Question: How is it possible for messengers from heaven to move through walls, ceilings, and so forth?

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Question: How is it possible for messengers from heaven to move through walls, ceilings, and so forth?

Introduction to Question

At the 2019 FairMormon Conference held in Provo, UT, Elder Craig Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy shared one of his questions about the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

An audience member asked Elder Christensen what doctrinal/historical questions he has had and how he as subsequently resolved them. Elder Christensen responded:

You know I’ve kind of played into that a little bit in that I always go back to what I know and not what I don’t know. And so, when I get a question that I can’t respond to, rather than being too obsessed by it, I go back, well I know this and I know this and I know this. Now I have a lot of questions. I’ll give you one that will not be answered in this life. I have anxiously waited to ask Moroni how he did this. How does a resurrected being get through the roof of a house to appear at the room? How does that work? I’m kind of a mind that it has to do with light and a pillar of light as he appeared. But I don’t know. They have substance. They have matter, and I’m not sure how that works. So, there are a lot of curiosity questions. But the deeply doctrinal questions that really matter are really rooted in the Plan of Salvation, rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, when I get a question that comes to me, I say, “How does this affect my standing before God in my future in the Plan of Salvation?" That didn’t answer your question. I punt it back to you.

This is perhaps one of the most unique questions that has been asked to the author’s knowledge.

This article will explore this question more in light of physics and what we know from the scriptures.

Response to Question

Moving at or near the Speed of Light

It is possible for these messengers to be able to move and act as they do with a combination of what we know about anti-matter and about physics and the theory of relativity. First, one may need some background on what Einstein’s theory of relativity is. This video explains it simply.

As explained in the video, the faster someone is traveling, the slower they are moving through time. Since God is in control of the elements and can command them at his will to move and combine as he directs, is it possible that he can command the matter that makes up his body to move at or near the speed of light so that he could perhaps open doors or windows or move through buildings at incredible speeds without the recipients of heavenly messages noticing that that is what he did? Certainly! He can use this same mechanism to make it appear like he or another heavenly messenger is floating. All they’d have to do is accelerate at places near or at the speed of light and make it appear like he is floating, extending a hand, speaking, etc.

Antimatter

Another possibility is that God can use antimatter to create any sensation by acting directly on the cerebral cortex. A person who can conjure as much anti-matter as he/she liked could literally do anything that is possible to be done by physical laws. A person could act directly on the cortex by stimulating areas of these cerebral cortices with small amounts of antimatter. Of course, this brings up a question. If God can create all this antimatter from a difference and make us think that we’re having a vision of him or another being, are visions all then just “in the head” as it were? Not necessarily. God could use anti-matter in connection with his moving at the speed of light to make it seem like, for instance, windows and doors never open to let a material person enter a building or room.

Conclusion

More likely than not is that God uses some combination of these two mechanisms to effectuate appearances of heavenly messengers that can be seen, that can be seen floating in the air, heard, etc. We really don’t know. What we do know is that there are possible mechanisms for God to use that can make these visions happen; and that is what is most important.

Notes