Years later Smith said that in 1820 he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion.[14] While praying in a wooded area near his home, he said that God, in a vision, had told him his sins were forgiven and that all contemporary churches had "turned aside from the gospel."[15] Smith said he told the experience to a preacher, who dismissed the story with contempt; but the experience was largely unknown, even to most Mormons, until the 1840s.[16] Although Smith may have understood the event as a personal conversion, this "First Vision" later grew in importance among Mormons, who today see it as the founding event of Mormonism.[17]
Smith said that in 1823 while praying one night for forgiveness from his sins, he was visited by an angel named Moroni, who revealed the location of a buried book made of golden plates, as well as other artifacts, including a breastplate and a set of interpreters composed of two seer stones set in a frame, which had been hidden in a hill in Manchester near his home.[18] Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him.[19] Smith reported that during the next four years, he made annual visits to the hill but each time returned without the plates.[20]
No comments:
Post a Comment