Great Price. Not the story that has been repeated in manuals and General Conference over a hundred years. We’re going back to Joseph’s own handwritten account—the one hidden away in a vault, physically cut from his letterbook with a penknife, and unavailable to the public for over a century.
We examine the major differences that made this account so troubling. In 1832 Joseph says he was in his 16th year rather than 14. He says he sought forgiveness of sins instead of asking which church was true. He already believed all denominations had apostatized, while the later account says “it had never entered into my heart” that they were all wrong. And perhaps most significant of all, the 1832 account centers on one divine being—Jesus Christ—with no mention of God the Father appearing.
Then we follow the strange trail surrounding the account itself. Who removed the pages? Why were they cut out? Why was Levi Edgar Young told not to copy or discuss what he called a “strange account”? Why was it stored in a private vault? And why do the Church’s explanations seem to require increasingly complex assumptions to reconcile what appears, on the surface, to be a very different story?
We’ll examine the historical evidence, the apologetic arguments, Joseph Fielding Smith’s role, and ask a simple question: Which explanation requires the fewest assumptions and best fits the evidence?
Was this merely another version of the same event? Or did the earliest First Vision account create discomfort because it told a substantially different story?
Join Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon as we take a deep dive into one of Mormonism’s most fascinating historical problems.
Donate to Mormonism Live: donorbox.org/mormonism-live
If anyone needs support dealing with spiritual trauma, 1-on-1 coaching and support groups are available at awakenandthrive.org
#MormonismLive #JosephSmith #FirstVision #LDSHistory #MormonHistory #Mormonism #ExMormon #1832FirstVision #RadioFreeMormon #billreel
RESOURCES:
archive.org/details/creationofbookof0000pete/page/n13/mode/2up
mormonthink.com/files/eight-contemporary-accounts-1st-vision-improvement-era-1974.pdf
fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Joseph_F._Smith%27s_Attempt_at_Suppressing_the_1832_Account_of_Joseph_Smith%27s_First_Vision
churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/first-vision-accounts-faq/04-was-the-1832-account?lang=eng
dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V47N02_210.pdf
dialoguejournal.com/articles/the-significance-of-joseph-smiths
youtu.be/D6Deoh20oAk
youtu.be/jSlaOwcuwqg
youtu.be/Dw-22jafYUc
dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V01N03_31s.pdf
exploringmormonism.com/our-own-peek-into-the-first-presidency-vault
