ished in 1830 as The Book of Mormon. In this book are passages that proclaim there only one God and that God can not change (Bloom, 1992).
             There are many facts that present a valid argument against Joseph Smith and his religion. The 'First Vision' story was unknown until 1838, eighteen years after its occurrence and almost ten years after Smith had begun his missionary efforts. The oldest version is in Smith's own handwriting, dating from about 1832 (at least eleven years afterwards), and says that just one form, Jesus Christ, appeared to him. It also mentions nothing about a revival. The religious history of the locale where Smith lived in 1820 shows that there was no trace of a religious revival there at that time (there were revivals in 1817 and 1824, but none in 1820). Also, the oldest version of the first vision story contradicts the later account as to whether Smith had already decided that no church was true. In 1828, eight years after he says he had been told by God himself to join no church, Smith applied for membership in a local Methodist church (Streissgarth, 1995).
             Although Joseph Smith said that God had pronounced the completed translation of the plated as published in 1830 "correct," many changes have been made in later editions. Besides thousands of corrections of poor grammar and awkward working in the 1830 edition, other c
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