KnoWhy #264 - Why Are there Multiple Accounts of Joseph Smith and Alma’s Visions? (Alma 36:6-7)

Like Joseph Smith's first vision, Alma the Younger’s experience with the angel is recorded multiple times. Alma’s three tellings of his conversion story shed light on Joseph Smith’s multiple tellings of his First Vision. Distinctive phrases shared between the accounts show that they came from the same person. In the cases of both Alma and Joseph Smith, differences between accounts make sense because they were writing about the experience to different audiences at different points in their lives. Just as Alma and Joseph Smith drew strength from their spiritual experiences throughout their lives, as the modern reader can today.