Defining terms

 I tend to think a lot of what people assert about God's nature is just speculation sometimes better left to mystery. Otherwise, I fear that we are just constructing boxes to put God in so that we can better comprehend him with our limited intellects. The one thing I do believe about God is that he is bigger than anyone has ever dared to imagine. The idea of God being outside of time is intriguing, but if to imagine that means sacrificing free will (either ours or God's) then I think we have taken a wrong turn. I can't imagine that God would be happy being confined inside of a deterministic universe where everything is already known and nothing ever changes. I have speculated that God's motivation for creating the universe is his desire for love which is freely given and thus requires free will. I cannot know this for certain and I base it on my belief that I am created in the image of God and thus my own desire is the only clue I have as to what God's desire may be. The idea of God being outside of time is difficult for us to imagine. Does that mean that God sees me as a baby, a child, a teen, an adult and an old man all at the same time? If I do something bad when I am 30, is my 29-year-old self guilty and deserving of punishment in God's view?

I don't really buy the idea of a first "Fall" so I am not that concerned about a second one. I don't believe that 'evil' is a thing that was introduced into the world by Satan or created by God. I think it is the alternative to or absence of love. If we did not have the ability to make wrong choices, then we could never make right choices. Either we have free will or we don't. I don't see a third answer here. I think we tie ourselves in knots trying to grasp the eternal nature of God and end up playing semantic games. If God creates something, did he also create the nothingness that was there before there was something? Do we need the contrast of evil in order to see or make sense of love? If there was only light and no darkness we would all be blind. If there was only sound and no silence we would all be deaf. If there was only heat and no cold we would all be burned up. Will Heaven be perfect? Yes. Because there is perfection in grace, forgiveness and healing.

 The problem I have with the idea that our moral decisions are made in our material minds - the result of neurons firing in our mushy brains - is that it would all be very mechanical and formulaic. Can Love, Truth and Beauty be quantified as simple equations and programmed into our materialistic minds? Can we put it in a bottle and sell it? We'd make a fortune! There's your answer to the problem of evil - drugs! :-) Seriously, though, that is a bridge too far for me. I don't think love can be programmed and I don't think our creation arena is limited to the physical realm, though that is an important part. My personal theology is rooted in the idea of love. I think that is what God desires for us and from us above all else and if he could simply program it into us then it wouldn't be all that special to begin with.