Bartman:
That’s a fair description. The doctrine says there are three main divisions or kingdoms in heaven: Celestial, Terrestrial, & Telestial.
The Celestial or best heaven is reserved for those who: 1- Accept the full gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the LDS church. 2- Receive all the necessary ordinances including LDS baptism and a temple endowment. 3- Remain faithful to the faith throughout their lives. God and Jesus live here, and only those that make it this far can become “exalted” and become like God himself.
The Terrestrial is the middle heaven. It is for those that don’t meet the requirements for the Celestial kingdom. This is where most good people, christian and non-christian alike will end up. Christ doesn’t live here… but he’ll visit often.
The Telestial is the least heaven. It is reserved for “liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.” But evidently it will be a pretty cool place. Not as nice as the others, but still nice enough to be considered heaven. I’ve seen speculation that most of humanity is destined to end up here.
There is a hell in LDS theology, Outer Darkness. But it is reserved for those who, “say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it.” So only those who deny/oppose God after he has directly revealed Himself to them go to hell. Only prophets and the like can get to hell in LDS theology.
I (as an atheist) consider Mormons to be Christian. And I have to say, this is the nicest, most sensible idea of a Christian afterlife I’ve ever read.
Reloy3
October 14, 2011, 11:35pm
22
Not true in my experience as a member for 40 years. I have never heard someone within the church refer to a Jew as a Gentile.
BigT:
And this is precisely the reason I have always heard given by others, although often less eloquently. I don’t know why people focus on the lack of Trinity, when that’s common to many Christian denominations. It’s the idea that man can become God that is considered heretical–the same thing that was rejected back when the New Testament was put together. It’s adoptionism applied not just to Jesus, but to everyone.
I’ve always said I didn’t have a problem with the idea that Jesus visited the American Indians. I don’t think it fits the historical record, but the idea itself is fine with me.
How many Christian denominations can you think of that deny the Trinity?
LDS- Tri-theism or Henotheism