Eteponge
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- Posted: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 02:12:29 +0000
SeekerofEternalTruthRon
Hi.
Where in the KJV bible (excluding the Mormon book) does it teach:
1. There are not just heaven or hell, but 3 worlds?
Where in the KJV bible (excluding the Mormon book) does it teach:
1. There are not just heaven or hell, but 3 worlds?
Hi Ron! I'm not a Mormon, but I'm familiar with their theology. I can answer this question. Mormons believe in Three Levels of Heaven (Three Degrees of Glory: Sun, Moon, and Stars) *AND* Hell and Paradise (Pardec) and Outer Darkness as all being seperate places.
Here is where Mormons understand there being Three Levels of Heaven (Three Degrees of Glory: Sun, Moon, and Stars):
The Apostle Paul equated the different degrees of glory of resurrected bodies with the sun, moon, and stars. Throughout the Bible, there are references to multiple realms: third heaven, the highest heavens, heavens, heavenly realms, and many dwelling places.
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. [1 Corinthians 15:40-42]
I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know - God knows. And I know that this person - whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that humans are not permitted to tell. [2 Corinthians 12:1-4]
But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? [2 Chronicles 2:6]
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. [Ephesians 4:10]
For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. [Ephesians 6:12]
"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you." [John 14:2]
They were fathers of the third glory....They are the first and the second and thus both of them are perfect and full, for they are manifestations of the Father who is perfect and full, as well as of those who came forth, who are perfect by the fact that they glorify the perfect one. The fruit of the third, however, consists of honors of the will of each one of the aeons....For this reason, they are minds of minds, which are found to be words of words, elders of elders, degrees of degrees, which are exalted above one another. Each one of those who give glory has his place and his exaltation and his dwelling and his rest, which consists of the glory which he brings forth. [The Tripartite Tractate: 69] (Ancient Christian Gnostic Scripture; Discovered in 1945 among the Nag Hammadi Library after being sealed for almost 2000 years)
This is very similar to the orthodox Christian teachings of the Shepherd Hermas, who taught that all men are given a bough from the Tree of Life, and later when they are judged, it is by the look of the bough. For those boughs which bore more branches and fruit, the person was given a crown and allowed to dwell in the tower. For those whose branches showed some growth, they were allowed to live in the tower, yet without a crown. Others who showed promise were allowed into the courtyard, while the disobedient were not allowed to enter, but were cast out. (III Hermas, Similitude VIII, The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden, World Bible Publishers Inc, 1927, ISBN 0-529-03385-2)
NOTE: Roman Catholicism also teaches of Multiple Levels of Heaven since ancient Christian times. It is an actual doctrine in the ancient Catholic Church, which still stands today. In ancient Catholic mysticism individuals learn Signs, Tokens, and Passwords to say to the guardian angels standing as sentinels in each of the Progressive Levels of Heaven. (This practice is also mentioned throughout ancient Christianity and ancient Christian Gnosticism and in many ancient Christian/Gnostic Apocrypha, and it was a part of ancient Christian Mysticism. The Mormon Church also teaches these Signs, Tokens, and Passwords to say to the guardian angels standing as sentinels in each of the progressive levels of Heaven, in their Mormon Temples this is taught. Mormonism believes that it is a restoration of ancient Christianity, and indeed it is on some levels. Although I disagree with them on some of their doctrines.
Here is where Mormons understand Paradise (Pardec) as being the abode of the pious while awaiting the Resurrection:
Paradise (Pardec) and The Kingdom of God where The Father dwells are two seperate places:
Luke 24:43: "And Jesus replied (to the criminal on the cross next to Him), 'I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."
Note: This was BEFORE His Resurrection. This was the day of his Crucifixion. Three days later, He stated this to Mary Magdalene in John 20:17 AFTER His Resurrection: "Don't cling to me for I haven't yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God."
Let me explain a mystery.
The day Jesus died, he told the thief at his side that he would see paradise that day. Three days later, Jesus came to Mary Magdalene and told her not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Throne in the Kingdom of God. In other words, He had already been to paradise, but not the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, paradise and the Kingdom of God are not the same place.
NOTE: The Coptic Christian Churches have also always believed this doctrine since ancient Christian times. So, it isn't just Mormons. Yet again, another ancient Christian doctrine restored in Mormonism.
Here is where Mormons understand "Hell" and "Sheol" and "Outer Darkness" as being three seperate places:
There are three words used for "Hell" in the New Testament. Sheol (abode of the dead), Tartarus (Hell;Purgatory;Spirit Prison), Gehenna (a horrific real place in Jesus Christ's day and age where dead bodies were burned). I believe Gehenna was a symbolic referance to the Lake of Fire mentioned in Revelation. In Revelation it states that "Hell" and "Death" will be tossed in the Lake of Fire, therefore "Hell" and the "Lake of Fire" are two seperate places.
The Lake of Fire is the place known as outer darkness. Hell is seperate from the Lake of Fire. Hell is apparently a purgatorial place for the wicked, the place where Jesus Christ said, "you will not get out until you have paid the last mite". It is also known as the Spirit Prison. Sheol is the place of the 'chasm' with Abraham's Bosum (Paradise; Pardec) on one side, and Tartarus (Hell; Purgatory) on the other side.
Accourding to Scripture, the only ones in this world and in the world to come who will suffer Outer Darkness/The Lake of Fire, are those who have commited the unforgiveable sin:
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. [Matthew 12:31-32]
The purpose of Hell is purification not punishment:
(1) According to St. Isidore of Seville the Church taught that in the next life: "Some sins will be forgiven and purged away by a certain purifying fire." (Deord. creatur., c. xiv, n. 6)
(2) St. Augustine also argued: "Some sinners are not forgiven either in this world or in the next, would not be truly said unless there were other [sinners] who, though not forgiven in this world, are forgiven in the world to come" (De Civ. Dei, XXI, xxiv).
(3) The same interpretation is given by Gregory the Great (Dial., IV, xxxix); St. Bede (commentary on this text); St. Bernard (Sermo lxvi in Cantic., n.11) and other eminent theological writers.
(4) Origen, the first great Church father, taught that purgatory is the true description of hell. He believed if people depart this life with lighter faults, they are condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, preparing their souls for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter. He wrote:
"For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones; but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works." (P. G., XIII, col. 445, 44 cool .
Origen based this statement on the following Bible verse:
It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)
Mormons agree with Origen's interpretation of Hell. Except that those who reside in Hell may attain a level of Heaven lower than the Highest Heaven where The Father Himself dwells, during the Resurrection.
Jesus Christ preached to the lost souls in the Spirit Prison (Hell) and redeemed those who would listen:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. [John 5:25]
He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. So, he went and preached to the spirits in prison -- those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. [1 Peter 3:19]
That is why the Good News was preached even to those who have died --so that although their bodies were punished with death, they would still live in the spirit as God does. [1 Peter 4:6]
