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Question

 

Gramps,

Is a resurrected being celestial or can they be a lower order?

Dan

 

Answer

 

Hello Dan,

Thank you for your question, this has always been a fun subject for me.

As we know, thanks to the Atonement of the Savior, all mankind will one day become the recipients of the gift of immortality and will be resurrected. As members of the Church, we also believe that we have the potential to some day inherit a Kingdom of Glory: Celestial Kingdom, Terrestrial Kingdom or Telestial Kingdom. While all mankind will be resurrected, not all people will be resurrected with the same type of resurrected body. Our resurrected bodies will correspond to the Kingdom of Glory we will inherit, thus those who will inherit the Celestial Kingdom will receive a Celestial resurrected body and those of lower orders will receive corresponding bodies to those kingdoms.

President Joseph Fielding Smith shared the following:

“In the resurrection there will be different kinds of bodies; they will not all be alike. The body a man receives will determine his place hereafter. There will be celestial bodies, terrestrial bodies, and telestial bodies. …

 

“… Some will gain celestial bodies with all the powers of exaltation and eternal increase. These bodies will shine like the sun as our Savior’s does. … Those who enter the terrestrial kingdom will have terrestrial bodies, and they will not shine like the sun, but they will be more glorious than the bodies of those who receive the telestial glory”

In the scriptures we can read the words of the Apostle Paul in the Corinthians 15:39-42:

39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

 
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

 
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

 
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown incorruption; it is raised in incorruption:

Doctrine and Covenants 88:28-32 reads:

28 They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened.

 
29 Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.

 
30 And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.

 
31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.

 
32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received.

Ultimately, at some point we will all be resurrected. Our new bodies will vary in glory according to our worthiness and according to the kingdom which we shall inherit.

Thank you again Dan for your question.

Gramps

 

 

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