“What is your opinion of 2 Corinthians 12:2. Where Paul talks about a man caught up into the third heaven? Sounds surprisingly like LDS doctrine.
Thank you for asking, Teppe.
From a book by Ron Rhodes, Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses, Harvest House, 2008, p. 234:
“Are there three heavens? The Bible refers to three different heavens. The first heaven is the earth’s atmosphere (Job 35:5). The second heaven is the interstellar universe (Genesis 1:17; Deuteronomy 17:3). The third heaven is the ineffable and glorious dwelling place of God in all His glory (2 Corinthians 12:2). It is elsewhere called the heaven of heavens and the highest heaven (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 2:6).””
It’s worth noting that the Hebrew word for “heaven” itself literally means “the heights.” Thus, the “highest heights” would refer to heaven itself.
I don’t particularly care about Ron Rhodes beliefs, but I do care about the Apostle Pauls.
Paul further described his understanding of the heavens in 1 Cor 15:40-43 By identifying the three heavens as the Celestian, Terrestial and Terrestial glories.
I don’t suppose that Mr. Rhodes made that correlation ... did he?