While Joseph Smith’s First Vision experience is the paramount pattern for seeking truth, wise teachers should share additional details of Joseph’s personal growth after his experience in the Sacred Grove. The First Vision, Gary L. Kapp.

Abstract: Latter-day Saint youth learning about Joseph Smith’s First Vision can draw inspiration and courage from his example to “ask of God,” as James directs, and seek heavenly wisdom. But Joseph’s faith did not end with that singular experience in the grove—world-changing though it was. Instead, he relied on scripture, personal sacred memories, and family relationships to build the spiritual resilience that sustained him throughout his life. Those who leave the Church may draw on narrative arcs from their abandoned religious past, finding parallels in Joseph’s feelings of confusion, discontent, discord, and uncertainty about the truth. Therefore, teachers must emphasize that Joseph’s journey toward God was not a single step but a lifelong quest.

Keywords: conversion, revelation, restoration of the gospel, Joseph Smith, teaching the gospel, youth

How does one shape a testimony—either their own or someone else’s? What role do narratives and symbols play in that shaping process? What impact do they have on an individual’s faith or religious identity? For Latter-day Saint youth, the narrative of Joseph Smith’s First Vision in 1820 provides a poignant template to either strengthen or undermine their faith—depending on how they understand it. If narratives are not taught in context, they can serve to hurt religious identity rather than help it. As an example of this, the following discussion will consider why and how the First Vision should be taught in context of the ongoing restoration. Beyond seeking revelation, Joseph rooted himself by seeking scriptural role models, strong family relationships, and ongoing revelation. I suggest that these strategies and details are essential to shoring up the testimonies of our youth and fostering the spiritual resiliency they need to navigate their own religious journeys.

Across the world, young Church members attending FSY are greeted by President Russell M. Nelson’s prophetic invitation to follow the example of Joseph Smith. He says, “Do what young Joseph Smith did when he had a question. . . . If you will ask sincerely, with great humility, I promise you that the Lord will let you know through the whisperings of His Spirit. The answers may not come quickly, but they will come.”[1] Joseph Smith’s search for truth is the prototype of personal conversion and modern revelation.[2] Each member of the Church must gain a personal witness that God is their loving Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is their personal Savior, and that Joseph Smith is God’s prophet who translated the Book of Mormon and restored Christ’s church. Like J. Reuben Clark observed, these truths mark the “latitude and longitude” by which all Church members must journey through life—especially our younger Saints.[3] While Joseph Smith’s First Vision experience is the paramount pattern for seeking truth, wise teachers should also continue to include the additional details of Joseph’s personal growth after his experience in the Sacred Grove. Before considering this, we will first examine how narratives shape religious identity and explore examples in Joseph’s story arc that can impact young adults today.

The Role of Narratives in Religious Identity Formation

How individuals share their story impacts how they come to view themselves, their relationships with others, and their identity as religious (or irreligious) people. As youth begin to share their own personal experiences, they begin to develop their own personal religious identities. Social psychologists Dan McAdams and Kate McLean explain that “to develop a narrative identity, a person must first learn how to share stories . . . in families, with peers, and in other formal and informal social contexts.”[4] Like the Prophet Joseph, each person has a story to tell and draws meaning and context from the stories they have learned before. For example, in Joseph’s 1838 account of his vision he compares his experience to that of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus (Joseph Smith—History 1:24). For Joseph, Paul’s theophany provided structure and context that Joseph would later use to articulate his own experiences. In this sense, narratives provide cultural tools to navigate challenges, find meaning in the mundane, and explain the unexpected.[5]

Furthermore, youth draw upon existing narratives to shape their identities throughout adolescence and young adulthood. From the earliest stages of childhood, boys and girls are taught stories that help them understand themselves and the world around them. They learn their roles in society and their relationship to God and family based on the stories they hear and the examples they see. Later in adolescence, youth begin to pick and choose from various identities they see within their social world. These pivotal teenage years are when youth begin to choose which identities they most want to continue into adulthood. Once youth have reached the age of emerging adulthood, they begin to synthesize their earlier experiences, identities, and choices into a grand narrative that comprises their overall personal identity.[6]

Example of Joseph Smith’s Identity Development

Joseph Smith, again, provides an example of this developmental process. Joseph borrowed from contemporary and ancient examples in his life to develop his own sense of self. In Joseph’s spiritual pursuits for spiritual salvation and the true church to join, one can see a synthesis of the examples of his parents, Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. Joseph Smith Sr. resisted the cultural urge to join a church out of cultural obligation. Lucy Mack Smith was resolved to live according to the witnesses she had received from previous personal spiritual experiences (which will be discussed more later). With these two examples taken together, one can see how Joseph Smith had contemporary role models on which to rely as he navigated his own spiritual journey. Joseph also sought for examples in the lives of ancient prophets and apostles (like Paul), especially as he sought to make sense of his First Vision experience. More will be said concerning such spiritual heroes, but in summary, Joseph’s process of identity development was influenced by his reliance on the examples of his family and those of scriptural heroes, examples he would later synthesize into his own description of self and his personal spiritual journey.

Contemporary Examples of Identity Development

Additionally, Joseph Smith’s accounts of the First Vision provide a narrative pattern that can be seen within the conversion and deconversion narratives of modern-day youth of the Church. Such patterns have been documented by previous scholarship. Sociologist Thomas DeGloma notes that Latter-day Saint awakeners model their “autobiographical story on the iconic collective memory of Joseph Smith’s [First Vision].” But DeGloma also insists that former Church members “use the same story formula to reject an autobiographical community that they once used to embrace it.”[7] Rosemary Avance similarly observed that “[former] Latter-day Saint deconversion narratives are not only ‘highly formulaic,’ but also parallel conversion stories of faithful [members].”[8] It becomes increasingly important to identify what this narrative pattern could be to see how it manifests in conversion and deconversion narratives alike.

Before outlining the framework, it is worth admitting at the outset that this framework is highly reductive and is intended only to illustrate potential narrative patterns that resemble those in young adult narratives. In spite of its limitations, one can see how this model captures essential elements of Joseph’s journey, elements that can be reappropriated to frame an individual’s reasons for leaving religion as well.

Consider the following outline of Joseph’s First Vision experience:

1. Joseph Smith feels disconnected from his congregation and questions his spiritual condition.
2. He searches for answers amid the teachings of the several religious communities he frequents and notes contention and doctrinal contradictions.
3. Joseph experiences a state of inner confusion and turmoil.
4. Joseph finds evidence and direction to resolve his sense of spiritual darkness.
5. He acts upon his newfound direction and has a highly impactful awakening experience (the First Vision).
6. Joseph shares his experience with the leader and member of his previous congregation and is rejected and later ridiculed.
7. Joseph disaffiliates from his previous congregation and awaits further instruction.

Joseph’s experience ultimately brought him closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and ushered in the Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His experience is foundational in the lives of Church members, both institutionally and personally. As we have already mentioned, Latter-day Saints are encouraged to follow the pattern of Joseph Smith’s experience to seek personal revelation and to know if the gospel is true. And yet, one can also see traces of Joseph’s story woven into the religious deconversion stories shared by some young adults.

As part of the in-depth interviews conducted in BYU’s Family Foundation of Youth Development study (hereafter referred to as “Foundations”) in 2024, young adult participants were asked about their religious experiences and why they have chosen to either stay in or leave the Church. Overwhelmingly, those young adults who have stopped identifying as Latter-day Saints (hereafter referred to as “YA Dones”) mention that feeling marginalized by their family or Church community is their single greatest reason for leaving the Church. Like Joseph, many report feeling a social disconnect with their congregations, not feeling the same exuberance that others exhibited. Moreover, these former Latter-day Saints share actions they took and experiences they had that further reflect Joseph’s journey to various degrees (see table 1). The comments included in table 1 are samples of frequent narrative elements shared by YA Dones who participated in the Foundations interviews. Though their names and key identifiers have been changed, the content of their experiences highlight common themes found throughout the narratives they shared.

Table 1. Examples of deconversion narrative elements from Foundations interview data

These comments and their relationship to Joseph’s conversion narrative deserve additional consideration. Most significantly, not one of the individuals interviewed cite Joseph’s First Vision as the example they followed to leave the Church. Their reasons for leaving Church activity were more embedded in their relationships (or lack thereof) while living as Church members. The intent of this foregoing chart is not to suggest that teaching Joseph’s First Vision experience is negatively impacting youth; rather, it is to suggest that individuals may inadvertently draw upon narrative arcs and storytelling elements familiar to them, even if those narrative elements are derived from sources that stem from their abandoned religious past. A possible explanation for this could be that former Church members exhibit a form of residual religiosity.[9] Such patterns of holding to certain religious practices from one’s past should not be surprising. As sociologists Rodney Stark and Roger Finke argue, individuals seek to conserve as much social and religious capital as they can. Similarly, the more religious capital they acquire elsewhere, the less likely they are to reaffiliate. Therefore, those YA Dones that could comfortably and concisely explain their reasons for leaving the Church are less likely to feel they will ever return.[10]

In summary, while current Church members follow the example of Joseph Smith in describing their conversion, former Church members also describe their deconversion using a similar story formula. They construct and are convinced by what seems to be an anti-testimony.[11] Having an incorrect, or at least incomplete, understanding of Joseph’s story has apparently provided the formula for our youth to either find the Church or flee from it. The following sections will suggest ways in which youth can build positive religious identities that bolster their faith in God and Jesus Christ.

Teaching the First Vision to Build Personal Religious Identity

When viewed in light of personal religious identity formation, one begins to see how pivotal Joseph’s Sacred Grove experience truly is—particularly for Latter-day Saint youth and young adults. Religious identity formation is both a relational and developmental process. Like Joseph Smith, we are all caught in the crossfire of an ongoing “war of words and tumult of opinions” (Joseph Smith—History 1:10). As Elder Quentin L. Cook has noted, “We are bombarded with angry, contentious language and provocative, devastating actions that destroy peace and tranquility.”[12] As we faithfully teach the Prophet Joseph’s experience, we can help endow our youth with the tools to seek God and establish a foundation of spiritual resiliency that will help them shape their own religious lives. There are many youth who, like Joseph, “[want] to feel and shout like the rest but [can] feel nothing.”[13] Like the YA Dones whose comments were just mentioned, other youth sadly feel like they have flunked out of the Church because their personal lives don’t match others’ idyllic descriptions or they have felt rejected by their religious community as they sought for answers to questions. What can teachers and parents then say to those who have had significant negative experiences in the Church, or to those who encounter jarring quotes or facts from Church history? What do we say to those who feel like they haven’t received a spiritual witness of the gospel’s truth?

In light of all this, it is becoming increasingly important that we help our youth to have a clear and faithful understanding of Joseph’s growth and development as a prophet, so they may use his example as a pattern for positive religious growth. It is essential to recognize that Joseph’s revelatory conversion process was not isolated to his First Vision; rather it extended across the whole of his life and ministry as the Lord’s prophet. Those who reduce Joseph’s spiritual journey to his first experiences in Palmyra run the risk of miscalculating the price to be paid for eternal truth. Indeed, both those who choose to stay in the Church and those who leave have used the framework of Joseph’s First Vision as a template to describe their own religious experiences—but those who follow Joseph’s lifelong example will find tools and encouragement to stay.

Fostering Religious Identity Through the Ongoing Restoration

By focusing on both Joseph’s First Vision and the subsequent experiences of the Restoration, teachers and leaders can fortify the faith of their youth to remain religiously resilient. Elder Robert D. Hales taught, “Gaining a testimony and becoming converted begins with study and prayer, then living the gospel with patience and persistence and inviting and waiting upon the Spirit. The life of Joseph Smith and the pattern of the Restoration are excellent examples of this process.”[14] Joseph Smith’s Sacred Grove experience is a foundational truth of the Restoration—but it is not the final truth. The teachings of the Restoration repeatedly underscore this doctrine. Joseph wrote, “We believe in all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (Articles of Faith 1:9). The Lord inspired Joseph to “lay the foundation thereof” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:2; 1:28–39). In a social media post in 2023, Elder David A. Bednar commented that “Joseph Smith didn’t receive everything. He received what was necessary to lay the foundation of the Church. . . . That is the ongoing nature of the Restoration.”[15] Joseph’s First Vision is a foundational experience that should guide our pursuit of personal revelation, but how Joseph proceeded thereafter provides the essential tools to help us remain steadfast in the faith. His example provides what social theorist Ann Swidler calls “strategies of action” or a cultural “tool kit”—tools that we can use to fashion our own testimonies.[16] Joseph’s actions to root himself in positive relationships with God and trusted loved ones following the vision allowed him to develop a strong and positive religious identity despite feeling socially outcast. Joseph drew on his sacred memory, heroes from scripture, family relationships, and his ongoing pursuit of divine revelation to stay spiritually connected with God and Jesus Christ and develop his own personal religious identity. The influence of these specific actions provided Joseph with the spiritual and social strength to overcome the pressures and persecutions of the outside world.[17] The following section discusses Joseph’s specific actions in more detail.

Sacred Memories

The Sacred Grove. Courtesy of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

In the immediate aftermath following his vision, especially when his convictions were tested, Joseph Smith relied on his own sacred memories. “I soon found,” Joseph writes, “that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, . . . and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself” (Joseph Smith—History 1:22, 23). When faced with social criticism, Joseph responded by saying, “It was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. . . . 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; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true” (Joseph Smith—History 1:24–25). For Joseph, recalling his sacred experiences with God and Christ brought the staying power that he needed to endure social rejection and develop his own personal religious identity. Brigham Young taught, “When individuals are blessed with visions, revelations, and great manifestations, look out, then the devil is nigh you, and you will be tempted in proportion to the vision, revelation, or manifestation you have received.”[18] Our youth must become hyperaware of Satan’s efforts to distract and dissuade them from discipleship. Like Joseph, our youth must continually remember those sacred, formative experiences that first connected them to Christ. Youth who develop the capacity to positively recall sacred experiences from their personal or family history will be empowered to author their own spiritual identity. As Elder Neil L. Andersen has said, “In our moments of difficulty, the Savior [will bring] these experiences back into our mind.”[19] The Lord will remind youth of their sacred memories—those moments when they were “enlightened by the Spirit of truth” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:15).

Finding Heroes from Scripture

Joseph found additional strength by comparing his experience to those in scripture—particularly the conversion of Paul.[20] “I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa,” Joseph recalls, “and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice” (Joseph Smith—History 1:24). Paul provided Joseph with an example that helped the boy prophet to understand and respond to the challenges he faced. Andrew C. Skinner notes that “neither Joseph Smith nor Paul attempted to engage their critics in debate over the philosophical possibility of resurrection or visions. . . . Rather, they both humbly offered the strongest evidence possible: . . . they saw the resurrected Lord for themselves!”[21] Paul’s example gave Joseph confidence to resist the urge to squabble and debate. As Joseph himself notes, “Though they should persecute [Paul] unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise” (Joseph Smith—History 1:24). Through his personal study, Joseph found fellowship with Paul in persecution, and even perhaps in martyrdom. This fellowship served to strengthen his own personal religious identity.

Likewise, seminary and institute teachers can help youth find their own examples of holy heroes to emulate in sacred scripture and Church history. Consider President Jeffrey R. Holland’s insight. He said, “If you are trying hard and living right and things still seem burdensome and difficult, take heart. Others have walked that way before you.” He continues:

Do you feel unpopular and different, or outside the inside of things? Read Noah again. Go out there and take a few whacks on the side of your ark and see what popularity was like in 2500 B.C.

Does the wilderness stretch before you in a never-ending sequence of semesters? Read Moses again. Calculate the burden of fighting with the pharaohs and then a forty-year assignment in Sinai. Some tasks take time. Accept that. But as the scripture says, “They come to pass.” They do end.[22]

We must help our young people understand that they are not alone in their struggle for answers, acceptance, or a clear path forward toward positive religious identity. They have every right to claim kinship with the disciples of past dispensations. Such is the birthright of every member of the house of Israel. Nephi had his Moses; Moses had his Enoch; Joseph had his Paul, and we have Joseph! We, like our faithful forebears, can continue striving toward salvation, “through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8).

Close Family Relationships

One must not overlook the importance of family in Joseph’s experience before and after the First Vision. More than any other influence that shaped Joseph’s journey through adolescence and young adulthood—especially as he navigated the implications of his First Vision experience—Joseph’s home afforded him a place of stability to reflect and grow. We do not have much information about the family’s immediate reaction to his vision; in fact, we are not entirely sure how much of the vision he shared with them at the time, beyond admitting to his mother that he had “learned for [himself] that Presbyterianism is not true” (Joseph Smith—History 1:20).[23] But given the social backlash that Joseph would endure in the days that followed, it’s clear that word did get out about his experience. What impresses me is how the family responded—or more importantly, how they did not respond—to the community’s uproar about Joseph. They did not reject him, nor he them. We do know that Joseph and his family continued to live and work together (Joseph Smith—History 1:27). Lucy Mack Smith recalls, “Joseph continued, as usual, to labor with his father, and nothing during this interval occurred of very great importance—though he suffered every kind of opposition and persecution from the different orders of religionists.”[24] This high level of trust and mutual respect allowed Joseph to feel comfortable to build his own spiritual identity without needing to rebel against his family. By modern social scientific standards, Joseph and his family developed a culture of religious strength and solidarity.

Joseph’s family relationships reflect the factors that foster multigenerational faith. As Joseph himself noted, “Words and language [are] inadequate to express the gratitude that I owe to God for having given me so honorable a parentage.”[25] Joseph’s confidence in his parents reflects modern social theory concerning youth and religion. Social psychologists Sam Hardy and Gregory Longo note that youth most successfully adopt the religious practices of their parents when they feel a high degree of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.[26] Joseph may have felt that he could express his views and be respected in his religious decisions. Seminary and institute teachers can likewise help our youth by encouraging them to share what they’ve learned in class with their parents and family, fostering additional parent-youth interaction. This regular interaction between youth and adults will begin to erode the needless barriers between adult and youth religious practices. Sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lindquist Denton emphasize the need for youth and adults to see themselves more closely connected, saying, “Our analysis and research experience suggest that adults ought to stop thinking about teenagers as aliens or even others.”[27] Our efforts as parents, leaders, and teachers to engage the youth as equals and maturing adults will provide greater staying power than we realize. Such work can be accomplished in the home and encouraged in the classroom.[28]

Another important lesson we can draw from Joseph’s family relationships is the effect that parents can have when sharing their own personal spiritual experiences. In Joseph’s case, both his parents “hungered for the truth.” Lucy Mack Smith had shared her experience of being delivered from illness prior to Joseph’s birth. Joseph Sr., following the counsel of his father Asael Smith, chose to remain aloof from organized religion. Joseph Sr. shared his own dream, in which he envisioned “that contending preachers were like cattle, bellowing as they dug at the earth, . . . which deepened his concern that they knew little about God’s kingdom.”[29] By sharing their testimonies and experiences with Joseph, he had confidence to articulate his own. Parents, teachers, and leaders who talk about their own personal spiritual experiences with their youth help those children to see that one can gain a testimony in more than one way.[30] Sharing our religious experiences with our children and youth will give them courage to seek their own. They will see that everyone is unique, flawed, and ultimately capable of receiving a personal spiritual witness from God. In this regard, it is no small fact that God restored the gospel in the heart of a home, through a young man whose family loved and supported him.

Actively Seeking Revelation from God

Above all else, Joseph’s revelatory experiences teach the need to continually seek God. Students cannot be contented with infrequent experiences and occasional moments of spiritual direction. Teachers should help students to seek daily the direction of the Spirit and, as Joseph Smith has taught, “grow into the principle of revelation.”[31] Richard E. Bennett astutely observed that Joseph’s early ministry encapsulates the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. If Joseph’s First Vision was the result of seeking the Lord in faith, his “second vision” of the Angel Moroni came because Joseph sought to repent (see Joseph Smith—History 1:29–30). His “third vision” (or more accurately, visitation) of John the Baptist came as Joseph and Oliver sought divine guidance regarding the proper form of baptism (see Joseph Smith—History 1:68–69). Peter, James, and John were sent to restore the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, with authority to give the gift of the Holy Ghost.[32] Dr. Bennett writes that “the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ was a deliberate process of continuing revelation and continuous personal development. . . . It was essential that the message of the gospel be lived by the messenger of the gospel.”[33] In this sense, Joseph Smith’s life and ongoing pursuit of revelation underscores the centrality of maintaining a continual connection with heaven. Living the gospel leads to further light and learning (Doctrine and Covenants 50:23–24). What connection will our youth make if we can help connect them with heaven? What more is God prepared to give them if they ask—and then keep asking? Joseph Smith taught, “It is the privilege of the children of God to come to God and get revelation. . . . God is not a respecter of persons; we all have the same privilege.”[34]

Latter-day Example of Seeking Ongoing Revelation: Sione

Consider the following example of one young Latter-day Saint, Sione. He is an eighteen-year-old from California of Polynesian descent and a participant in the Family Foundations of Youth Development study. In earlier waves of the research, Sione identified as a Done; however, in his most recent interview, Sione now reidentifies as a Latter-day Saint. He explains this transition in his interview. Sione grew up in a very active Latter-day Saint home, with parents who were heavily involved in Church activity and included Sione in their participation. “They basically took me to Church every day,” he shares. Sione maintained a strong connection with his Church and Polynesian community until he discovered he was bisexual. Feeling unable to share his sexuality with his family and Church friends, Sione began to distance himself from them. However, after moving to Utah for school, he met active Church members who quickly became his friends. “There are people at home who’ll say hurtful things,” Sione says, “however, people out in Utah, they’re open.” Sione shares how his friends don’t shy away from his sexual identity; rather they embrace him as an individual and friend. “Sometimes they’ll make some jokes, and it’s all in good fun, and it doesn’t hurt at all.” For Sione, his ongoing relationship with faithful, accepting members of the Church has helped him rekindle his childhood faith as well as embrace both his beliefs and his sexuality.

Moreover, Sione shares how his ongoing relationship with Heavenly Father has helped him to navigate the challenges of his sexuality and his belief in the restored gospel. In his interview, he describes his efforts to remain faithful to commandments regarding chastity while also acknowledging his identity as a bisexual Latter-day Saint. He specifically notes how his patriarchal blessing has provided particular support to help him stay rooted in his relationship with God. When asked how he reconciles his sexuality with his desire to obey the law of chastity, Sione says,

If I feel like I want to go on dates with guys, I read my patriarchal blessing. . . . And when I reread it recently, it just gave me a bigger perspective, a wider, longer perspective. One of the promises in my patriarchal blessing states that as long as I keep surrounding myself with good people, I will be able to find a good wife.

When I read that at first, I was like, really? But now it’s just . . . what I need to hear. And sometimes what I want and what I need are different things. The best way to remember that promise is just to reread that patriarchal blessing and just think of God’s plan.

Sione’s efforts are an exemplary representation of the stories shared by other Latter-day Saint young adults who are actively choosing to stay faithful, regardless of their personal circumstances. As Sione says, “While you might feel some ways, it’s sometimes best to remember that God has a plan for you. And even if it’s not always the exact path you want, sometimes it’s what you have to walk.” Like Sione, many other Latter-day Saint young adults are striving to foster their personal relationship with their Heavenly Father through personal scripture study, reviewing patriarchal blessings, worshipping in the temple, engaging in community service, and sharing the gospel with friends. Such efforts only deepen the sense of self that can be found in a life of discipleship. As President Spencer W. Kimball taught when speaking of finding oneself through divine guidance and service to others, “Indeed, it is easier to ‘find’ ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!”[35]

Truly, the impact of continually seeking revelation cannot be overstated, especially as youth develop their personal identity. As social scientist Peter Berger has observed, “The subjective reality of the world hangs on the thin thread of conversation.”[36] Youth must keep in conversation with God, his word, and those righteous influences that surround them if they wish to remain rooted in truth. Like President Nelson has taught, they must learn that “no identifier should displace, replace, or take priority over these three enduring designations: ‘child of God,’ ‘child of the covenant,’ and ‘disciple of Jesus Christ.’”[37] As youth strive to build a personal relationship with their Savior, they will realize their true identity and gain power to displace the influence of the adversary. Unless youth maintain that thread of conversation with their Father in Heaven, they will seek their acceptance from others. Youth (like everyone else) must all continually strive to communicate with God, through prayer, mediation, scripture study, and faithful discipleship. As Joseph taught later in his life, “If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves.”[38] As our youth continue to build an ongoing relationship with their Heavenly Father, they will learn who he is and learn more about their religious identity (Mosiah 5:13).

Conclusion

In summary, the youth and young adults of the Church are writing their own stories of faith, conversion, and religious identity. They are drawing on the narratives and lessons that they have been have taught. However, these youth are also growing up in a world where, for some, truth seems to be increasingly difficult to find. As Christian Smith and Patricia Snell have lamented, “[The] world has undergone a significant epistemic and axiological breakdown. . . . And [young adults] have not, in our view, been equipped with the intellectual and moral tools to know what to do with that fact.”[39] But such need not be the case for young Latter-day Saints. In fact, social scientists have noted that among young religious Americans, Latter-day Saints are among the most articulate when sharing their beliefs—suggesting that the teachings they are receiving at home and in church are having a positive stabilizing effect.[40] These youth reflect Joseph Smith’s refrain, who said, “I have learned for myself” (Joseph Smith—History 1:20).[41]

Speaking personally, I have found some of my choicest moments as a teacher come from hearing the personal stories and testimonies of my students. During my years as a teacher, I have regularly asked my students to share a personal life story about themselves in the opening weeks of class. I ask them to share with me any details or stories from their life they feel comfortable telling, in an effort to get to know them better. I specifically ask them to share why they are in class and how I can help them make the most of our time together. Then throughout our time together, I ask questions in class discussions that give students opportunities to share those stories if they’d like. The results are stunning. Watching class members develop a culture of love and belonging—beginning first with me as their teacher, later with their classmates, and ultimately with their Savior—is truly rewarding. These practical applications of identity development through sharing personal narratives continue to bless my life and the lives of my students.

This discussion has attempted to illustrate the pivotal importance of properly teaching the First Vision by emphasizing Joseph’s ongoing recourse to God and his gospel. As studies have shown, Joseph’s visionary experience is a narrative model used by members and former members alike. However, if youth will come to view Joseph’s experience within the wider context of the ongoing restoration, they will see that initial spiritual experiences are only the beginning. They will see that they must continue to find worthy examples in the scriptures and rely on the relationships around them, especially those in the home. Above all else, they will learn that they must continually seek the Lord for guidance and receive “line upon line, precept upon precept” (Doctrine and Covenants 98:12). As they follow Joseph’s example, youth will discover the truth of the Lord’s promise that says, “If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge.” Our youth will come to know the “mysteries and peaceable things” of God’s kingdom for themselves (Doctrine and Covenants 42:61). May we, as their fellow disciples, share the “cloud of witnesses” that we have found in the life of Joseph Smith and in lives of Saints from every dispensation, helping our young people write their own narratives—“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Notes

[1] Russell M. Nelson, “Welcome to FSY: Monday Home Evening Video Message from President Russell M. Nelson,” June 2022, video recording.

[2] See Henry B. Eyring, “The First Vision: A Pattern for Personal Revelation,” Ensign, February 2020, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[3] J. Reuben Clark, “The Charted Course of the Church in Education,” Brigham Young University devotional, August 8, 1938, https://speeches.byu.edu.

[4] Dan P. McAdams and Kate C. McLean, “Narrative Identity,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 22, no. 3 (2013): 235, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413475622.

[5] See DeGloma, Seeing the Light: The Social Logic of Personal Discovery (University of Chicago Press, 2014), 46–47, 83–84.

[6] Dan P. McAdams, “The Psychological Self as Actor, Agent, and Author,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 8, no. 3 (2013): 274, https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612464657.

[7] DeGloma, Seeing the Light, 85; emphasis added.

[8] Rosemary Avance, quoted in Michael R. Ash, Shaken Faith Syndrome, 2nd ed. (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, 2013), 21.

[9] See Lynn Davidman, Becoming Un-Orthodox: Stories of Ex-Hasidic Jews (Oxford University Press, 2015). The author describes similar patterns of former Hasidic Jews continuing practices like prayer.

[10] Stark and Finke, Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion (University of California Press: 2000), 121.

[11] Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America (Oxford University Press, 2022), 20–21, 24–37.

[12] Quentin L. Cook, “Personal Peace in Challenging Times,” general conference talk, October 2021, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[13] Joseph Smith, as reported in “Alexander Neibaur, Journal, 24 May 1844, extract,” [23], www.josephsmithpapers.org; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[14] Robert D. Hales, “Receiving a Testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ,” general conference talk, October 2003, www.churchofjesuschrist.org; emphasis added.

[15] David A. Bednar (@davidabednar), “What does it mean that the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ is ‘ongoing’?,” Instagram video, July 9, 2023.

[16] Ann Swidler, Talk of Love: How Culture Matters (University of Chicago Press, 2003).

[17] See Christian Smith and Michael Emerson, American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving (University of Chicago Press, 1998), 118–19. The Prophet Joseph developed what Smith and Emerson have described as a subcultural identity of religious strength. They theorize that “in a pluralistic society, those religious groups will be relatively stronger which better possess and employ the cultural tools needed to create both clear distinction from and significant engagement and tension with other relevant outgroups, short of becoming genuinely countercultural.”

[18] Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses (Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1856), 3:206.

[19] Neil L. Andersen, “Spiritually Defining Memories,” general conference talk, April 2020, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[20] See Andrew C. Skinner, “Impact of the Doctrinal Restoration,” in Joseph Smith and the Doctrinal Restoration: The 34^th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2005), 14.

[21] Skinner, “Impact of the Doctrinal Restoration,” 17; emphasis in original.

[22] Jeffrey R. Holland, “For Times of Trouble,” Brigham Young University devotional, March 18, 1980, https://speeches.byu.edu.

[23] See Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 40.

[24] Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith, ed. Preston Nibley (Bookcraft, 1958), 74.

[25] Joseph Smith, Journal, December 1841–December 1842, 180, www.josephsmithpapers.org.

[26] Sam A. Hardy and Gregory S. Longo, “Developmental Perspectives on Youth Religious Non-Affiliation,” in Empty Churches: Non-Affiliation in America, ed. James L. Heft and Jan E. Stets (Oxford University Press, 2021), 137.

[27] Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press, 2005), 264; emphasis added.

[28] See Christian Smith and Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford University Press, 2009), 231–32.

[29] Quoted in Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, vol. 1, The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846 (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2018), 10.

[30] Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation (Oxford University Press, 2020), 83–85; see also Kate C. McLean, Monisha Pasupathi, and Jennifer L. Pals, “Selves Creating Stories Creating Selves: A Process Model of Self-Development,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 11, no. 3 (August 2007), https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868307301034.

[31] Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2007), 132, quoted in Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” general conference talk, April 2018, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[32] See Saints, 1:84.

[33] Richard E. Bennett, School of the Prophet: Joseph Smith Learns the First Principles, 1820–1830 (Deseret Book, 2010), 2; emphasis added.

[34] Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 132.

[35] Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2006), 85–86.

[36] Peter L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (Anchor Books, 1990), 17; emphasis added.

[37] Russell M. Nelson, “Choices for Eternity,” worldwide devotional address for young adults, May 15, 2022, www.churchofjesuschrist.org; emphasis in original.

[38] Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 40.

[39] Smith and Snell, Souls in Transition, 292–93.

[40] Smith and Denton, Soul Searching, 133.

[41] John Gee, Saving Faith: How Families Protect, Sustain, and Encourage Faith (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2020), 21; “All told,” Gee writes, “we lose just over one-third of the youth by the time they are through with college.” We owe it to our youth to understand why and how the other two-thirds are remaining connected to the Church.