Matt Rife reveals he got baptized in a pool following his grandfather's death: 'I want to believe in God'
Comedian Matt Rife said he recently got baptized in a pool following the death of his grandfather — and even though he "hates" church, he wants to believe in God.
"I got baptized in August … in a dude's pool," the 29-year-old told Yannis Papas and Chris Distefano, hosts of the History Hyenas podcast, in a recent episode.
Rife, who clarified it was a "Christian" baptism, said he didn't grow up in a religious household but would occasionally attend church with friends a few times a year.
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When his grandpa died two years ago, he began thinking about God more and more, he stated.
"I've never been a super religious person, but when my grandpa passed away, something hit me that I was like, 'I'll never see this person again,'" he said. "So something has to exist. I skew Christian, so I started going to church a little bit more."
"I hate church; I find it excruciatingly boring," he said. "But I want to believe in God, and it's obviously a huge part of the process."
Pappas and Distefano agreed, joking that pastors "keep doing the same act" repeatedly during services.
Rife, known for his raunchy comedy, is selling out arenas with his recently announced "Stay Golden Tour." He recently released his first book, Your Mom's Gonna Love Me, a memoir from Simon & Schuster and a New York Times bestseller.
Rife is the latest in a slew of comedians to embrace Christianity or use their platform to discuss the Bible, faith and religion in recent years.
Last year, comedian Rob Schneider announced he'd converted to Catholicism and felt called to leave behind the type of comedy he has performed in the past.
"I know I can't do the same stuff I used to do," Schneider told The Christian Post. "Not because I have anything against what I did; I did what I did, and I felt fine about it at the time. I'm not going to judge myself. But I won't do the same stuff I've done. I don't know what I'm going to do. … I want to come to it from a place of faith, a place of something good in my heart."
Earlier this year, comedian Russell Brand said he'd converted to Christianity and was baptized in the River Thames. He has since used his social media to document his journey.
In October, the British actor said he is one of many people who "publicly are known to have sinned, to have lived a life away from Him, lived a life looking for the stimulants that the world offers you" and "live in open transparency." He contends that people who fit this description "can authentically accept that we are flawed and fallen."
"That is the way that we will know Christ, through our brokenness," he asserted. "We don't have to be pretending that you're something that you're not. You don't have to be concealing anything about yourself, because what you are is beautiful."
Comedian Joe Rogan, though not a professing Christian, often discusses religion on the podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience," which has 14.5 million followers on Spotify.
In February, NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Rogan discussed the crucial role Christianity plays in an increasingly chaotic society and the need for Jesus' return.
"I think as time rolls on, people are going to understand the need to have some sort of divine structure to things, some sort of belief in the sanctity of love and of truth, and a lot of that comes from a religion," Rogan said in a Feb. 7 episode of his podcast.
"A lot of people's moral compass and the guidelines that they've used and follow to live a just and righteous life has come from religion. And unfortunately, a lot of very intelligent people they dismiss all the positive aspects of religion because they think that the stories are mere superstitious fairy tales, that they have no place in this modern world; 'we're inherently good, and your ethics are based on your own moral compass, and we all have one,' and that's not necessarily true."
In February, Distefano recommended Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ to religious skeptic Bill Maher.
