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bd89b33
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How we respond to what happens to us - especially the painful, excruciating things that we never wanted and we have no control over - is a creative act.
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Rob Bell |
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2453a07
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Because sometimes you need a biologist, and sometimes you need a poet. Sometimes you need a scientist, and sometimes you need a song.
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Rob Bell |
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997c28b
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What would it look like for you to approach tomorrow with a sense of honor and privilege, believing that you have work to do in the world, that it matters, that it's needed, that you have a path and you're working your craft?
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Rob Bell |
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94b3c67
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People aren't static; they're dynamic--endlessly complex and capable of tremendous surprise and change.
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Rob Bell |
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a46a5dc
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Are you breathing? Are you here? Did you just take a breath? Are you about to take another? Do you have a habit of regularly doing this? Gift. Gift. Gift. Whatever else has happened in your life--failure, pain, heartache, abuse, loss--the first thing that can be said about you is that you have received a gift. Often
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Rob Bell |
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3ddf25a
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No one has ever done this before. No one has ever been you before. This exact interrelated web of people and events and places and memories and desire and love that is your life hasn't ever existed in the history of the Universe. Welcome to a truly unique phenomenon. Welcome to your life. I want you to be here. Welcome to here.
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self-awareness
love
presence
present-moment
self
unique
desire
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Rob Bell |
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1c0eda3
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At any moment in the day, you can only do one thing at a time. And the more intentional you are about knowing what your 1 is, the more present you will be.
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Rob Bell |
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838d808
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There are always two risks: the risk of trying something new, and the risk of not trying. You risk settling and continuing in the same way, wondering about other paths and possibilities, believing that this is as good as it gets while discontent gnaws away at your soul.
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risk
possibilities
discontent
creativity
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Rob Bell |
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13101ad
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The question is: Why have these poems and prayers endured? Why, thousands of years later, do we still have them? And the answer you'll return to again and again is: They speak to our human experience.
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Rob Bell |
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e0e9ddf
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But the first Christians didn't see Jesus this way, as if God were somewhere else and then cooked up some way to solve the sin problem at the last minute by getting involved as Jesus. They believed that Jesus was somehow more, that Jesus had actually been present since before creation and had been a part of the story all along.
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Rob Bell |
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2f613ac
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So as a Christian, I am free to claim the good, the true, the holy, wherever and whenever I find it. I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God's and everything in it.
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Rob Bell |
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338eb61
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everybody is resting on a set of interpretations, and we need to be honest about it.
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Rob Bell |
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d777ae9
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To make the cross of Jesus just about human salvation is to miss that God is interested in the saving of everything. Every star and rock and bird. All things.
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Rob Bell |
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1956cb7
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I have been told that I need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that Jesus believes in me.
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Rob Bell |
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10b5ab8
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Does God get what God wants? That's a good question. An interesting question. And it's an important question that has given us much to discuss. But there's a better question. One that we actually can answer. One that takes all of the speculation about the future, which no one has been to and returned with hard empirical evidence, and brings it back to one absolute we can depend on in the midst of all of this which turns out to be another qu..
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spirituality
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Rob Bell |
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8beccfa
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I'm convinced being generous is a better way to live. I'm convinced forgiving people and not carrying around bitterness is a better way to live. I'm convinced having compassion is a better way to live. I'm convinced pursuing peace in every situation is a better way to live. I'm convinced listening to the wisdom of others is a better way to live. I'm convinced being honest with people is a better way to live.
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Rob Bell |
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d77b727
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people are rarely persuaded by arguments, but more often by experiences.
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Rob Bell |
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a person who speaks to this hour's need will always be skirting the edge of heresy, but only the person who risks those heresies can gain the truth.
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Rob Bell |
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39c4c70
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God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2). So does God get what God wants?"
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Rob Bell |
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But it isn't a choice, because Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, the life." If you come across truth in any form, it isn't outside your faith as a Christian. Your faith just got bigger. To be a Christian is to claim truth wherever you find it."
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Rob Bell |
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29b620a
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God is always present. We're the ones who show up.
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Rob Bell |
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ee61007
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A Christian is not someone who expects to spend forever in heaven there. A Christian is someone who anticipates spending forever here, in a new heaven that comes to earth.
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Rob Bell |
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9cb12ad
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Be honest about your joy.
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Rob Bell |
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eac922a
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Craft is when you meet up with someone else who's serious about her craft and you talk for hours about the subtle nuances and acquired wisdom of the work. Craft is when you realize you're building muscles and habits that are helping you do better whatever it is you do. Craft is when you have a deep respect for the form and shape and content of what you're doing. Craft is when you're humbled because you know that no matter how many years you..
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Rob Bell |
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4884242
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When you're fighting, it's absolutely crucial to keep remembering that they're trying to figure it out just like you are.
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Rob Bell |
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b24ea6b
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The Psalms show us what healthy spiritual life looks like. You name everything that's happening inside of you. You give it language and expression, You articulate exactly what the desolation feels like. If you don't drag it up and give it words, then it's buried down in your being somewhere. And it will come out in other ways. Unhealthy, destructive ways. You'll keep it bottled up. And you'll be miserable.
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Rob Bell |
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ebac5e5
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Bitterness is not your friend. It's easy to become cynical, focusing your energies on them and endlessly wondering why they aren't more evolved and why they are still stuck back there, repeating the same slogans and going through the same motions. If you are filled with pride over how free and intelligent and enlightened you are in comparison to their backward, antiquated ways, your new knowledge has simply made you arrogant. Watch your hea..
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Rob Bell |
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b29ba16
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When people argue for the existence of a supernatural God who is somewhere else and reaches in on occasion to do a miracle or two, they're skipping over the very world that surrounds us and courses through our veins and lights up the sky right here, right now.
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Rob Bell |
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604336a
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What's disturbing, then, 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: poverty, injustice, suffering--they're all hells on earth and as Christians we oppose them with all of our energies.
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Rob Bell |
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828d161
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May you see drops like stars.
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Rob Bell |
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Selling your house, giving away possessions, working multiple jobs for a period of time, going back to school and moving in with friends or relatives, sharing a car with your partner and riding your bike more, investing all your savings in a new venture, living on the other side of the world for a year-- your friends may not understand, your co-workers may not get it, your extended family may think you've lost your mind-- that's okay. Bette..
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Rob Bell |
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e9958af
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Sometimes the reason people have a problem accepting 'the gospel' is that they sense that the God lurking behind Jesus isn't safe, loving, or good. It doesn't make sense, it can't be reconciled, and so they say no.
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religion
god
hell
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Rob Bell |
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a3e3d4e
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Why have the writings of the prophets endured? Because they fearlessly speak truth to power. They call out the injustice and oppression of the system gone wrong. They hold those in leadership accountable for the decisions they make.
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Rob Bell |
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1e5d249
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Because when you can't hear the cry, when you stop caring for the widow, the orphan, and the refugee among you, it always leads to the diminishing of your empire.
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Rob Bell |
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3018a8e
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If you are working on something, about to deliver it, moments from opening the doors, an hour from everybody arriving, a week from the release date, two minutes from getting the results back, and you have butterflies in your stomach, be grateful. You are in a wonderful place. Nerves are God's gift to you, reminding you that your life is not passing you by. Make friends with the butterflies. Welcome when they come, revel in them, enjoy the..
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fear
nervousness
risk-taking
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Rob Bell |
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4c5138a
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Which leads to another question: When Matthew tells us that some of Jesus's followers doubted, does this undermine the story, or is this the exact kind of honesty that reflects how people actually are? When each of the Gospel writers includes the part about the women being witnesses, why risk it? What a strange thing to include knowing it would discredit their story, unless women actually were the first witnesses.
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Rob Bell |
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In the religious version, you'll often hear that when this happens, one group heads to a good place, and the rest of humanity heads to a bad place. (The people who tell this version of the story are always in the good group, coincidentally enough.) And so your job is to get as many people inside the tent/club/religion/group as possible so that when that day comes, you can all escape together and go somewhere else.
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Rob Bell |
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411a161
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But this lawyer, he can't even answer Jesus's question by saying the name. He simply replies the one . . . That's your neighbor. That's who you're called to love. That's where the eternal life is found. In showing kindness to the one you hate, the one you despise, the one you wish didn't exist, the one whose name you can't even say.
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Rob Bell |
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effe290
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He writes to his friends in Ephesus: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. When people ask you what the Bible is about, do you answer: It's about becoming more enlightened? Because that's how Paul puts it.
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Rob Bell |
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35be114
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Boredom, cynicism, and despair are spiritual diseases because they disconnect us from the most primal truth about ourselves - that we are here.
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Rob Bell |
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46de069
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Catherine of Aragon said,"None get to God but through trouble."
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Rob Bell |
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75b1e80
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In those moments when the two of you see things differently, you can hold on to your view, defending it and protecting it and arguing for its superiority, or you can allow your perspective to be broadened, enriched, expanded, and deepened.
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Rob Bell |
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9fa80ba
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Central to this conquest of the world was the belief that military victory is peace. There was even one line from the empire propaganda that went Caesar is the son of God sent to earth to bring about a universal reign of peace and prosperity. You see the problem here, right? It's only peace if you're holding the sword; to all those who were conquered by this devastating war machine--and hung on crosses--it wasn't peace. It was awful. It was..
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Rob Bell |
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673dd11
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You just took a breath. You're about to take another. Inhale, then exhale, then another inhale. In and out. There's a rhythm to your breathing. It's the same with nature.
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nature
breathing
exhale
inhale
rhythm
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Rob Bell |