Are there 3 degrees in the Terrestrial Kingdom?
Question
Gramps,
Are there also 3 degrees of kingdoms within the Terrestrial Kingdom?
Ray
Answer
Dear Ray,
The best thing I can say about that is ‘we don’t know.’ I know that isn’t the answer you were hoping for, but it’s the best we can do right now. I hesitate to even try to guess. On the one hand, one could say it hasn’t been mentioned so the answer must be no, but on the other hand one could say it hasn’t been mentioned so we don’t know. Either way, I hope that all of us will strive for the Celestial Kingdom and reach that goal . . . that is what truly matters.
What we do know about the three kingdoms (Celestial, Terrestial and Telestial) comes mostly from Doctrine and Covenants 76 from Joseph Smith’s vision. In this section we are given much information about the kingdoms and who will inherit each. While there is much we still don’t know, I find a great deal of comfort in what has been revealed. Consider for example what others throughout the centuries and the world have believed about the after life. These beliefs range from nothingness, to burning damnation and other terrifying scenarios.
And while not everyone will be able to return to live with Heavenly Father, we must remember that not everyone would want to do so. Consider this story by Brad Wilcox:
“I know a young man who just got out of prison—again. Each time two roads diverge in a yellow wood, he takes the wrong one—every time. When he was a teenager dealing with every bad habit a teenage boy can have, I said to his father, “We need to get him to EFY.” I have worked with that program since 1985. I know the good it can do.
His dad said, “I can’t afford that.”
I said, “I can’t afford it either, but you put some in, and I’ll put some in, and then we’ll go to my mom, because she is a real softy.”
We finally got the kid to EFY, but how long do you think he lasted? Not even a day. By the end of the first day he called his mother and said, “Get me out of here!” Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly. His Grace is Sufficient
So you see Ray, the real question before us does not concern the division (or lack of) within the kingdoms, but are we living now so that we will want to be in the Lord’s presence after we die?
Gramps
Seems like:
DC 76:97 And the glory of the terrestrial is one, even as the glory of the moon is one.
Is the most relevant information on the subject.
I found these quotes interesting. In short, 1 Cor. 15 talks about resurrected bodies in the Telestial glory differing as the stars in the heavens, which vary widely, so there could be many different degrees within that kingdom. We also know there are at least three major compartments in the Celestial, so we can posit that there are multiple degrees within the Terrestrial kingdom as well.
“The three kingdoms of widely differing glories are organized on an orderly plan of gradation. We have seen that the telestial kingdom comprises several subdivisions; this also is the case, we are told, with the celestial; (D&C 131:1, 2 Cor 12:1-4) and, by analogy, we conclude that a similar condition prevails in the terrestrial. Thus the innumerable degrees of merit amongst mankind are provided for in an infinity of graded glories. The celestial kingdom is supremely honored by the personal ministrations of the Father and the Son. The terrestrial kingdom will be administered through the higher, without a fulness of glory. The telestial is governed through the ministrations of the terrestrial, by “angels who are appointed to minister for them.” (D&C 76:86-88)
(James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1968], 83.)
DNTC-McConkie vol. 2, pg. 400
Glory of the stars] Telestial glory found only in the telestial kingdom. “In the infinite mercy of a beneficent Father it [telestial kingdom] surpasses all mortal understanding, and yet it is in no way comparable to the glory of the terrestrial and celestial worlds. Telestial glory is typified by the stars of the firmament, and ‘as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world’ (D. & C. 76:81-112; 1 Cor. 15:41), meaning that all who inherit the telestial kingdom will not receive the same glory.” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed., p. 778.)