I Have Actually Seen a Vision

"As I have contemplated the foundation laid by the early Saints, I have reviewed with reverence the sacrifice and devotion which they showed for the cause of truth. The pillars of their faith are still resident with us as a people today. We, like the early Saints, believe and testify, as the first pillar of our faith, that the Prophet Joseph Smith did indeed see the Father and the Son in the grove of trees in the spring of 1820. Said he, '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' (JS—H 1:25). To those who questioned his experience, Joseph wrote, 'Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and . . . why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it' (ibid.)."
Howard W. Hunter, "The Pillars of Our Faith," Ensign, Sept. 1994, 54

Topics: Joseph Smith