I read it. I don't agree with everything he said which isn't a problem since
"we all know in part and prophesy in part." I still don't know the full answer. One of the things I want to continually experience here on earth and also bring others into the experience of is that
God is good. So much happens that doesn't show God as good (needless suffering and pain on earth, unanswered prayers, etc.), but intuitively or in my spirit, I know
without a doubt that God is good, therefore my favorite verse in the Bible that says God is good simply says,
"Surely (
without a doubt)
, God is good" (Psalm 73:1). Amen.
Especially in the OT, you often see God's people-- especially the leaders, kings, priests, prophets, etc.--
begging God to display His goodness. There are too many verses to list but one is
"Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1). Isaiah was basically saying, "We can try our best, but we can't really show You to people. Come down and show them Yourself."
Isaiah, speaking of himself and other people who desire God to show His goodness Himself, said,
"Yes, in the way of Your judgments, oh LORD, we have waited (have waited, are waiting, will continue to wait)
for You; the desire of our soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You" (Isa. 26:8). While some people (christians and non) do believe or think that God is 'judgmental' (ie. willing to judge and condemn those who don't please Him), very few people actually
believe that God is good. The remembrance of
His Name has to do with seeing or experiencing that He in fact is
good, because God's Name has everything to do with His
goodness, but most people don't know or believe that He is good. (In Exodus 33, when Moses told God,
"Show me Your glory", God's immediate response was,
"I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you...")
Logic (hopefully) follows that
if imperfect human beings (ie. the prophets and people of God through history who pray for God to show up for people to 'see Him' for themselves) have the desire to see God glorified (ie. to see Him show His
goodness)... then God is far more willing to show people that He's good. Since most people don't believe that God is good (this is natural and okay), God is always 'glad' when people can see through what it seems like and see that
even when He doesn't want to do good, He wants to. The Canaanite woman whose daughter Jesus delivered and the Roman Centurion whose servant Jesus healed
both had eyes of faith and were therefore
able to see that even though things seemed different on the surface. (Ie. for the Canaanite woman, Jesus said rude things that would naturally make a person not want to bother Him any longer; and the Centurion knew that a Jew wouldn't be willing to help any Roman oppressor-- yet both approached Him in confidence because they could see beneath the surface of what things seemed like, sounded like, or were supposed to be.)
In John 12:28 when Jesus said to God, "Father, glorify Your Name," God immediately responded, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." God's response was basically, "You don't have to tell Me twice." In a world filled with people who don't know or believe that God is good since life certainly isn't very good to us, God is definitely glorified to show that He in fact is good. This is why I said that I would be surprised if there is no sex in eternity. I would be genuinely surprised because while that
seems like something God would
do, it just isn't how He is in
character. God did things in the Bible that He didn't want to do (I won't get into that unless you ask),
therefore, it is important to be able to distinguish what God does, allows, even sanctions from what God wants, desires, or likes. Most christians and non-christians don't do this and tend to approach God from the view of one who is Judge and what He says goes and you better shut your mouth and don't make Him angry. Once in a while, someone comes along who can see beneath God's 'hard exterior' (too many examples to list but all the men and women of faith fit here such as Abraham (who
reasoned with God about destroying Sodom, etc.), Moses (who
reasoned with God about destroying Israel), Deborah (who didn't have any problem believing God could deliver Israel from the Canaanites), the prophets and apostles, and many more who
reasoned past the exterior of what God allowed or did and into God's heart and what He actually wanted to do).
"Do not be afraid, little flock, because it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom" (Luke 12:32).