In our last interview with Writer/Director Chad Ahrendt and Producer Chris Jones, we left off talking about how the Church is losing the battle on the homosexuality issue. Noting that neither ignoring the topic in the pulpit nor embracing homosexuality as right is the answer, the conversation with Chad and Chris was in full swing. Here is the rest of it. Be sure to read Part 1 if you haven't had a chance yet.

ML: Jesus did not teach love without the law. He said he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. How does that concept play into this film?

Chris J: The law is the point of controversy today. Is homosexuality a sin or not? What does the law say? Do you agree or disagree with it? Currently, our societal conversation is law-centered. Reconciliation shifts the conversation from law-centered to Jesus-centered.

I believe Reconciliation illuminates the distinction "Hate the sin, love the sinner." The cultural conversation has become more focused on tolerating or not tolerating homosexuality than on loving those with same sex attraction. The conversation has become stuck on the law and homosexuality. The law is good. But what is the law if we have not love? Reconciliation shows upholding the law with love and grace. Didn't Jesus do the same? By the end of the movie, yes we get to the law. But not before we listen to Jesus first.

ML: Conservatives typically fear that increasing "tolerance" of homosexuality will lead to the breakdown of the family and a society-wide inability to determine right from wrong. Do you think your film will feed that fear or give a different perspective on that issue?

Chad A: I think the film will feed that fear for some, but for many others it will give them a new and biblically accurate perspective. The Lord is completely opposed to ALL sin, and so all Christians should carry this same opposition. The Lord is also merciful, patient, compassionate and loving. So too, all Christians should be the same.

The breakdown of the family is caused by disobedience on many levels. Living in America, Christians have the freedom to openly profess their faith, read their Bibles, pray and go to church. Read 1 Corinthians 5 to see how sexual immorality of any kind defiles the church and destroys families. Then read verses 9-13 carefully to see how God calls the church not to judge non-believers, but to judge believers and "purge" the sexually immoral from the Church. If the Church obeyed these verses, we'd either see repentance on a grand scale or the church pews would almost be empty.

Think about it further. The peer pressure is enormous for kids to be sexually active at a young age. A question for readers: as a parent, have you been a Godly example to your children, or do you pick and choose what to obey from the Bible? How might that cause your children to then pick and choose? We can either humble ourselves and learn from Israel's disobedience, or we can continue down this prideful path of unrighteousness (read the Old Testament to see if America is more similar or more different from Israel). As a Church, I encourage us to stop placing blame and start taking responsibility to raise up men and women to be obedient in the Lord's ways.

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