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
Similar quotes
Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is around us, for it is everywhere; and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to gaurd us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides, and hatred crushed us, angels see our tortures, recognize our innocence, and God waits ony a speration of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward.
Charlotte BronteRead
Well, as everyone knows, once witchcraft gets started, there's no stopping it.
Mikhail BulgakovRead
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
He is a poor patriot whose patriotism does not enable him to understand how all men everywhere feel about their altars and their hearthstones, their flag and their fatherland.
Harry Emerson FosdickRead
Today I live on an island, in a house that is sad, hard, severe, that I built for myself, solitary on a sheer rock over the sea: a house that is the spectre, the secret image of prison. The image of my nostalgia. Maybe I never desired, not even then, to escape from jail. Man is not meant to live freely in freedom, but to be free inside a prison.
Curzio MalaparteRead
You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.
Albert CamusRead