(I have put all the verses I posted in here into KJV for your veiwing pleasure:D)
I have 6 versions of the Bible. I know that there are 2 kingdoms, it states it about 20 times in the bible.
It seems that your church could have easily interpreted it differently than it was ment to be. I will write what I have to say and than paste it here in a sec.
These bodies it talks about are printed in the living bible which explains it more clearly
the Celestial bodies are the angels, they live in heaven among men and God, also they have come down to earth.
It says our bodies are the terrestrial. The Angels are above us.
The part about the moon and the stars and the sun is telling us that each of us have a different kind of faith amount, some it is weaker than others while with others it is stronger, and the Angels faith is much greater than ours.
I don\'t know where you get the outer darkness from.
This entire section says nothing about 3 kingdoms and 1 outer darkness. It talks about angels bodies with ours and the amounts of faith we have. It does not say anything about seperating Angels,God,Humans. No one gets to heaven by good works. Christ says it himself. Your Church is not following what the Bible says. They have interpreted this passage very wrong (as many churches do interpret things wrong). Saying you do not go to heaven by faith is also wrong. Plus those are the words of Paul in a letter, not the word of Jesus.
Faith before good works: Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." The only ranks in heaven are the ranks of God, the angels rank, and the human souls who are not ranked at all.
Hell: Jesus clearly says in Matthew 10:28 (one of may fav verses) "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. but ratherfear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell."
Heaven: Jesus says in Matthew 18:3: "And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become like little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." This is saying that unless you act like a little child and belive what he tells to you without questioning it, then you will be able to enter heaven with the faith in Jesus Christ. I don\'t see how in the world you can belive in Christ and yet not belive that there is a heaven and a hell like he says. Thats like saying he is lying. And if he is a liar then he is not perfect. And if he isn\'t perfect then he isn\'t The Son of God.
