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.

Rob Bell
About This Quote

The reason why many people don't accept the idea that Jesus was the son of God is that they can't reconcile it with their understanding of what a good God would be like. Some people think the God who sends people to hell, who demands absolute obedience, or who wants to murder children is not a good God at all. Their view of God is shaped by the way they see themselves and others. If you believe that everyone should love each other as much as they love themselves, as hard as they work, and as purely as they live, then you will have no problem accepting the idea that Jesus was sent from a loving God.

The fact is, however, that those are all human values. In order for us to truly understand who Jesus was and what he did, we have to begin by accepting first that he was a good man and that he followed the values of a good man.

Source: Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, And The Fate Of Every Person Who Ever Lived

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  3. The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person. - Chuck Palahniuk
  4. Where there is love there is life. - Mahatma Gandhi
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More Quotes By Rob Bell
  1. There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.
  2. Do you ever just put your arms out and just spin and spin and spin? Well, that's what love is like; everything inside of you tells you to stop before you fall, but for some reason you just keep going.
  3. When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure.
  4. When I walk, I walk with you. Where I go, you're with me always.
  5. ...he had a way of taking your hand which made it clear he'd have to be the one to let go." From Alice Hoffman's "Local Girls", pg.102.
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