Monday, September 14, 2015

Three Heavens?

Let us compare the three heavens of the Bible with the three heavens of the LDS doctrine.

The three heavens of the Bible are as follows.

1.The firmament where the birds fly.

Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were  above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
Genesis 1:7-8, 20 NKJV

2. The firmament which holds the sun, moon, and stars.

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He  made  the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it  was good.
Genesis 1:16-18 NKJV

3. The dwelling place of the Most High.

then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause,
I Kings 8:49 NKJV

The LDS get their three level of heavens from not understanding the different heavens of the Bible, and from this verse in 1 Corinthians. It is NOT talking about different levels of heaven. It is saying that the things of the earth are different than the things in space, which are both different than the spiritual.

There  are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
I Corinthians 15:40 NKJV

There is only one heaven where God dwells and where the saints will abide with Jesus.

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