When the female voice is repressed and stifled, the entire community can easily find themselves cut off from the sacred feminine, depriving themselves of the full image of god.
Rob BellRead
Often the people most concerned about others going to hell when they die seem less concerned with the hells on earth right now, while the people most concerned with the hells on earth right now seem the least concerned about hell after death.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the contrast between concerns for the afterlife and immediate suffering in the world.
Rob Bell draws attention to the disparity between those who prioritize eternal salvation and those focused on alleviating current hardships. It suggests a critique of the focus on spiritual matters at the exclusion of addressing the pain and suffering that exist in the present world. This duality challenges the reader to consider the balance between caring for the spiritual well-being of others and the immediate, tangible challenges they face in their lives.
Themes
ConcernHellEarthSufferingAfterlifeLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing social issues, this quote can emphasize the importance of focusing on human suffering today rather than solely on spiritual concerns.
More from Rob Bell
All quotes →Take faith, for example. For many people in our world, the opposite of faith is doubt. The goal, then, within this understanding, is to eliminate doubt. But faith and doubt aren't opposites. Doubt is often a sign that your faith has a pulse, that it's alive and well and exploring and searching. Faith and doubt aren't opposites, they are, it turns out, excellent dance partners.
Rob BellRead
The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God.
Rob BellRead
If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody. And this is because the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display.
Rob BellRead
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Those reformers who preach against image-worship, or what they denounce as idolatry - to them I say "Brothers, if you are fit to worship God-without-form discarding all external help, do so, but why do you condemn others who cannot do the same?"
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I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.
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People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children.
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There can be no compromise between freedom and government controls; to accept 'just a few controls' is to surrender the principle of inalienable individual rights and to substitute for it the principle of the government’s unlimited, arbitrary power, thus delivering oneself into gradual enslavement. As an example of this process, observe the present domestic policy of the United States.
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So long as we only believe in the justice of the state, of the law-made by those in power, to serve those in power-so long will we continue to be exploited by those in power.
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On the basis of the eternal will of God we have to think of EVERY HUMAN BEING, even the oddest, most villainous or miserable, as one to whom Jesus Christ is Brother and God is Father; and we have to deal with him on this assumption. If the other person knows that already, then we have to strengthen him in the knowledge. If he does no know it yet or no longer knows it, our business is to transmit this knowledge to him.
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