Can God be in more than one place at once?

[mbh26]

It's estimated that there are 107 billion people who have ever lived on this planet thus far.  Our Heavenly Father's spirit children probably number far more than that.  If each of us were to get 5 minutes of personal time with Him, our individual turn would only come around every 1.1 million years, assuming all Heavenly Father did was have one on one meetings with his children.  So clearly one on one time with Heavenly Father would be impossible based on the physical laws of the universe that we experience here on earth.  My question is will we or have we ever had a personal relationship with Heavenly Father or is that relationship similar to say our relationship with the prophet or perhaps our relationship with the Holy Ghost?  

Edited February 15, 2022 by mbh26

[Nofear]

Well, the math is far worse than you imagine. This earth is only one of many concurrently inhabited worlds in their mortal phase. And our God knows each one of us down to each of the hairs on our head. I think it is pretty much well beyond our capacity to understand how it is done but I don't have to. Just as God told Moses not to worry about the other worlds and just  focus on this world, similarly we can just focus on oneself and our immediate stewardships. I do not know how it is done, but I do know that God knows me and knows my family. For the time, that will have to suffice.

 

[mbh26]

Quote

about the other worlds and just  focus on this world, similarly we can just focus on oneself and our immediate stewardships.

I guess that's part of my question.  Will we ever get the chance to know God similar to how we know a leader who is a steward over us.  It's hard for me to imagine how I would ever get to spend as much time with God in a similar way that I did with my earthly parents.  

[Nofear]

We already know our Heavenly Parents. We lived with them before our birth and intimately interacted with them. That same knowledge remains with us even even now, though we have forgotten it for a time. Post-mortality our memories will return. To some have been given the spiritual gift to partially remember some of that. That is not me. But for each of us, the old will return and new ones created. I don't know if we'll talk to God face-to-face like we do to each other in the flesh now, but, the intimacy we share with each other in mortality is a pale shadow of the social and emotional intimacy that we can yet enjoy with our divine parents.

[JLHPROF]

51 minutes ago, mbh26 said:

It's estimated that there are 107 billion people who have ever lived on this planet thus far.  Our Heavenly Father's spirit children probably number far more than that.  If each of us were to get 5 minutes of personal time with Him, our individual turn would only come around every 1.1 million years, assuming all Heavenly Father did was have one on one meetings with his children.  So clearly one on one time with Heavenly Father would be impossible based on the physical laws of the universe that we experience here on earth.  My question is will we or have we ever had a personal relationship with Heavenly Father or is that relationship similar to say our relationship with the prophet or perhaps our relationship with the Holy Ghost?  

To your thread title - No, God can't be in more than one place at a time.

To the content of your post, I don't think time works quite the same way there.  I'm not saying that there is no time, or it's outside of time etc.  I've never liked the idea that God doesn't have past/present/future.  I still think he operates on linear time.
But scripture says a day for the Lord is a thousand years here, possibly due to the rotations of the sphere he lives on.

Either way, I don't think you'll need to worry.  And even if alone time isn't a thing, I feel sure that the capability for the same intimate two way relationship we can have in prayer and revelation will continue.

[Fether]

i would say no, but God does have the benefit of living a higher life than us. If that means he is in a higher dimension, it could appear to us in our dimension that he does exist in multiple places at one.

[Kenngo1969]

I have no idea how He pulled it off, and yes, it is a little frustrating that lately, He seems rather busy and distracted at the moment, but I have had a handful of experiences in my life that have convinced me such that I cannot deny that yes, God is aware of and knows me ... personally, intimately, and individually.

[Mike Drop]

1 hour ago, mbh26 said:

It's estimated that there are 107 billion people who have ever lived on this planet thus far.  Our Heavenly Father's spirit children probably number far more than that.  If each of us were to get 5 minutes of personal time with Him, our individual turn would only come around every 1.1 million years, assuming all Heavenly Father did was have one on one meetings with his children.  So clearly one on one time with Heavenly Father would be impossible based on the physical laws of the universe that we experience here on earth.  My question is will we or have we ever had a personal relationship with Heavenly Father or is that relationship similar to say our relationship with the prophet or perhaps our relationship with the Holy Ghost?  

Of course he can! My question is, do you not have personal time now with Heavenly Father? Everything you need to have a personal relationship with God was given to you before you were born.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Mike Drop

[CV75]

1 hour ago, mbh26 said:

It's estimated that there are 107 billion people who have ever lived on this planet thus far.  Our Heavenly Father's spirit children probably number far more than that.  If each of us were to get 5 minutes of personal time with Him, our individual turn would only come around every 1.1 million years, assuming all Heavenly Father did was have one on one meetings with his children.  So clearly one on one time with Heavenly Father would be impossible based on the physical laws of the universe that we experience here on earth.  My question is will we or have we ever had a personal relationship with Heavenly Father or is that relationship similar to say our relationship with the prophet or perhaps our relationship with the Holy Ghost?  

I would say the "white stone" and "sea of glass" convey the experience of having His personal and immediate physical and temporal presence to innumerable children at once.

[Teancum]

1 hour ago, mbh26 said:

It's estimated that there are 107 billion people who have ever lived on this planet thus far.  Our Heavenly Father's spirit children probably number far more than that.  If each of us were to get 5 minutes of personal time with Him, our individual turn would only come around every 1.1 million years, assuming all Heavenly Father did was have one on one meetings with his children.  So clearly one on one time with Heavenly Father would be impossible based on the physical laws of the universe that we experience here on earth.  My question is will we or have we ever had a personal relationship with Heavenly Father or is that relationship similar to say our relationship with the prophet or perhaps our relationship with the Holy Ghost?  

This is a great question and should cause you to wonder whether or not there is such a being that we call God.

[mbh26]

1 hour ago, Mike Drop said:

Of course he can! My question is, do you not have personal time now with Heavenly Father? Everything you need to have a personal relationship with God was given to you before you were born.

I'm not sure if I do have personal time with Heavenly Father or what exactly that would mean.  It seems others are hinting that our relationship with Heavenly Father in eternity will be pretty much the same as it is now, a spiritual relationship since spirits don't appear to be bound by time and space.  

I got thinking about this because my current life is so time limited and we often talk about distractions in Church.  There's so many things I'd like to be doing but I can't do a fraction of them.  I also wondered what a parent that loved all his/her kids equally would look like.  From my perspective, it seems impossible, unless you could be in two or more places at once.  

[mbh26]

1 hour ago, CV75 said:

I would say the "white stone" and "sea of glass" convey the experience of having His personal and immediate physical and temporal presence to innumerable children at once.

That actually makes a lot more sense.  

[JLHPROF]

1 hour ago, Teancum said:

This is a great question and should cause you to wonder whether or not there is such a being that we call God.

Whether or not there is such a being isn't an intellectual exercise to wonder about.
It's an undeniable experience.  I couldn't reason by belief away if I tried (I actually did for a while).  I've experienced God's presence too many times to doubt he's there.
Now knowing and doing what he wants is an entirely different issue...

[carbon dioxide]

4 hours ago, mbh26 said:

It's estimated that there are 107 billion people who have ever lived on this planet thus far.  Our Heavenly Father's spirit children probably number far more than that.  If each of us were to get 5 minutes of personal time with Him, our individual turn would only come around every 1.1 million years, assuming all Heavenly Father did was have one on one meetings with his children.  So clearly one on one time with Heavenly Father would be impossible based on the physical laws of the universe that we experience here on earth.  My question is will we or have we ever had a personal relationship with Heavenly Father or is that relationship similar to say our relationship with the prophet or perhaps our relationship with the Holy Ghost?  

Perhaps God simply uses many intermediaries to accomplish these things.  Think of the billions of prayers that are given.  How does God answer every one of them.  Perhaps he is not directly answering all of them but others called to answer basic prayers based on certain criteria and any real big issues are sent up the chain of command.  It is hard to know all the specifics at this time but God makes it work somehow.

[Fether]

22 minutes ago, carbon dioxide said:

Perhaps God simply uses many intermediaries to accomplish these things.  Think of the billions of prayers that are given.  How does God answer every one of them.  Perhaps he is not directly answering all of them but others called to answer basic prayers based on certain criteria and any real big issues are sent up the chain of command.  It is hard to know all the specifics at this time but God makes it work somehow.

I suspect our understanding of time is just as  Malleable to God as the 3D space around us is malleable to us.

[Nofear]

23 minutes ago, carbon dioxide said:

Perhaps God simply uses many intermediaries to accomplish these things.  Think of the billions of prayers that are given.  How does God answer every one of them.  Perhaps he is not directly answering all of them but others called to answer basic prayers based on certain criteria and any real big issues are sent up the chain of command.  It is hard to know all the specifics at this time but God makes it work somehow.

I'm sure if God ran a grand cosmic bureaucracy, it would be the most efficient bureaucracy in existence.

[strappinglad]

8 minutes ago, Fether said:

I suspect our understanding of time is just as  Malleable to God as the 3D space around us is malleable to us.

Hence the question becomes , " Can God be at more than one time at a place ?" 

[mbh26]

1 hour ago, carbon dioxide said:

Perhaps God simply uses many intermediaries to accomplish these things.  Think of the billions of prayers that are given.  How does God answer every one of them.  Perhaps he is not directly answering all of them but others called to answer basic prayers based on certain criteria and any real big issues are sent up the chain of command.  It is hard to know all the specifics at this time but God makes it work somehow.

Well I certainly believe that we as individuals need to be answers to each others prayers.  Are there families so big that the younger siblings have to take smaller issues up with older siblings before it gets to the desk of their biological father.  It must have been that way in polygamous households with hundreds of siblings?  Would that be a similar model to the relationship you're describing?  

 

[carbon dioxide]

1 hour ago, Nofear said:

I'm sure if God ran a grand cosmic bureaucracy, it would be the most efficient bureaucracy in existence.

He has countless billions of “angels”.  I am sure they are working hard doing something.  

Edited February 15, 2022 by carbon dioxide

[Fether]

1 hour ago, strappinglad said:

Hence the question becomes , " Can God be at more than one time at a place ?" 

Imagine a 2D Plane with a sentient stick figure who can only experience life in 2D. If I stick my hand through that 2D plane, he sees just a fleshy line that takes up the same space. Now say, me as a 3D being, folds that plane in half and stick my hand through the new folded piece. The 2D being, whose world is unchanged due to his inability to see anything outside of his 2D experience,  now sees me in two completely different spots. To the 2D being, I am in multiple places at once. To me, I am simply sticking my hand through a 2D plane.

So the theory is that he cannot be in multiple places at ones, but due to our inability to see above our own dimensions, it appears that he can be.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Fether

[The Nehor]

Why couldn’t he be in more than one place at a time?

[bluebell]

2 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Why couldn’t he be in more than one place at a time?

I think it's the issue of Him having a physical body, and how that works with being present.

[Fether]

49 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Why couldn’t he be in more than one place at a time?

He has a physical body. I’m not sold on either side of the argument, it just makes sense that he can’t. Though, for all intents and purposes,  he can be everywhere at once in relation to our understanding assuming he is in a higher dimension.

[Nofear]

1 hour ago, Fether said:

Imagine a 2D Plane with a sentient stick figure who can only experience life in 2D. If I stick my hand through that 2D plane, he sees just a fleshy line that takes up the same space. Now say, me as a 3D being, folds that plane in half and stick my hand through the new folded piece. The 2D being, whose world is unchanged due to his inability to see anything outside of his 2D experience,  now sees me in two completely different spots. To the 2D being, I am in multiple places at once. To me, I am simply sticking my hand through a 2D plane.

So the theory is that he cannot be in multiple places at ones, but due to our inability to see above our own dimensions, it appears that he can be.

Well, technically the same part of a higher dimensional being or object would only intersect our plane at one place. The extended body of a higher dimensional body or object could have different parts of itself intersect at different places if one also presumes some manner of "folding". I'm a 3D person on a 2D surface of this planet. But, I, me, myself, can only dig a hole in that surface at one place (though I suppose I could dig two holes really close and put one leg through one hole and the other leg through the other hole -- but even then they wouldn't be the same leg, just the same me).

[Fether]

12 minutes ago, Nofear said:

Well, technically the same part of a higher dimensional being or object would only intersect our plane at one place. The extended body of a higher dimensional body or object could have different parts of itself intersect at different places if one also presumes some manner of "folding". I'm a 3D person on a 2D surface of this planet. But, I, me, myself, can only dig a hole in that surface at one place (though I suppose I could dig two holes really close and put one leg through one hole and the other leg through the other hole -- but even then they wouldn't be the same leg, just the same me).

Your thinking with a 3D mine. Remember interstellar where the space-man-guy was floating through the higher dimension and was seeing different periods of time? That is what I’m referring to. 
 

- “all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men.“ (Alma 40:8)

- “; the past, the present, and the future were and are, with [God], one eternal ‘now’.” - Joseph Smith

If God can fold time, like we can fold a 2D plane, then theoretically he could walk beside each of us for our entire lives, guiding us and blessing us, hearing our prayers individually as opposed to generally. Then when he dies, he just goes to another person, and another, and another, until he has walked beside every  single one of us in our lives.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Fether