Kevin Sorbo on Being a Christian in Hollywood and ‘Against the Tide’ (Part 1)

 

JF: Can you tell me a little bit about Against the Tide?

Kevin: I was reached out by the producers of this. They said, “Would you be interested in interviewing John Lennox?” I didn’t know him personally at the time, but I knew of him and his work as an apologist and everything. I said, “Are you kidding me?” I didn’t even know why my name was brought up, but I was very happy they came to me.

I got to spend three weeks in Oxford, England, with him where he for many decades was the math professor there. I think he holds like five doctorates and speaks like six languages. We shot three weeks there. Then we shot two weeks in Israel.

That was my first trip to Israel. I’ve been back one other time since then, but I got to see things that most tourists do not get to see. We got a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. It was just incredible.

I’m on camera on this. I also narrate it, but really the driving force is John Lennox. He’s an amazing apologist. He’s debated all the great atheists of the world like Dawkins and Hitchens. And he kills them with love, kindness, and humor. It’s very interesting to watch his debate technique as these people get so infuriated at him. I love it. He’s just such a kind-hearted gentle soul and obviously very intellectual and biblically scholared as well.

JF: What was the reason behind doing the documentary and why do you personally feel that story needed to be told? Why now?

Kevin: We’re living in a world that seems to have gotten more angry, more hateful, more vicious, and violent than ever before. It’s just that the country – not only our country, but all of Europe too – has just sort of fallen. We’ve moved into this secular world and you’ve seen the results of this. You’ve seen results in what’s happening in our public education, what’s happening in the fallout of churches.

It just seems to be a time and place where people need to have a chance to really understand what God and Jesus are all about. What I love about John’s work as an apologist is he gives you bullet points. He gives you an educated look, and that’s what this documentary does. It shows how you can have civil debates against people about the Bible and about the existence of God because a lot of times in the atheistic world, they just say, “Science proves he doesn’t exist.” And I go, “Tell me how it does that.” They say, “Well, it’s science.”

I think people on that side, just as much as people that have a faith in God, are ill-prepared and they’re not educated enough. There’s an ignorance there. I’m saying I’m right with them.

I’ve learned a lot through John and still have much to learn, but doing this documentary has motivated me to become a little more educated and be a little more confident in my approach to people that don’t want to be in that world.

I love what documentaries do. I’ve watched a lot of documentaries. In fact, that’s not the only one I’ve got coming out. I had one that came out a couple of years ago and I have three other ones coming out. And I got two more I’m doing next year. Actually, I’m doing one where we’re going through Jordan and Israel showing through an archeological dig the very first synagogue. I’m looking forward to that one as well.

JF: You’re definitely busy.

Kevin: I love staying busy. I got three movies done in the can. Hopefully they’ll be out next year when they decide to open up all the movie theaters so our independent movies can compete against all these goliath $300 million movies that Hollywood just devours all the movie screens out there with.

I hope my movies bring people joy and a little more faith and a little more love and laughter in their lives, instead of all the negativity we have on the products that are coming out of Hollywood.

JF: In terms of apologetics, why do you think many Christians are scared to talk about science or debate science versus faith?

Kevin: I think it’s the same reasons that I wouldn’t want to get into debates of years ago. It comes down to you just don’t feel that you have the weapons to do it. But through books like what John puts out and through a documentary like that, these are places where people can get a little more educated. I encourage people to take notes while they watch it over and over again.

It’s interesting the things that he says, the things that he talks about, and the places we visit because we walk in the footsteps of Jesus there in Israel. It’s a wonderful movie. We debuted it at the NRB (the National Religious Broadcasters) there in Franklin and Nashville last February before COVID shut the world down.

They actually did two screenings of it, because the first day we screened it, there was standing room only and there were a lot of people who didn’t get a chance to see it. So, they aired it a second time, which NRB never does. It speaks to the curiosity of people that have a thirst to find out more about how they can learn about the existence of God.

JF: How do you think Against the Tide will change the overall mindset of the Hollywood general populace?

Kevin: I hope Hollywood people watch it. I like to look at both sides of the issue. I have no problem with looking at what people say. I’ve got atheist friends and we’ll have debates, but we don’t get angry and want to destroy each other’s lives.

It’s just like the abortion issue. I’m a pro-life guy, but let’s have conversations about it. Everybody on the left that is pro-choice, which I call “pro-murder,” all they do is have anger about it instead of having some common sense about it and have a chance to listen to the other side. I’m hoping that Hollywood actually takes the time to look at this.

I just had another documentary that came out worldwide on a one-night streaming event called Climate Hustle 2. It deals with the other side of the climate issue, because for everybody who says the world’s coming to an end there’s just as many people saying, “No, I don’t think it is.” President Obama spent how many billions of our tax dollars fighting it, yet he buys something right on the ocean. What does that say besides hypocrisy?

I’m all for taking a look at both sides of the issue and then making your decision. They’ll sit there and say no just for the sake of saying no.

JF: It’s all about having the open conversation.

Kevin: Yeah, exactly.

JF: What’s the best piece of advice you learned from Dr. Lennox in terms of turning the atheist manifest on its head?

Kevin: Oh, wow. That’s good. I think more than anything was just his approach. As I mentioned earlier, there’s so much anger and hate out there. He doesn’t approach it with that. He approaches you with kindness, he approaches you with humor. His knowledge obviously is far more vast than mine is when it deals with that. But the guy just has a way about him of explaining things and going through things.

I think one of the most touching moments for me actually in the documentary was I got to go to an area that tourists never get to see. They don’t get to stand on. They get to see it inside the church that since has been built around it, but I got to stand on the balcony where Pilate was when he stood up there and said, “Which one of these men should I save? Which one do you want me to sacrifice?’ And the throng said, “Sacrifice Jesus.” I got to stand there.

The guy that brought me up in a special little elevator that holds two people wouldn’t even get off the elevator. He said, “You’re going to stand on some pretty Holy ground right there that people don’t get the chance to do.” I just stood up there and had goosebumps. They’re down there directing me in this documentary and taking pictures and I’m going, “Guys, it’s hard for me to focus on what you want me to do. I’m soaking in 2,000 years of history.” It was pretty amazing.

JF: Were there any other places that made a lasting impact on you? And on the flip side of that, what location presented the most challenges?

Kevin: The place that really hit me was standing where Pilate stood, but also being able to walk into – it’s Muslim territory apparently that we went into – the tomb that Lazarus was in. It’s kind of tough to get in there and not many people get to go do that either, but I got to walk down with just the camera guy — no one else came in with us – all the way down into this tomb.

It’s not like where Jesus was laid to rest after He was crucified and where He arose, but it was a number of little areas that they put the bodies in. I don’t know which one Lazarus was in. They just know that’s the tomb that he was in. So, I checked out every area down there and it was amazing.

I leaned up against the steps that were basically carved out of a big hillside. Just the thought of Lazarus walking out past me and up those steps to meet his family and to meet Jesus made me think, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” It was a pretty cool thing to be part of and see.

They were all worried about me when I was leaving the country. They said, “When you go through customs and they ask you what places you visited, don’t mention this place.” I said, “Why?” He said, “It’s a Muslim-run territory and they’re going to wonder why you went in that area for whatever political or religious reason and they could detain you from your flight.” So, I didn’t mention it, but I’m back in America now. Sorry, Israel. I went there under good intentions.