I feel exactly the same way. When I teach temple prep classes I throw out the familiar linear bubble diagram. Instead I illustrate our movement through the plan of salvation (and through the temple ritual) as our going away from and then back toward God. How close we draw on our return is dependent on our repentance and soft-hearted reception of light and truth.
The image in the article shows the cosmos from above. It can also be shown from the side as mountain, with the plane below representing the telestial, a gate leading into the terrestrial world on the lower slopes, and the presence of God at the tree of life at the summit. I show the side view in the background of this drawing here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1755925585/enoch-journeyed-in-the-land.
This is the structure of Eden as described in scripture (we overlook the fact that it is a mountain with rivers flowing down/out of it), and elaborated by the early church fathers such as St. Ephrem the Syrian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXGdaJFIB8M. Since Adam & Eve's is the story we act out in the endowment ritual, I think it makes so much sense to illustrate it using a cosmically coherent image rather than the odd bubble diagram which places Christ and our eternal reward on some distant world.
This is a totally new concept to me but I’d like to ask a question. Can we envisage the three degrees of glory in the same way that you have described ‘behold your little ones’, with Christ and light in the centre and concentric circles?
Yes! The three main divisions of space in the traditional Christian church, or in Moses's tabernacle, map on to the three kingdoms of glory outlined by Joseph Smith.
In the drawing, Christ himself represents the immediate presence of God in the holy of holies (or celestial), the children represent those holy ones who have been baptized by fire (the terrestrial), and the adults represent those who have yet to repent and be baptized by fire (the telestial)
I like that idea so much more than the visual representation of distant planets. Christ remains central and we have eternal progression towards him.
I feel exactly the same way. When I teach temple prep classes I throw out the familiar linear bubble diagram. Instead I illustrate our movement through the plan of salvation (and through the temple ritual) as our going away from and then back toward God. How close we draw on our return is dependent on our repentance and soft-hearted reception of light and truth.
The image in the article shows the cosmos from above. It can also be shown from the side as mountain, with the plane below representing the telestial, a gate leading into the terrestrial world on the lower slopes, and the presence of God at the tree of life at the summit. I show the side view in the background of this drawing here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1755925585/enoch-journeyed-in-the-land.
This is the structure of Eden as described in scripture (we overlook the fact that it is a mountain with rivers flowing down/out of it), and elaborated by the early church fathers such as St. Ephrem the Syrian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXGdaJFIB8M. Since Adam & Eve's is the story we act out in the endowment ritual, I think it makes so much sense to illustrate it using a cosmically coherent image rather than the odd bubble diagram which places Christ and our eternal reward on some distant world.
Thank you, that’s fabulous.
This is a totally new concept to me but I’d like to ask a question. Can we envisage the three degrees of glory in the same way that you have described ‘behold your little ones’, with Christ and light in the centre and concentric circles?
Yes! The three main divisions of space in the traditional Christian church, or in Moses's tabernacle, map on to the three kingdoms of glory outlined by Joseph Smith.
In the drawing, Christ himself represents the immediate presence of God in the holy of holies (or celestial), the children represent those holy ones who have been baptized by fire (the terrestrial), and the adults represent those who have yet to repent and be baptized by fire (the telestial)