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Interview: Filmmaker Leo Severino Talks Faith

 

In this podcast, Father Dave interviews Hollywood filmmaker Leo Severino about his life of faith. Severino cites his philosophical background and how it led him to write his book, “Going Deeper: A Reasoned Explanation of God and Truth.”

In the interview, Severino tackles the idea of relativism, saying, “If someone expresses the notion that there is no truth, the immediate question should be ‘Is that true?’ Because when you are saying there is no truth, aren’t you making a truth claim?” Severino explains that the goal of his book is to try and make philosophical arguments more digestible to the modern person. 

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Severino addresses the problem of evil in his book, and Father Dave asks why he thinks God allows evil things to happen.

Severino responds, “So that we can choose the good and truly choose it.” He gives the example of throwing a brick at an innocent person and asks, “If I didn’t have the choice to throw the brick, what would happen? Would I not be able to pick up the brick or would it turn into fluffy feathers? … A world which is constantly being propped up by God in which we don’t even have the possibility of making choices that might harm another individual isn’t a world that shows a loving God, it shows more of a dictatorial, tyrannical God, where I don’t even have a choice in the matter.”

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He explains that choosing evil is not using your free will, it is abusing your free will because our will was given to us to choose the good. God intends for us to choose between goods.

Father Dave responds: “I think we just went deeper!” (Original Air 12-18-17)