Quotes from Rob Bell

I'm interested in painting the most beautifully compelling pictures and images and metaphors and stories and explanations possible that will put Jesus in language for a world that desperately needs to hear it.

I like to say that I practice militant mysticism. I'm really absolutely sure of some things that I don't quite know.

We all want to make a difference, to live in peace, to have joy each morning that we get to live this day and see what it brings.

Often times when I meet atheists and we talk about the god they don't believe in, we quickly discover that I don't believe in that god, either.

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.

Jesus is God's way of refusing to give up his dream for the world.

Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God made you to be. And anything else you do is sin and you need to repent of it.

God is bigger than the Christian faith.

If it is true, if it is beautiful, if it is honorable, if it is right, then claim it. Because it is from God. And you belong to God.

My experience as a pastor is lots of people have really toxic, dangerous, psychologically devastating images of God in their head, images of a God who's not good.

The cross is God taking on flesh and blood and saying, Me too.

The fundamental story arc of the Bible is God is passionate about rescuing this world, restoring it, renewing it.

Like a mirror, God appears to be more and more a reflection of whoever it is that happens to be talking about God at the moment.

I believe that God is with you, that there is a presence. I believe this God is for you. I don't think the universe is a cold, dead place that is indifferent.

What we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes what we believe about who God is and what God is like.

For many, 'desire' is a bad word, something we're supposed to 'give up for God.' That kind of thinking can be really destructive because it teaches people to deny their hearts, their true selves.

No one has the last word other than God.

For a lot of people in our world today, God has become about believing the right stuff so you don't get in trouble.

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.

Many people confuse religion with God and walk away from them both. The point isn't Christianity, the point is being a Christian.

God has spoken, and everything else is commentary.

We shape our God, and then our God shapes us.

People have a view of a God who is terrible that they can't even imagine being loving or wanting anything to do with.

If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody.