Joseph Smith

If people know anything about the Mormon church it is usually 1) we believe in the Book of Mormon, and 2) "Joe" Smith founded the church. I've never heard anyone in the church refer to Joseph as "Joe", but it is still common to come across "Joe" on the internet, particularly when the writer is anti-mormon.

I'll be honest. My church history knowledge isn't really as good as I'd like it to be, so I am hesitant to write out a bunch of dates and events on here. I've embedded a video of a talk given at general conference last weekend about Joseph Smith, and I'll provide some links where you can learn more if you'd like. (I really should have more committed to memory, considering I took an entire course all about Joseph Smith at BYU.) Besides, this all makes much more sense than me blabbing on. :)

And here's the link to the text of the talk, if you'd rather read it.

You can read Joseph's accounts of the first vision here. The "First Vision" refers to Joseph's first vision, the one of God and the Father in the grove of trees, spoken of in the video above.

This website has sections for various parts of his life.
http://www.josephsmith.net/?lang=eng

There is a project going on in the church, where they are making digital copies of all of the papers, letters, journals, etc. that they have from and to Joseph. It is a huge effort, and while you can buy hard copies at church bookstores, they are making it all available to the public online. It's very cool.
http://josephsmithpapers.org/

I do have a testimony Joseph Smith was really a prophet of God. To be honest, it was one of the things that took me a while to have a strong testimony of. I took that course at BYU about Joseph because I wanted to learn more and be able to strengthen my testimony of him. I've had a strong conviction of the Book of Mormon for quite a long time, so I knew through logic that if it were true, Joseph Smith must have been a prophet of God, but I wanted that to be a stand-alone conviction. (Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from ancient record delivered to him by the Angel Moroni, so if the book was true, he certainly didn't make it all up.) It takes study, and earnest prayer to gain a testimony of something, and that class at BYU gave me the perfect opportunity for just that.

I am grateful to Joseph and everything he did to bring this gospel forward. I am grateful to have knowledge that would not be available to me without his efforts. Without this gospel, I would not understand why I am here and what the future (big picture) could hold for me. I would not have the peace and comfort that comes from knowing that families are eternal. I would not have the same relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don't worship Joseph Smith, but we do have a great amount of reverence and appreciation for what he did.