meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Rich Roll Podcast

Faith Provocateur Rob Bell On God, Divinity & Why Love Always Wins

The Rich Roll Podcast

Rich Roll

Society & Culture, Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.8 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2016

⏱️ 113 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Religion was never for me. Despite many a youthful hour spent kneeling on hardwood church pews, it just never connected. What do all those stained glass windows, depressing organ dirges, and uptight people have to do with art and beauty and meaning and love and purpose and mystery and ultimately what it means to be human? Nothing as far as I could tell. So I searched for answers elsewhere. In the bottom of a bottle. Prowling underground after parties in lower Manhattan. In a mental institution called rehab. In midnight conversations with skid row junkies. In the sound of my breath, lost on a mountain trail run at dawn. During afternoons spent undulating with dolphins in Hawaii. In the overwhelming love I feel simply watching my children sleep. My search didn't lead back to religion. But it did lead to faith. A deep faith of my own design. Faith in an undefined, unlimited power greater than myself. A faith that quite literally saved my life when I was utterly lost, completely broken and unconditionally beyond repair. A faith that has since infused my journey with meaning, purpose and satisfaction beyond my wildest imagination. Some call my version of faith God. Call it whatever you like. I don't care. What I do care about is what it really means to be a spiritual being having a human experience. This week's guest has a few thoughts on the subject — an anti-establishment pastor provocateur making an indelible cultural impact on how we think and practice divinity, faith, and religion in the modern world. Named one of 2011's 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine, Rob Bell has presided over mega congregations, toured with Oprah and been profiled in The New Yorker. iTunes named his podcast, The RobCast, one of the Best of 2015 and he has penned more than a handful of New York Times bestsellers, including Love Wins, the Oprah book of the month What We Talk About When We Talk about God*, and his most recent book, How To Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living*. To me, what makes Rob so undeniably captivating is his independent-minded, radically inclusive — almost punk rock — perspective on faith. Breaking ranks with entrenched, pedantic notions of antiquated Christian church doctrine, his message upends the divisive aspects of religious ideology, recontextualizing the canon as a highly relatable, welcome pallium for all — a comprehensive fiat that boils down to one central premise: Love wins. Always. Enjoy! Rich

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

What's up you guys? Today's episode is brought to you by my friends at Harry's. If you're a long time listener of the show,

0:05.0

then you know all about Harry's because they've been sponsoring the program for, I don't know, going on almost two years at this point.

0:10.8

That's when I started using their shaving products and I never go back. I love everything about what they're doing.

0:16.4

I love the gentlemanly bespoke quality of the handles. I love that I don't have to hassle with buying shaving products at the pharmacy because they ship directly to my doorstep.

0:25.2

I love that I pay only half what I used to pay for major brands, just two dollars per blade compared to the four dollars or more, you'll pay at the drugstore.

0:33.6

How can they do this? Well, they can do it because they own their own factory in Germany. That's how it works everybody.

0:40.4

But none of that means anything, of course, unless the shave is great, right? Well, the shave is great. You don't have to worry about it.

0:47.7

Harry's is so confident, in fact, in the quality of their blades that they'll send you their popular free trial set, which comes with a razor,

0:55.6

five blade cartridge, and shaving gel, totally free when you sign up for a shaved plan. All you have to do is pay for shipping.

1:02.5

Plus, there's a special offer for friends of the show. You get a bottle of Harry's post-shaven balm added to your order for free when you visit Harry's.com-forge-lush-roll.

1:11.9

So go to Harry's.com-forge-lush-roll right now to claim your free trial set and post-shaven balm. That's Harry's.com-forge-lush-roll.

1:20.3

Now, on to the show.

1:22.3

I begin by celebrating an affirming movement wherever you see it.

1:27.9

And the idea that there would be truth or truth with a capital T, and only these people over here in the corner would have access to it, is completely absurd to me.

1:37.5

And if there is a god's source to being glue, energy, thread that holds it all together, that would have to be accessible to everybody.

1:45.5

Or you're not talking about love.

1:48.7

That's Rob Bell, and this is the Patrol Podcast.

1:53.5

The Rich Roll Podcast.

2:05.5

All right, everybody. How you guys doing? What's going on? My name is Rich Roll. Welcome or welcome back to the podcast where I have the great fortune of going deep, going wide, going long form with some of the most inspiring thought leaders, positive paradigm breaking change makers all across the globe.

2:21.5

People who have devoted their lives to making the world a better place.

2:26.5

And Rob Bell, this week's guest, is definitely one such person. He's a guy who's making a huge impact, a huge cultural impact on how we think about and practice faith, which is the predominant subject matter of today's conversation.

2:42.5

But before we get into it, I wanted to make a really quick announcement. I just got back yesterday from plant power, Italia, our retreat in the Tuscan countryside, followed by a couple days in Rome with my family.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Rich Roll, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Rich Roll and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.