How The Kingdoms Of Glory Teach Us About Love.

Recently I was studying the Kingdoms of Glory. As I read D&C 88:22-24 I had an epiphany. What if there was a correlation between the Kingdoms of Glory and their respective laws and love? What if the law we were abiding dictated our capacity to love or feel love? Would it explain how pornography kills love? The more I studied the Kingdoms of Glory and love, the more I realized that there is a correlation between the Laws of the Kingdom and the love that we feel. Here is how the Kingdoms of Glory teach us about love.

Telestial Love.

Telestial Love is the most common type of love we see in the world today. It is based on the fallen nature of the world. This love is based solely on physical attraction and appetites. This love is temporary and shallow; it is not pure or wholesome. Often it leads to lust (Satan’s counterfeit of love) and objectification of people, IE Pornography. Telestial Love is not eternal; it will always end in heartbreak.

The reason this love is the most common type of love is simple. The Telestial Law is the lifestyle that most people abide. We can only love according to the law in which we live. Now, this is not to say physical attraction is evil, but it is to say that if this is the height of your love, it is shallow.

“How hollow, how empty if our love is no deeper than the arousal of momentary feeling or the expression in words of what is no more lasting than the time it takes to speak them.”
Marvin J. Ashton

Terrestrial Love.

Terrestrial Love is far nobler than Telestial Love. It is not solely based on the physical, but it is based on the Terrestrial attributes of the person. It is based on the things that make people good. For example, they are funny, they cook, they listen, or they work hard.

These are great attributes but lack the exalting factor of love. Terrestrial Love is the highest level of love that most people achieve in this life. This love is only felt and achieved by the people who live a Terrestrial Law; this is the love most people feel when they think they’ve found the one, it has a much longer shelf-life than Telestial Love.

People who keep the Terrestrial Law come from all walks of life. As D&C 76 puts it, the people who keep this law are the “honorable” people of this world. In the scale of good, better, and best this love is better than Telestial, but it is not the best, it is not Celestial.

Celestial Love

Celestial Love has a few names including, pure love, true love, and charity. Celestial Love is the very essence of God. We do not read “God is power” or “God is patience” or even “God is knowledge, humility, diligence” whereas all of these things are attributes of God, they are not the essence of God. John declared “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Because of His love, God was willing to send His only Begotten Son to earth to die for us. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice is the ultimate example of God’s unconditional love. He loves us because we are His children. Our actions can make us numb to his love, but it is still there. Celestial Love can only be felt in its full glory by those who keep the fullness of the Gospel.

The first aspect of Celestial Love is loving God with your whole heart and soul. True discipleship fosters Celestial Love. And as you love God, your love for others will grow as you will see them as they truly are, your brothers and sisters.

“True love lasts forever. It is eternally patient and forgiving. It believes, hopes, and endures all things.”
Joseph B. Wirthlin

Celestial Love In Dating And Marriage

Celestial Love is not based on temporal things but eternal things. When asked why you love someone, Telestial or Terrestrial Love would say because they are unique, pretty, strong, athletic, or that they excite you.

Celestial Love would say, being around them inspires me to become better. My soul desires their welfare, I would lay down my life for them. It is when someone has become irreplaceable. You’ve realized that heaven would not be heaven without them. It is the love that you see in the eyes of the newlyweds kneeling across the altar. It is the love you hear in the words of an apostle describing their wives.

Elder Holland has taught “Believe that your faith has everything to do with your romance, because it does. You separate dating from discipleship at your peril.” the crowning aspects of Celestial Love is Celestial Marriage. And in turn, Celestial Marriage helps forge Celestial Love. This love is strengthened as you welcome children into the world. And this love grows as you come closer to God. The closer you and your spouse come to God, the closer you will come to each other. This is commonly taught as the marriage triangle.

“When two souls have a true love for each other, a genuine, tender affection (not merely physical attraction), when they are really united in spirit, having the same lofty ideals, the same beliefs and standards, trusting each other, confiding in each other; when there is sincere respect one for the other along with virtue and purity of life; when such people are joined together through the sealing ordinances, their marriage (if continued on such a basis) should give them the assurance and comfort in the thought that even though death may separate them, yet in the resurrection shall they come forth and live in the family relationship forever.”
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen

Satan’s War On Love.

Satan knows if he can keep members of the church from living the Celestial Law he will prevent us from experiencing a Celestial Love and thereby our inner divinity. We’ve heard the phrase “Porn Kills Love” and it is true, indulging in pornography will cause us to sink into living a Telestial Law and thereby thwart our ability to experience celestial or even Terrestrial Love. But through repentance, we once again can “sing the song of redeeming love” (Alma 5:26). Everyday we have the choice to act selfless and increase our capacity to love or act selfish and decrease our capacity to love.

“True love is based on personal unselfishness, but our modern world does not seem to understand this. Modern man has lost his capacity to love.”
Theodore M. Burton

Conclusion.

The gospel teaches us how to live the Celestial Law that will enable us to live a Celestial Life full of love; or in other words, the gospel enables us to be exalted and experience eternal life, a life full of love, joy, and happiness. Satan understands this, he understands that our ability to experience love is directly tied to the laws of God that we obey. He understands that the more we obey, the more we have the capacity to love. Therefore he seeks to tempt us to sin. No matter how far you have fallen, no matter what sin you have committed the Love of God as manifested in Jesus Christ can enable you to be clean and feel loved once again. You can experience the joy that Celestial Love and Celestial Marriage brings.

“True love is not earthbound. It is as eternal as our spirits, which never die.”
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen