As I sit in my room I have a picture hanging on my wall. It is a picture of a tree. A person looking at it will see a tree in different seasons depending on what angle she looks at it. This shows that the main picture can be set while the details will change context. I think the same applies with reality. There are interesting cases in the New Testament where God acted, such as speaking, and yet a majority of people heard natural noises. For instance John 20:28-30, “Father, glorify Your name!” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said it had thundered.” Others said that an angel had spoken to Him.” In response, Jesus said, “This voice was not for My benefit, but yours” The crowd heard thunder when the Lord of Host spoke directly.
The natural question here is “why”. I believe it is the state of peoples’ heart which determines what they can hear/see. I wouldn’t be surprise if God spoke directly often, yet most don’t hear him due to the hardness of their hearts. Holiness has a direct power that many wouldn’t guess immediately.
Dallas Willard argues that Genesis shows that man is supposed to have dominion over animals and in fact Adam, when he was in a pure state, did have obedience from the animals. If that is the case, then perhaps there are other powers that we are missing with our loss of innocence. This has ramification for the problem of natural evil. It gives a stronger case for skeptical theists because are natural state of holiness was better equipped to handle at least one natural aspect, animals. Thus, there is no reason that it couldn’t have handled other natural disasters, like Jesus calming the storm. Perhaps, humans never had that ability. But it is hard to say with any certainty given what we do know about Genesis.
All this to say. I believe God has way more in store for us through holiness than we can even imagine.
estrangewanderings 