Editing First Vision (section)

===1834 Cowdery account===
In several issues of the Mormon periodical ''[[Messenger and Advocate]]'' (1834–35),<ref>See the full text of the ''[[Messenger and Advocate]]'' from December 1834, [http://www.centerplace.org/history/ma/v1n03.htm#42 page 42]{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2012}} and January 1835, [http://www.centerplace.org/history/ma/v1n05.htm#78pages 78-79].</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2012}} [[Oliver Cowdery]] wrote an early biography of Smith. In one issue, Cowdery explained that Smith was confused by the different religions and local revivals during his "15th year" (1820), leading him to wonder which church was [[one true church|the true one]]. In the next issue of the biography, Cowdery explained that reference to Smith's "15th year" was a typographical error, and that actually the revivals and religious confusion took place in Smith's "17th year."

Therefore, according to Cowdery, the religious confusion led Smith to pray in his bedroom, late on the night of September 23, 1823, after the others had gone to sleep, to know which of the competing denominations was correct and whether "a Supreme being did exist." In response, an angel appeared and granted him forgiveness of his sins. The remainder of the story roughly parallels Smith's later description of a visit by an angel in 1823 who told him about the [[golden plates]]. Thus, Cowdery's account, containing a single vision, differs from Smith's 1832 account, which contains two separate visions, one in 1821 prompted by religious confusion (the First Vision) and a separate one regarding the plates on September 22, 1822. Cowdery's account also differs from Smith's 1842 account, which includes a First Vision in 1820 and a second vision on September 22, 1823.