The Date of the First Vision

"It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day,

early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty" (JS-H 1:14).

Joseph Smith's "first vision," the foundational event of the restoration, may have been in April 1820.  We do not have any contemporary documentation regarding this event, or any subsequent documentation from Joseph regarding the date of this event.  We do, however, have Orson Pratt stating almost fifty years later that it occurred in April of 1820:1

Temple Themes in the Scriptures

A subject that cannot merit enough attention in our scripture studies is the identification of temple themes.  In reading the scriptures we generally identify something here or there that relates to our temple worship; however, many scholars have contributed articles in various venues that elaborate on these themes.  It may be surprising to see that temple themes are pervasive throughout all of our canonical books of scripture.  The purpose of this post is to point the reader to some of these great articles to supplement our scripture studies from a temple worship perspective. 

Seeing Third Nephi as the Holy of Holies in The Book of Mormon: