Who doesn't think that romantic love is a great and wonderful blessing,a gift from a loving Father and an expression of His love and intimate love even for us, but without the sex? It is such a beautiful natural part of who we are as human. Yes, we will be like the angels and will not be procreating children, but why would God change who we are... Change they way we were made? Remember, we were made in His image... That romantic level of love and intimacy is a part of who God is also. Why would God take away that which is good? And on another level....
Now in heaven and the new Earth marriage will be gone, so the restriction on those with whom we can be intimate would also be gone to yes?
Remember "h'adam" was originally both male and female, then divided into two beings. Those two were told to reverse the process and become one again. Why? If God wanted people to be neither male nor female but both male and female as h'adam was made, why split them and then tell them to join again?
And at the risk of changing the topic and turning this very intriguing thread on its head, I would ask a question of those who believe angels can have seen with humans. Are these female angels or male? If there are two genders in heaven, do they have relations with one another, when Jesus implied they don't? If they're only male, for what purpose did God create just one gender of an entire species of being when procreation was out of the question?
What does "made in His image" mean? Well, elohim is neither male nor female but both eloh- meaning goddess and made plural with the masculine plural ending -im. So "man" was made like that, and to that state he/she will return some day.
Who is the "us" in Genesis? People often introduce the idea of the Trinity into Genesis; but how does that apply if the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all said to be male? I follow the Jewish idea that the Unity which is God was addressing the angels. Thus it does not surprise me that angels are usually depicted as looking like men. There is one example of female angels appearing; but we should not conclude from that that angels are only male. No, they are both male and female -- but able to divide at will. The usual practice I believe is that when an angel wishes to manifest on the earth, it takes on a masculine form while the feminine half stays in Heaven. If the angel wishes to portray its role on the earth as a passive role, it would take on a feminine form with the male half staying in Heaven. But do not think this is rigid. Either half can take on either form at will.
Once Michael appeared to me to instruct me about something to correct one of my wrong ideas, after that was finished, I asked if I could see the feminine manifestation. He said yes and took on a feminine form. He had been holding a sword up in the air as a male; the female had the sword but it was at her side pointed down. Difference? As a male, active measures could be taken; as a female, that sword became a shield behind which the innocent and defenseless were guarded.
Abraham and Sarah are one being now. It would be foolish to think they could marry since the two have already become one. When they lived on the earth, God told "Abraham" to perfect himself. By inference, that means Sarah had to too. Both did. That is shown by how Abram "stole" the feminine "h" from her -- becoming male and female himself. Her name also was changed. As individuals, they ceased to be either male or female but could play either role. Yet the two were one. To avoid shocking people, both continued to play the conventional roles.
Notice how Sarah erred as a "woman" when she exercised dominion over Abram. He failed as a "man" too. Both were still caught up in the imperfect role playing and had not perfected themselves. Yet after they were both perfect, God told Abraham to do whatever Sarah told him to do. Both of them were both male and female at that point, so she was not a "woman" trying to act like Jezebel manipulating her "man" to hold onto him.
So in Heaven, there are only perfected souls which are neither male nor female but both. What we count as "two souls" down here with one male and one female can be counted as one up there or as two if you want to count it that way.
This is shown also in Revelation where it talks about the 144,000 being "male virgins." Where are the females? The word "virgin" denotes the feminine aspect -- that word is used only of women elsewhere. So you could say there are 144,000 if you count one way and 288,000 if you count the other. That 288 is shown in Genesis 1:2 in the word "moved" -- "rachaph" in Hebrew.
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The Lamb was present at the foundation of the world, and so were the 144,000 or 288,000 whose names were in his book.
Romantic love? It moves beyond that. In a certain way, there is no more loving of the other -- you have become the other, and the other has become you. Love can be defined as giving up a part of "self" as a sacrifice to "the other." Complete love is giving up all claims to being an individual person. Your identity is no longer based on being a separate individual. It is tied up in relationships and unions. When the Bible speaks of a man "knowing" his wife, it means a lot more than having sex. Men seem to have more of a problem than women at giving up "self" -- and the commandment was to Adam to cleave to Eve, not to her to cleave to him. The "knowing" often can take place during the sex act, but it can happen without it too. The awareness is raised to a level where both lose self-identity and experience things the way his other does. So I think.
