Three Heavens?

[southernfinery]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints teaches that there are three levels of heaven: the celestial (the highest), the terrestial (the middle), and the telestial (the lowest). The clearest teaching concerning this is found in section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Mormons refer to 1 Corinthians 15:40-41 as Biblical support for this teaching. But did Paul believe in three levels of heaven? Lets examine that.The King James Version translates this passage as follows:
“There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestial 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.â€ÂThe Mormon church has latched on to the terms “celestial†and “terrestial†in its teaching of various levels of heaven. The third word, “telestial†is not even an English word, but was created by the imagination of Joseph Smith by combining the first two letters of “terrestial†with the last seven letters of “celestial.â€ÂNo Bible text can be understood outside of the context in which it is found. Such is also the case here. 1 Corinthians 15 is known as the “resurrection chapter.†Paul is here discussing the topic of the resurrection of believers. Notice the two questions he has addressed in this chapter so far; verse 12 addresses those who did not believe in resurrection, and verse 35 asks the question, “with what kind of body do they come?†Paul is still answering this question in verses 40 and 41. What, then, is Paul’s point?Paul is here discussing the connection between our physical body, and the spiritual body we will have at the resurrection. He maintains that there is definitely a connection between the two, but the future, glorified body will far transcend our current physical body in so many ways. To make his point, he brings in a number of il----rations. One is the seed and the plant,verses 36-38, another that of the flesh of the animal kingdom,v.39. When we come to the verses under discussion here, we see that he is continuing with the same train of thought,here comparing the glory of heavenly bodies with the glory of earthly bodies. This verse simply continues his comparison--there is no reason to believe that all of a sudden he decides to talk about different levels of heaven. The very next verse substantiates this quite well,“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.â€ÂNotice the continued parallelism - perishable, imperishable; dishonor, glory. Since it is therefore obvious that Paul is describing the nature of the resurrection body, and not different levels of heaven, what about the passage at 2 Corinthians 12:2?“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows - such a man was caught up to the third heaven.†Then, in verse 4 Paul identifies this “third heaven†as “Paradise.†What is the third heaven?The Bible does describe three heavens. The first heaven is that of the sky above us - the atmosphere of the earth. The second heaven is the abode of the stars and earth - “space†as we know it. The third heaven, however, was always the abode of God Himself, “heaven†as we would use the phrase. This was a common conception in Paul’s time, and was a convenient way of describing things. Hence, Paul was caught up into the presence of God, into the “third heaven.â€Â......The people back then described things pretty rudamentally.There was no need for super-composed wordplay.Their lives were simple and so was their speech pattern.They depended more on God then we ever have imo.So in saying that let me say that we still have alot to learn.GBU

[clarkthompson (deleted)]

`There one scripture in the bible that mentions Paul going up to the third heaven. most understand this as the levels 1 the sky 2 the solar system 3 God's throne.