In a recent interview with the New York Times, two-time Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington addressed his faith in God and warned people not to get swept up in social media and self-obsession.
“This is spiritual warfare. So, I’m not looking at it from an earthly perspective,” Washington told the New York Times. “If you don’t have a spiritual anchor, you’ll be easily blown by the wind, and you’ll be led to depression.”
Washington, who is starring in the upcoming film The Tragedy of Macbeth, described himself as a “God-fearing man” who seeks to live out his faith daily.
“I try not to worry,” Washington said. “Fear is contaminated faith,” he added.
The famous actor also addressed the issue of self-centeredness, which is often highlighted on social media.
“The enemy is the inner me,” Washington noted. “The Bible says in the last days — I don’t know if it’s the last days, it’s not my place to know — but it says we’ll be lovers of ourselves. The number one photograph today is a selfie, ‘Oh, me at the protest.’ ‘Me with the fire.’ ‘Follow me.’ ‘Listen to me,'” he continued.
“We’re living in a time where people are willing to do anything to get followed,” he said. “What is the long or short-term effect of too much information? It’s going fast, and it can be manipulated obviously in a myriad of ways. And people are led like sheep to slaughter.”
Regarding his view of Heaven, Washington said he believes “there are going to be two lines, the long line and the short line, and I’m interested in being in the short line.”
Actor Corey Hawkins, who plays the film’s antagonist, Macduff, against Washington’s Macbeth, told the New York Times that the Oscar-winning actor prays with him.
“Sometimes we get talking, and you see the preacher in him,” Hawkins said, according to Faithwire. “He’s just a natural-born charismatic leader who is not afraid to talk about his own faults or misgivings or shortcomings.”
During Washington’s interview, he encouraged the interviewer, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, to read the Bible. His suggestion to her was to begin “with the New Testament, because the Old Testament is harder.”
“You get caught up in the ‘who-begot-who-begot-who thing,'” he said.
Washington also shared that he “fills up” spiritually every morning as his day begins.
“You have to fill up that bucket every morning,” he said. “It’s rough out there. You leave the house in the morning. Here they come, chipping away. By the end of the day, you’ve got to refill that bucket. We know right from wrong.”
