GREGORY - Isn't the 76th section in the Doctrine and Covenants in conflict with 1 Corinthians 15:40-42? - the latter does not teach that there are 3 kingdoms in heaven, but rather shows several glories within the one kingdom of heaven. Celestial and terrestrial are mentioned as contrasts between the glory of heaven and earth. Heaven is one dwelling, not many - (2 Corinthians 5:1).

JOEL - This is a matter of semantics and how one interprets it. To us the words "glory" and "kingdom" mean the same thing. Although the Corinthians scriptures only mentions the Celestial and Terrestrial, it does mention three glorys represented by the sun, moon, and stars:

"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars" (verse 41)

I don't know why Paul didn't mention the name of the third glory. Through latter-day revelation(D&C 76) we have learned its name (Telestial), and that there are three distinct glories or kingdoms in heaven. If heaven is one dwelling and not many why in John 14:2 are we told "In my Father’s house are many mansions;" ?

GREGORY - How come LDS teach that the 12 tribes are lost? According to the Bible, the tribes were not lost - the house of Israel was represented in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion (Acts 2:22, 36). When Peter addressed the men if Israel in verse 22, he was saying that the house of Israel was represented in verse 36. Also, every living member of every tribe does not need to be present in order for the house of Israel to be represented.

JOEL -
"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2:22, 36)

Isaiah warned that the Assyrian army would become "the rod of [God's] anger" (Isa. 10:5) and the prophecy was fulfilled when the Assyrians took most of the people in the northern tribes of Israel into captivity (2 Kings 17:5-6, 23), thus scattering Israel.
James mentions the scattered condition of the tribes(James 1:1), and Jesus tells how He must go to these "other sheep" to bring the gospel.(John 10:14-16)
But we have never said that all 12 tribes of Israel are lost; we only say that 10 tribes are lost and must some day be gathered again(D&C 110:11, Article of Faith #10).
The people in the scriptures you refer to are from the tribe of Judah who were not lost, so of course Israel could be represented by them.

GREGORY - Isn’t the whole concept of Heavenly Father having a Heavenly Father, etc impossible - that means that the first god in the large number of gods did not derive his source from another, and therefore always existed without cause. As an uncaused god exists, then this destroys the LDS concept of exaltation, because a unique, infinite God would exist above all their finite gods. Also, Isaiah stating God that no God existed before Him. Jesus pre-existed eternally, with no BEGINNING (John 1:1)

JOEL - Yes it is impossible for our finite minds to be able to comprehend such a thing, and we don't profess to understand it fully now. We only know from latter-day revelation that eternal progression has been going on in the eternal past and will continue on into the eternal future. There never was a "first God" as you say. There have been an infinate number of Gods over an infinate number of universes in the past and in the future.
Is this really so hard to believe as it is to believe that our God never had a beginning? In the scriptures, such as Isaiah, God speaks only of this universe. As far as we are concerned there are no other gods because we don't worship them; we only worship one God.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."(John 1:1)

You use this scripture to prove that Jesus existed eternally. If that is so then how can there be a "beginning" as the scripture indicates? The question is, the beginning of what? The rest of that chapter in John goes on to talk about the creation of things. So perhaps it is talking about the beginning of our universe. If it is, and Jesus is eternal, then what was Jesus before that beginning?
We do believe that He existed eternally in some form. He has however, gone through some changes through time. Before He was born to this earth He existed first as an intellegence in the eternal past, destined to become our God. Then as a spiritual being without flesh and bone as a spirit child of His Father, but still a God. He created the heavens and the earth. He was the God of the Old Testament. He came to earth and obtained a body, brought us His gospel, suffered for our sins, and died and was ressurected with a body of flesh and bones as His Father has. He is now our God and will always will be. But of course we have learned all this through latter-day revelation which you would not recognize.

GREGORY - In 1 Corinthians 12:28, Paul lists some of the gift offices of the church. These offices are part of a discussion on the spiritual gifts in the context of chapter 12. Here, Paul does not say that there are 12 with the gift of apostleship, or 3 with the gift of prophecy, but leaves such numbers wide open because many had these gifts. Also, Paul presents apostles first and prophets second. Doesn't this go against the belief that 12 apostles are necessary today and Prophets in the Latter-day Saint faith being of a higher position that the apostles also?

JOEL -
"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." (1 Corinthians 12:28)

I don't think the intention of this scripture was to suggest an unlimited number for the office of Apostle or to place these things in a particular order of importance. It is simply listing the characteristics of Christ's church and Apostles just happened to be on the top of the list. The Bible does record the replacement of Judas with Mathias(Acts 1:15-26) thus demonstrating the importance of having twelve in the quorum.
Actually in our Church Apostles and Prophets are on an equal in terms of authority. All fifteen of the Apostles, which includes the three in the First Presidency are called Prophets, Seers and Revelators. The President of the Church is the head prophet who speaks for God in all church matters, but the other Apostles are just as much prophets as he is. Notice how that scripture uses the plural "prophets" and not the singular "prophet"?
And in another sense we are all prophets to some degree in our own stewardships. President Wilford Woodruff said of Brigham Young to a congregation:
"He is a prophet, I am a prophet, you are, and anybody is a prophet who has the testimony of Jesus Christ, for that is the spirit of prophecy" (Journal of Discourses 13:165)
So we can all be prophets in a sense, but none of us are Apostles except for the fifteen mentioned above. So in this sense the position of Apostle is above that of prophet.

GREGORY - How come LDS believe that living apostles and so forth are necessary today? In Eph. 2:20, this verse refers to the foundation of the church (apostles, prophets and Jesus Christ) in the past tense. The Church, present tense, is being built upon the foundation. The foundation for such a church in progress cannot be replaced without destroying the structure. Therefore, the foundation mentioned here is the original 12 (with Judas replaced by Matthias, Acts 1:12-26).

JOEL - I can only say that we have learned by latter-day revelation that in order to have Christ's true and functional church on the earth, we must have these offices in the priesthood to make it work. If it was so important to replace Judas with Matthias back in New Testament times to maintain the leadership of the church; why would it not be important to have all twelve positions in the Quorum of Twelve of Christ's church today?
If the early church had not gone into apostasy they would have continued to replace Apostles as they died off so there would have always been twelve. But that didn't happen, so when the time was right God restored His church and once again called 12 Apostles. And just as in the case of Judas and Matthias when one Apostle is gone(for whatever reason) another one is called to replace him to maintain twelve.
In another Ephesians scripture Paul said:

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"(Eph 4:11-12)

If these are needed for the work of the ministry and perfecting of the saints(which are not "past tense" activities), shouldn't we have them in our church today so those things can happen?