Monday, October 30, 2023

Russell M. Nelson on the Importance of the First Vision

  

The 1838 account of the visitation of the Father and the Son is recorded in the Pearl of Great Price. It was approved by the Church as scripture. This means that it is the “will of the Lord, . . . the mind of the Lord, [and] . . .the word of the Lord” to the Saints (see D&C 68:4). No one can be a member of the Church in full faith who does not accept this testimony of Joseph Smith as a true. . . . The reality of that appearance is just as central to our theology as our declaration and belief in the atonement and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Russell M. Nelson, “As the Heart of the Church,” in The Prophet and His Work: Essays from General Authorities on Joseph Smith and the Restoration [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996], 53)