Whenever. I’m going to hit the TV to watch golf pretty soon...
Apostle Orson Pratt had to admit that the Bible and Book of Mormon did not lend much support to the doctrine of three degrees of glory: "Then again, what could we learn from either the Bible or Book of Mormon in regard to three glories—the celestial, the terrestrial and the telestial glories? What did we know concerning those that should inhabit these various worlds of glory? Nothing at all" (Journal of Discourses, vol. 20, p. 70).
The Mormon church uses the statement made by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:40 to try to prove there are three degrees of glory: "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another."
The first thing that should be noted about this verse is that it does not use the word "telestial"; this is a word that was made up by Joseph Smith. Bruce R. McConkie, who is now an Apostle, maintains that "The fact that some of these are telestial bodies has been lost from the King James Version of the Bible" (Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p. 777).
Apostle McConkie and other Mormon writers are, of course, unable to furnish any evidence that this has been deleted from the Bible or even that "telestial" is an actual word.
The second thing that should be noted is the meaning of the words "celestial" and "terrestrial." The American College Dictionary tells us that the meaning of celestial is "pertaining to the spiritual or invisible heaven; heavenly..." The word terrestrial means "pertaining to, consisting of, or representing the earth...." So we see that the word celestial simply means "heavenly" and the word terrestrial means "earthly." In Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, the original Greek words are rendered as "heavenly" and "earthly" instead of "celestial" and "terrestrial": "... and there are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies; but one is the glory of the heavenly and another that of the earthly...."
The third thing that should be noted concerning this verse is the context it appears in. A careful examination of the context, verses 35-54, reveals that Paul was comparing our earthly body with the body we shall receive in the resurrection; he was not speaking of three kingdoms in heaven. All of us now have a terrestrial or earthly body, but in the resurrection we shall have a celestial or heavenly body. Verse 44 makes it clear that Paul was speaking of the difference between the body we now have and the body we shall receive in the resurrection: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."
Therefore, we see that the doctrine of three degrees of glory cannot be supported from the Bible, nor can it be supported from the Book of Mormon. Both books condemn this teaching.
BUT. that won't stop our FRiends from pushing the concept.