Ep 204: Is God dead? | City Bible Forum
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Ep 204: Is God dead?

A Hollywood actor reflects
Sun 15 Aug 2021
Alt
Bible reference(s): John 8.12

We meet the Christian Hollywood actor who played an aggressive atheist in a film exploring the reality of God. A fun, cheeky and fast paced conversation where we reflect on how films help us explore some of life's biggest questions.

Our guest: Kevin Sorbo. Kevin is a Hollywood actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his lead role in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, as well as for TV series Andromeda and Supergirl. He’s also known for his roles in the motion pictures God’s Not Dead and Let There Be Light and the recent film Against the Tide.

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Bigger questions asked in the conversation

So Kevin, you’re best known for playing Hercules, in a TV series which was one of the highest-rated syndicated television programs in the world, how was it playing the character of a demi-god?

Did you do your own stunts?

Did you ever wish you had Hercules’ powers in real life?

Film - God’s not dead

Now Kevin, today’s big question is ‘Is God dead?’ and on April 8 1966 Time Magazine led with the famous cover story ‘Is God dead?’ The cover was certainly provocative and sparked great debate, but why do you think this is such a big question for our time? Many people in our world seem to think and act as though God is dead...

Now you actually starred in a 2014 film God’s not dead, where God was ‘put on trial’ so to speak, so do you think it’s appropriate to allow questioning of God like that?

Was it hard to play someone who was so antagonistic to the Christian faith, or was it kind of therapeutic to ask all the questions which perhaps you might have wanted to ask?

Film: Against the tide

Following from that film you then starred in another film which was released at the end of 2020, Against the Tide - finding God in an age of science. Now you appeared as yourself in this film with Oxford mathematician, Professor John Lennox, so what was the rationale in having Hercules do maths?

The film is called Against the Tide, where the tide is the tide of secularism and atheism which seems to be running very strongly in our society. Have you faced opposition to your Christian faith in Hollywood?

It seems that God is not as popular as Hercules - why is that? Is God dead in Hollywood?

The Bible’s answer: God comes in Jesus

The Bible engages this question in numerous ways, but in the Gospel of John, one of the four biographies of Jesus that we have, Jesus speaks to this question by making a fairly audacious claim in John 8:12 where he says,

‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

Now Kevin, in the Gospel of John, light is a pointer to the reality of God, so how does this idea of Jesus bringing the light of life to the world resonate with you?

The themes of light, life and God are also connected with a film you directed and starred in starred and called Let there be Light - how transformative do you think the reality of God is in people’s lives?

Personal story

What persuaded you that God wasn’t dead?

You had some injuries in your life, did you feel that God was dead then?

Hercules was a demigod, a myth, and his adventures entertained people, yet Jesus claimed to be God, is based in history, and makes real and lasting change for people, so why do you think Hercules the TV show is more accepted in the world of popular culture than Jesus?

The Big Question

So Kevin, is God dead?

Comments

  • Alt
    Thu, 27/10/2022 - 11:35am reply

    How much we allow all 'bubble, lighting, fast moving, noisy, popular, colourful and easy entertainment etc into our lives. Sad outcome. After all that Jesus has done for us, we are often easily side tracked 😪

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