Talk:Terrestrial kingdom

LDS-specific?

Is this doctine specific to the L-d S, as the article implies? Or more general within Mormonism? Alai 17:14, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

This passage:

"The Terrestrial Kingdom is the middle of three "degrees of glory," in which the highest or Celestial Kingdom is compared to the sun, the middle or Terrestrial Kingdom is compared to the moon, and the lowest or Telestial Kingdom is compared to the stars. The terminology is also used in 1 Corinthians 15:40."

is rather unclear, dealing as it does with an interpretation of the following biblical passage:

"But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?' Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body" (1 Cor 15:35-44)

As the article stands, it could be read by someone without knowledge of the biblical text that it literally teaches the tripartite division of the Mormon afterlife. However, it is unclear that it does - and this is not a statement of belief on my part, to be honest there are many ways of reading this passage, from a simple analogy the author is making to a full-blown theological theory. The Mormon reading of the passage is certainly a possibility. But some other wording regarding the biblical text would be better.

I propose "... compared to the stars (1 Cor 15:35-44 is often cited in support of this belief)." This is how such a theory would be asserted in a commentary or theological journal; it is neutral as to the validity of the attribution, and provides an opportunity for someone to look up the reference and decided for themselves. I plan to make this edit unless good reason can be shown why it shouldn't be made.

Also, thanks for the references, they really are needed in an article like this. Note will be made that they are LDS sources, for full NPOV disclosure. Morgaledth 21:11, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Move

I've moved the page back to Terrestrial kingdom from Terrestrial Kingdom. The previous mover claimed that because it was a place, it should be capitalized, like "Heaven" or "Republic of South Africa". This overlooks the fact that it is not proper at all to capitalize "heaven". As the terrestrial kingdom is nowhere as concrete and definably discrete as the Republic of South Africa, I'm quite sure it's not appropriate to capitalize it. - SESmith 09:50, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

NPOV

I feel that I must object to the mormon church members voilating the NPOV of the page. I have attempted on several occasions to add facts to this subject. They have all been removed by members of the LDS church. The fact that the information on the subject only address an LDS point of view proves simply that it is in clear voilation of the NPOV. Allow the posting of non-LDS information to this page and I would support it. Thewayandthelight 19:16, 8 June 2007

Active discussions on the neutrality of this article is taking place on the Talk:Telestial kingdom page. Val42 21:06, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Addition to article

I think that it should be presented in this article that Emanuel Swedenborg first stated this concept in his book entitled Heaven and Hell. Though it can not be proven or disproven beyond a shadow of a doubt, it seems that this book and not a 'vision' was the influence that caused the three degree of glory or kingdoms to be adopted by Joseph Smith for the religion that he created. Mr. Miller presents a compling arguement in the following article: [1]

I would appreciate all opinions. Thewayandthelight 22:56, 8 June 2007