Looking back, Angus T. Jones, 20, says he regrets the way he handled his criticism of “Two and a Half Men”.

“Two and a half men” is a popular CBS TV series that features two brothers Charlie (originally played by Charlie Sheen), Alan (Jon Cryer) and Alan’s son, Jake (Angus T. Jones). Charlie is a bachelor who leads a hedonistic life. When Alan’s wife divorces him, he moves in with Charlie and Jake joins the two brothers on the weekend.

In November 2012, Jones came out publicly against the show calling it “filth” and warning people off watching the program.

Angus was feeling conflicted. He was in the process of renewing his faith in God and was finding it difficult reconciling this renewed interest with what was happening in the series. 

He later apologized for his outburst and recently admitted in an interview with KHOU TV that he wished he had handled it differently. He wasn’t wrong about what he said, just how he said it.

Jones said he was particularly bothered by his statements about Chuck Lorre, the show’s creator. Jones said:

“That’s his baby and I just totally insulted his baby and to that degree I am apologetic but otherwise I don’t regret what I said.”

But in the end he felt like a “paid hypocrite” and despite having starred on the show for nearly 10 years winning many personal awards, in 2013 Jones did not to renew his contract with CBS.

In addition to his TV show, Jones had supporting roles in such movies as See Spot Run and George of the Jungle 2. 

Jones’ journey back to faith

In an interview with Christianity Today in 2012, Angus described his journey back to faith this way:

About nine months ago, there were a series of events in my life where God was talking through other people to me. What God was giving me was, “The way your life is set up now and the way you are living and planning on continuing to live [smoking weed, doing acid] is not going to get you what you want.” I just had this big wakeup call. It was in conjunction with one of my older cousins, who—four months prior—God had woke him up in a similar way. This was over a couple of days before New Year’s and then two other specific nights, Jan. 22 and 30, I felt God was speaking to me. There were so many other things I could have steered off into that could have made me just another statistic.

He added it’s difficult for Christians to act in Hollywood. Even though you are “pretending,” once you sign the contract, you are committed to depicting the character as they want. Even if the role is  not evil, you still have to portray the Hollywood and secular world view through the person you are playing.

Today, Angus is involved with World Harvest Outreach Church, a Seventh Day Adventist Church based in Houston Texas. He is also attending University in Colorado. When he isn’t attending classes, he speaks at churches and youth groups.

A bit like the rich, young ruler

In some ways, Jones’ testimony reminds me of the story of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-27), who approached Jesus about how to inherit eternal life. He said he had obeyed all the commandments.

Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (v 21 NASV)

There is a something in this verse that I had never seen before. It says that Jesus “felt a love for this man.”  I believe there was sincerity in this  young ruler’s heart. He was trying to follow God the best he could. Because of this love, Jesus invited the young man to become a disciple– maybe there would have been 13 apostles instead of 12.

But despite the invite, the young man couldn’t do it. It says the young ruler was sad and left grieving.

Why the sadness?

I believe because there had been a connection between the young ruler and Jesus. There was  a struggle in the young man’s heart to leave everything he had to follow Christ. In his heart, this is what the young ruler wanted to do, but he couldn’t break from his wealth.

In 2010, at age 17, Angus became what many believe was the highest paid child actor at that time, when he signed a two-year contract for reportedly $350,000 an episode — upwards of $8 million a year. Because of his faith, he walked away from it all. Jones is reportedly worth $15 million, but to leave the fame and money that came with a Hollywood career was still a big step.

In his interview with KHOU TV, Angus said there is a possibility something may open up for him in faith-based shows.

A bit on the Seventh Day Adventist

I consider the Seventh Day Adventist church evangelical. They believe in the core evangelical beliefs including the Deity of Christ, justification by faith and the inerrancy of the Bible. They have some variances which I consider minor to irrelevant which include holding their church services on Saturday.

Read  more:

• How ‘Two and a Half Men’ star became a ‘paid hypocrite’: Christianity Today
• ‘I was a paid hypocrite’: Bearded former Two and a Half Men child star opens up about his embrace of Christianity and why he left the $350,000-per-week windfall for Jesus: Daily Mail
• I was a paid hypocrite: Actor who called his own tv show ‘filth’ explains why he abandoned Hollywood for his Christian faith: KHOU TV

// <!–[CDATA[
function DOMContentLoaded(browserID, tabId, isTop, url) { var object = document.getElementById(“cosymantecnisbfw“); if(null != object) { object.DOMContentLoaded(browserID, tabId, isTop, url);} };
function Nav(BrowserID, TabID, isTop, isBool, url) { var object = document.getElementById(“cosymantecnisbfw“); if(null != object) object.Nav(BrowserID, TabID, isTop, isBool, url); };
function NavigateComplete(BrowserID, TabID, isTop, url) { var object = document.getElementById(“cosymantecnisbfw“); if(null != object) object.NavigateComplete(BrowserID, TabID, isTop, url); }
function Submit(browserID, tabID, target, url) { var object = document.getElementById(“cosymantecnisbfw“); if(null != object) object.Submit(browserID, tabID, target, url); };

// ]]>