During an early February interview with CBN News, conservative comedian Rob Schneider, who recently converted to Catholicism, spoke about his newfound faith and how it has changed him. Particularly, he spoke about how his attitude toward forgiveness and how he sees Christianity as encouraging people to be forgiving rather than vengeful.
Speaking about his return to the faith, Schneider said that he thinks Jesus will only let those meant to believe in him stray so far away, saying, “Jesus only lets you stray so much.” He added that Jesus brought him back to the faith later in life, saying, “At a certain point, He grabbed me again and hugged me.”
Continuing, Schneider said, “There are other religions out there that say, ‘Well, kill your enemy; hate your enemy’ and there are ‘infidels.’ And we have a religion that says, ‘Love your enemy, love thy neighbor as thyself … love others.’ What a beautiful way to go through life.”
Speaking about how he has tried to live that out and be more forgiving, even when doing so is difficult, Schneider said, “If I am going to lead my life and be an example, as Christ compels us to do, then I have to do it.” Continuing, he added, “Even if it hurts, even if it stretches how I used to feel … and, once you forgive, the beautiful thing about forgiveness is it isn’t the person, it’s you. You end up feeling better.”
Schneider added that he, like everyone, strays from doing what he should as a Christian, at points, but that doing so is something that he always pulls back from. He said, “I did — like many Christians do — stray. But there was a continuing pull back, knowing where I needed to be and to be home.”
Continuing, he added that his wife helped him get back to Christianity, the best thing that has happened to him, saying, “And then [a] very, very strange confluence of things. I married a Catholic, and she was very patient with me, and she’s been the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Then, returning to the topic of God using His power to bring people back to the faith, saying that Jesus nudges our hearts toward Him. He said, “As Jesus does, He’s does a little nudge, a little nudge, a little nudge. God could put His hand down and make everybody [love Him], but God wants us to come to Him of our own volition. That is the greatest gift.”
This comes after an interview with the Christian Post in which Schneider said that his faith has changed how he approaches comedy. He said, “I don’t know if I can tell dirty jokes anymore. I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I’m going to. I have an act I’m doing now; I don’t know if I’ll do it again next year.” He continued, “Just some of the bad words, I go, ‘Maybe I don’t want to say those words anymore.’ I don’t know. I also think it’s important to not only talk to the converted but to bring people in, and the best form is to show by example.”
Then, adding to that, he said, “People talk all the time; that doesn’t mean anything. So I hope that me standing up for what I believe in — God, family, country — I’m OK with whatever comes my way, positive or negative. When you have faith, nothing can really rock you.”
Featured image credit: Featured image credit: By Super Festivals – https://www.flickr.com/photos/superfestivals/48480559301, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86365697