I believe God gives people the right to say no, to resist, to refuse, to reject, to cling to their sins, to cling to their version of their story. Rob Bell More Quotes by Rob Bell More Quotes From Rob Bell It often appears that those who talk the most about going to heaven when you die talk the least about bringing heaven to earth right now, as Jesus taught us to pray: 'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' At the same time, it often appears that those who talk the most about relieving suffering now talk the least about heaven when we die. Rob Bell taught-usheavenjesus 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. Rob Bell hellearthpeople My parents were both very intellectually honest, straightforward, and for them, faith meant that you were fully engaged. Rob Bell straightforwardhonestparent If your faith is threatened by something that's true, then it wasn't much of a faith to begin with, was it? Rob Bell threatenedifs To elevate abstract doctrines and dogmas over living, breathing, embodied experiences of God's love and grace, then, is going the wrong direction. It's taking flesh and turning it back into words. Rob Bell doctrinebreathinggrace The best team does not always win, it's the team that plays the best. Rob Bell teamwinningplay Love frees us to embrace all of our history, the history in which all things are being made new. Rob Bell embraceall-thingsmade Suffering, it turns out, demands profound imagination. A new future has to be conjured up because the old future isn't there anymore. Rob Bell imaginationsufferingprofound To be honest with you, I am passionate about all the people out there who want to know Jesus, they want to know God, and they are sick of a system that is hung up on a bunch of things that have nothing to do with the love of God. Rob Bell sickpeoplejesus This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear. Rob Bell our-worldjoyjesus What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live? Rob Bell religiouschristianjesus I'm very comfortable in a room with thousands of people. Rob Bell comfortablepeoplerooms The ancient Hebrews had a word for this awareness of the importance of things. They called it kavod. Kavod originally was a business term, referring to the heaviness of something, which was crucial in weights and measures and the maintaining of fairness in transactions. Over time the word began to take on a more figurative meaning, referring to the importance and significance of something. Rob Bell maintainingfairnessweight When people use the word hell, what do they mean? They mean a place, an event, a situation absent of how God desires things to be. Famine, debt, oppression, loneliness, despair, death, slaughter--they are all hell on earth. Jesus' desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth. What's disturbing is when people talk more about hell after this life than they do about Hell here and now. As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth. Rob Bell lonelinesschristianjesus The first word about you is that you received this life. Rob Bell this-lifeinspiringfirsts It often takes suffering and lost in order to remind us of how precious life is. Rob Bell sufferinginspiringorder It's as if Thomas Kinkade and Dante were at a party, and one turned to the other sometime after midnight and uttered that classic line "You know, we really should work together sometime. Rob Bell partymidnightworking-together One truth is that suffering raises profound questions with the universe. The other truth is that grace, gift and generosity also raise profound questions. Rob Bell generosityinspiringprofound Love demands freedom. It always has, and it always will. We are free to resist, reject, and rebel against God's ways for us. We can have all the hell we want. Rob Bell rebeldemandwant I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God's and everything in it. Rob Bell truth-isunderstandingworld
