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Thanks SecretMethod. I actually talked with my roommate when I got home, and he explained it to me a bit more clearly.
Regarding whether or not God intended to create a perfect world; my answer would be yes and no. Yes, in the sense that he's a good God, and does not want people to suffer. The evils of this world are because of us, not because of Him; whether or not you take a literal reading of the first few chapters of Genesis, this would seem to be part of the message the Fall story is trying to get across. But no, since all things are ordained by God, so the pain and suffering is also ordained by Him. I'm sure philosophers have a distinction for these two types of intending, but it's been awhile since I've done any philosophy of religion. The distinction is something like the distinction when a father takes his child to the doctor to get a shot. The father does not, in some sense, intend for the child to get hurt -- he intends for the child to get inoculated. But of course, the father is well aware that the inoculation will cause pain to the child, so in another sense he does intend for the child to get hurt. But also note that in ordinary English, the use of intend in this second sense would generally be viewed as perverse.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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