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
Childhood knows unhappiness through men. In solitude, it can relax its aches. When the human world leaves him in peace, the child feels like the son of the cosmos.
Gaston BachelardRead
I believe that ideas such as absolute certitude, absolute exactness, final truth, etc. are figments of the imagination which should not be admissible in any field of science... This loosening of thinking seems to me to be the greatest blessing which modern science has given to us. For the belief in a single truth and in being the possessor thereof is the root cause of all evil in the world.
Max BornRead
To be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
How characteristic of your perverse heart that longs only for what happens to be out of reach.
Pierre Choderlos De LaclosRead
In a jump, the subject, in a sudden burst of energy, overcomes gravity. He cannot simultaneously control his expressions, his facial and his limb muscles. The mask falls. The real self becomes visible. One only has to snap it with the camera.
Philippe HalsmanRead
A man is sorry to be honest for nothing.
OvidRead