The Narrow Path Ministries

This post is in connection with Jesus rebuking the storm.

Just under the half way point through this:

http://media.whchurch.org/2005/2005-01- ... eation.mp3

Greg Boyd says that "many scholars argue, and I think rightly, that what Jesus was doing here was recovering the power that Adam was supposed to have had, namely the power of human beings to have dominion over storms".

There being scholars frequenting this forum, I thought I would bring this up here. Do you think Adam would have had this power? Why would I even ask? It might help me in my own struggles with the theodicy problem to know that he would have had.
Some of you will have seen the tsunami footage I linked to in another post. Imagine a human being with the power to hold a thing like that at bay, and preserve the lives of his children.

I did not read the article, so I will make some assumptions and give you my initial thoughts.



I don't believe God granted man dominion over *everything* and I do not see storms represented in that list, but over the living creatures.

I think the Holy Spirit will empower us to do the Father's will. I think Jesus, submitting to the will of His Father, may have been allowed to calm the storm to show who He is. Likewise, if the Lord wanted us to calm a storm, the Holy Spirit would empower us to do so, but I don't think it's something that is a given for all believers.

Jarrod

but I don't think it's something that is a given for all believers.

Hi Jarrod,

I wasn`t wondering whether believers could have that power now (evidently not) but whether Adam had it then. Maybe "subdue it" would encompass that?

Ian wrote: I wasn`t wondering whether believers could have that power now (evidently not) but whether Adam had it then. Maybe "subdue it" would encompass that?

Ah, I see what you are saying. I guess it could be 'suggested,' but hard to prove? I would just assume it wasn't part of his dominion since it wasn't specifically mentioned, but that is interesting to think about.

Watchman Nee believed Adam had human powers which today would seem impossible. We would call Adam's powers "superhuman". For example, in Genesis 2, it is recorded that God brought every bird and beast to Adam to see what he would call them. In his book, The Latent Power of the Soul, Nee asks his reader if he were to take a dictionary and read all the names of the animals, would he not admit that he could neither recognize nor memorize them all. Yet Adam gave names to all the birds and animals, and must have remembered these names.

You may want to read the first part of Watchman Nee's book where he describes these great powers which Adam had previous to the fall. You can do so by clicking on the following link:

http://paidionbooks.org/nee/lps01.htm

Paidion wrote:http://paidionbooks.org/nee/lps01.htm

Paidon! I didn't know you had your own website like this... I am going to go through this; thanks for sharing it

I hope I am not "beating a dead horse" (I wonder who coined that expression?) but I still really think it revolves around the Spirit of God empowering humans to do the works the Lord has called them to. God's Spirit was obviously present during Adam's time and I believe if God chose to assign a task to Adam, He would empower him to do it as well. By that fact, I would consider the things the Spirit is still doing today in the live's of His children to be "superhuman."

Thanks again,

Jarrod

Paidon! I didn't know you had your own website like this

I was sure that someone would get this impression! Actually, paidionbooks.org is not my website. Indeed, I didn't know it existed until today! I discovered it by searching the web for Watchman Nee's book The Latent Power of the Soul.

Go ahead and read the Watchman Nee book, but as with any writer or teacher, don't suspend rational thought just because you know some people revere him, and be careful of accepting what he says unless you can clearly see how it comes from Scripture. I'd still like to see his Scriptural basis for saying we can "safely reckon [Adam's power] to be a million times over ours." I must be reading the wrong Bible, because mine doesn't say anything like that.

That's the same site I found the book on when we talked about it earlier this year. I won't bore everyone again with my comments on Nee and his writings, but anyone interested can find them in that thread by searching on 'paidionbooks'.

Hi Backwoodsman,

Watchman Nee`s calculations are out. Adam was 1.2 million times more amazing than I at least am. Assemble all the superhumans you see in this series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJVzMi04aBg

into one person and you`d have quite a man.

As to the origin of these powers in 2012 however, I wouldn`t like to speculate.

A few years ago I wrote a program in BASIC which would calculate the day of the week for any date. I checked Scott's answers using this program, and they were all correct!
Yes, if Scott could do all those calculations lightning fast, what might Adam have been able to do when still not affected by the fallen nature?

The blind man in the video who could detect and identify objects by clicking his tongue and interpreting the echo, is amazing all right. Nevertheless, I have heard of a significant number of blind people who are able to do the same — I think a far greater number than the number of people who can do complex calculations as fast as Scott. As was stated in the video, there are probably only about half a dozen people in the world who can do lightning complex calculations like Scott.