First blog of hopefully many blogs

I really don't know where I would like to go with this blog. Instead of keeping to a strict schedule or having a certain topic that I have to talk about, I think it might be better to keep it really open. I want to put some thoughts down. I want to respond to things I've heard and think out loud about things I've learned.

My original idea for this blog was to respond to my pastor's sermon each week. I don't think I'll remember to do it every week though...

This previous Sunday's sermon was on Heaven. I actually don't think about heaven all that much. About what it would be like, what I have to look forward to. The one particular talk I remember was with Bethany. She has some interesting ideas about heaven and about what it will be like. What I remember from our talk was that she thinks heaven will be pretty much like earth. I was a bit wary at first, but I eventually decided that I liked what she had to say, even if I wasn't sure if I agreed with it.

One of the verses that Lou went over was this..."There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=21&version=31)

To me, that doesn't sound very interesting. A life without pain is a mediocre life. How can you possibly understand, I mean truly understand, joy, love and everything wonderful unless you understand the opposite. Now I realize this is the view of a mere human. I can't comprehend beauty without ugliness, joy without sorrow, bliss without pain. Maybe, like so many other things about God, I'm simply not meant to understand.

The Bible tells us, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). The other thing I was going to talk about was marriage and relationships in heaven. I took issue with what Lou had to say about marriage. I had a hard time believing that marriage becomes obsolete in heaven. But it has been made very clear to me by the Matthew verse that there will be no marriage in heaven. There aren't a lot of ways you can interpret that one. I find it sad that there will be no marriage in heaven. Marriage is a deeper connection than friendship. It wasn't created only to emulate the relationship that we (the brides) are supposed to have with God (the groom). It is hard for me to believe that we'll never experience the deep trust that some married couples have. And no kids? If God wants us to have free will, but takes away everything that is important to us on earth when we get to heaven, what will we have to look forward to besides worshiping him forever?

Lou says that we will have free will. I don't have verses to support this because he didn't mention any. But while we have the free will, we pretty much only want to worship God the whole time. Now, I don't know about anybody else, but that sounds even more boring than not having pain or marriage.

I'm just having a hard time setting aside everything earthly. Marriage, kids, and free will are all important to me (they are not my idols, so please don't suggest that). Is the Bible saying that these are not important to God?