Right To Believe (2014) | Full Movie | Christopher Hunt | Timothy Paul Taylor | Donald James Parker

over on shepard avenue they don't really like the things we do we stay up late and laugh too much and tell the kids all you need is love is true i don't always say it but i'm so glad to be right here with you the washer went out again today i hope that you know that it won't always be this way one day we'll look back and laugh and think about how bad we miss this it's gonna be it's gonna be [Music] they don't really like the things we do morris morris hey what's up boss get in here now and close the door behind you what's up sit down what's up you want to know what's up well i'll tell you what's up i just got off the phone with the brass upstairs and they ripped me a new one do you know why they ripped me a new one no i don't have a clue the mayor's office called them he's saying that he never gave you that quote on the pritchett scandal what he says he never said it never thought it never even dreamed it he gave me that quote terry prove it how do you have it on your recorder was there someone else there present who can confirm your story have you when have you ever known me to lie on a story terry i'm not calling you a liar tony but you messed up this time and it's coming down on me i did my job i got that story 100 the mayor gave me that quote but you can't prove it we're going to have to print a retraction are you serious we're going to print a retraction and you're going to write it no i'm not going to write it what part of the boss employee relationship are you having the most trouble understanding if you tell me what you're gonna do and not do that would make you the boss me boss you employee boss says write a retraction and we'll print it you employee will also write a letter of apology to the mayor and send it we won't print that one but you will send it unless you want this to be an ex-boss ex-employee relationship terry this is not going away tony i'll try to bury the retraction in the back pages somewhere but this will be printed in the meantime you're going to lay low for a while what is this i'm putting you on a little fluff piece for the community section terry i can't i got my hands full at the wilcox trial not anymore mitch has taken over the wilcox truck that's my story all right i've been following him since he got arrested all right you can't just take me off of it i can and i am mitch will handle the wilcox trial you'll do this community piece community piece oh no these are for newbies all right i've been here six years and if you want to stay here another six minutes i strongly suggest you take this and shut your mouth this is unbelievable my hands are tighter tony i went out on a limb for you on that mayor thing and look what happened i didn't do anything wrong you failed to back yourself up and you know better than that especially when you're dealing with a politician look i gotta take a hard line on this terry no no no this conversation is over take this and get out of here terry please just me boss you employee now close that door on your way out to having a really nice day yeah and then he says prove it so did you i mean did you prove it why why didn't you just show me your notes okay he didn't want notes april he wanted a recording or a name of somebody that was there when the mayor said it so he thinks you're lying i don't know all i know is the mayor said it and i printed it i just can't believe you got thrown off the wilcox trial i mean you've been you've been working your butt off on it yeah i know now he's got mitch on it mitch you like mitch yeah i don't like him taking my stories story what you said stories he's just writing this one for now but i don't know when this whole mayor thing is going to blow over so what is this fluff piece about anyways i don't even know i haven't even looked at it well let's take a look-see okay probably some dog show or canned food drive or fanny farkle is celebrating her 150th birthday uh honey was that right is it a dog show well definitely not a dog show it's a press release a press release what to say says union for civil acceptance announces town's first gay pride day what they want me to cover a story on gay pride day apparently so actually i know they want you to cover the preparations of a gay pride day i get pulled off of a murder trial to do a story on gay pride day that seems to be the case he's killing me terry so what are you gonna do what am i gonna do i'm gonna go into terry's office tomorrow i'm gonna tell him i can't do this tony we can't afford for you to get fired look honey i'm trying to get on with usa today all right they don't hire people covering fluff stories for the community no but they also don't hire people who get fired for a scandal with the mayor what am i supposed to do no i don't know look it why don't you just do the story do what terry tells you to do and and just get it over with a pride day i know yes a gay pride dave you got a problem with that look terry i'm a serious investigative reporter all right this isn't my kind of story it is now please terry just put me back on the wilcox trial okay look i know that they're doing opening statements today all right and i got a lot of work to do if i'm going to get ready for it no mitch has a lot of work to do to get ready you are off the wilcox trial and you're on this so what do you want me to do just write up a little article on this press release not exactly then what we want more of a story than that you know get behind the scenes find out who the key people are you know what are they doing to prepare for it etc etc etc and you really think that this is a story oh it better be when you're done with it what if i tell you that i can't do it for moral reasons what are you talking about yeah yeah see terry i don't believe in homosexuality in fact i'm against it as a christian i believe that it's wrong okay what does the bible say about murder what murder what does the bible say about murder that's wrong yet you cover murder stories all the time what's the bible say about adultery same thing yet you called the mayor out on that didn't you drove the point home pretty well as i remember is there anything i can tell you to get out of the story yeah i quit would do the trick otherwise you better get going you've got a luncheon date with the organizer name is uh marcus marcus frye here's the address he's gonna meet you there big guy thanks tony this is your first step towards getting back on your feed don't mess it up [Applause] [Music] hi sir hi hello what can i get for you today can i get a coffee please coffee would you like that black uh yes please how are you today fantastic yes absolutely good morning oh morning i know you i i don't think so yeah i do you're that reporter from the newspaper morris tony morris that's you right in the flesh well it's nice to meet you i read that story you did on the mayor great stuff thanks and you're also involved in that wilcox trial you're not here to do that are you oh no no not exactly let's just say sometimes you don't get to put your name on the hard-hitting stuff you know sometimes you gotta cover the fluff stories this sounds very interesting someone's gotta do it so you're here to do a fluff story uh yeah something well something like that forgive me for asking but what is a fluff story uh you know one of those type of stories that ends up lining the bottom of a cage kind of thing i see it seems a little beneath you compared to the kind of stories you've been doing that's what i told my editor all right coffee guys oh thank you enjoy uh you know actually i didn't get your name marcus fry marcus fry the same guy i'm interviewing today one in the same man great yeah shall we please uh look about what i said all right i don't worry about it it's not exactly what i wanted to start off on but i'm sure it's a hurdle we can get over wait you know it's yeah it's nice to meet you thank you i was really honored and excited that the newspaper would come down and cover our event well you know it is news as you said you know i really am a fan and i thought the story you did on the mayor was well written then i read the retraction this morning oh you read that yeah i'm a reader so what happened there um you know what actually um why don't we uh why don't we focus on the event you got going on here okay right to business sure so tell me um what motivated you to make this gay pride date thing happen we wanted to create an event that would create a sense of awareness and unity amongst the lgbt community and the community as a whole educate people empower our people and liberate them uh liberate your people and i know how that must sound but you know unfortunately the gay community is still oppressed okay do you do you feel that such oppression is still prevalent here in our community yeah it's everywhere i mean people consider gays and lesbians to be outside of the norm and what they don't consider normal they consider wrong okay um mr fray look this is my fault why don't we get back to the event at hand here okay sure sure call me marcus though uh yeah uh you know mr frye works better it's more appropriate so um yeah okay so um what kind of reception has even gotten from the community so far it's been positive i mean we had to go down to city hall and fill out some forms but there haven't been any opposition voices of opposition or craziness does that surprise you or i think generally people just don't want to rock the boat they'll they think we'll have our event and we'll just go away but of course we're not going away i actually am surprised there haven't been a few self-righteous bigots voiced their displeasure okay so are you saying the reception has been good absolutely you're here the television station is doing an ad on us and the mayor is coming out to give a speech he's not coming out don't print that don't worry about it all right me and the mayor is not really on the best of terms right now so it's best not to add fuel to the fire well thank you hold on i i have to take this no problem marcus fry what no right now okay i'll be there okay very sorry i'm gonna have to head out is it possible we could pick this up tomorrow and continue the interview yeah yeah yeah of course yeah um same time in place then yes perfect thank you i really really am sorry he seems like a nice enough guy he really believes in what he's doing you've been awfully quiet tonight something on your mind do you do i what i mean do you believe in what he's doing i'm not gonna go down to the gay day parade or whatever you call it if that's what you mean that's not what i mean then i don't know what you mean april i'm just trying to do my job and write the story and be done with it so i get back onto reporting real stories and isn't that what you said to do last night i know but then i got to thinking about it and i got to praying and what if god wants you to get through to him about what about what the bible says on homosexuality i already tried that with terry all right that didn't get me anywhere no i'm not talking about terry i'm talking about mr frye i'm not aiming to make waves here april all right i'll go in there tomorrow and i'll have a cup of coffee with him and then i'll write the story that's it then i'm done with it and it's it's over but isn't that what mr fry basically been saying people been doing to him all his life ignoring it and hoping it goes away what do you want me to do you want me to go in there and tell him that he's going to hell because he's gay it's not exactly the phraseology i had in mind he's not going to want to hear that all right these people they're like long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs they're just waiting for somebody to get on their tails so they can hiss and claw so you're basically telling me that you'll allow somebody else to go in and tell them the truth so you don't have to risk getting scratched honey i got a job to do to support us all right and i'm walking on eggshells right now at work already at this point in time and i cannot risk losing my job i can't i'm paid to get a story and tell it not preach well i know a story that you can tell i can't afford to lose my job april we can't i'm just saying that sometimes god puts us into these difficult situations and places right so he can test our resolve and faith and what do you want me to do huh i am this close to losing my job maybe maybe just pray about it just just pray about it god will show you what to do really sorry about yesterday some things can't be avoided you understand better than you think it's no problem so first off um tell me is this gay pride day thingy that you got going on here is this a way for you guys to say look here we are and we're not going away is that it yeah thank you in a way i mean it's a way for gays and lesbians to say you know we're part of the community we're your pharmacist your doctor your lawyer your police officer your teacher it's a way for people to ask questions you know let them know that we are contributing members of society get out of the little bubble that they're living in and start recognizing us as citizens okay so are you saying people need to change their minds about you some people do yeah i mean the world has changed it's time everyone changed with it okay why does the world need to change i mean was it really so bad before that sounds like something the south said to the north before the end of the civil war all right you know what we we've done it again we've gotten off track here so um look why don't you um just provide me with the name of the sponsors that you've uh you've obtained for this event tony you seem a little uncomfortable is everything all right yeah yeah no everything's fine yeah really are you uncomfortable sitting across from a gay man don't be ridiculous no you are mr fry now here's a man here's a reporter who sat across sat next to murderers and thieves and rapists and crooked politicians and yet in this day and age you're afraid to sit across from a gay man i'm not afraid if anything no you are and it's okay you're not the first person to be uncomfortable sitting around me or being around me and just like me not like me hate me whatever mr fry i look i don't know you well enough to determine whether i like you or not i'm to be honest with you it's not you i'm uncomfortable with what is it then well i mean it's your lifestyle all right i i gotta say i'm not comfortable with that you're not comfortable with my lifestyle no no i'm not should i make you comfortable with my lifestyle yeah i i don't think that you can you know what actually i i think i got plenty here to do this no no no i i like this i like this you don't think that i've gotten to my age without having to defend my lifestyle do you you tell me what you have against my lifestyle i don't know i i guess i just all right the bible says the bible says i've had this discussion many times before and i'm prepared to have it again are you excuse me are you prepared to have this discussion with me you seem like a smart man and i'm fairly smart too especially on a subject i am most passionate about my life that of my friends and community and i just want to make sure that you're up to having a discussion about this subject so let's make a deal you come back here tomorrow i'll come back here tomorrow you tell me your side of the story i'll tell you my side and then we'll see where we are okay and mr freight with all the respect why on earth would i want to do that well you have the mayor on your back right now right i happen to be friendsly with the mayor and his family you come back here you tell me your side i'll tell you mine and then i'll get the hair off your back for you and you can go back to hanging out with murderers and thieves and rapists and you won't have to spend any amount of time with a gay man mr frey i've already explained to you no it's tight cheap shot i'm sorry i'll be back here tomorrow and i hope you will be too have a good day mr morris what have i got myself into here you're really gonna go through with this how can i not i can't get the mayor off my back and i can get back to reporting real stories look at you you're surrounded why so much homework what are you talking about i mean if you're just wanting to humor the guy just say what he wants you to say you know that'll just get him right off your back there he's too smart for me to fool him all right he'll he'll call me on a technical foul and toss me out of the game no i i gotta know what i'm talking about what's the big deal anyway i mean i'm not gay but if he's not hurting anybody what do you care it's simple rick okay i don't think god wants us to ignore the situation all right he wants us to spread his word even if that means going against the grain a little or in this case a lot but what about your job man if this gets back to terry done for i'm pretty sure the paper is not going to put up with any more slip ups man see i've already thought of that all right sometimes other things are more important hey babe how was work fine hey rick hey april uh so uh what's going on well uh your lovely hubby here has uh a mountain of homework that he's gotta tend to so i'm gonna get out of your hair just be careful man i mean it just say what he wants you to say and get it done this is over your head i hear you [Music] what was that all about mr fry has uh how should i say this challenge me to a debate on the biblical principles of homosexuality let me take my advice yeah i have no idea what you've got me in here this is the best opportunity tony you get to tell him everything that we always wanted to but you know we never have the chance oh this is so great okay all right so just just bury yourself in here okay just read this um okay first corinthians go through there through acts all of this oh my gosh okay you're gonna figure this out oh i'm so happy for you would you do me a big favor though what um it's going to be a long night could you put on some coffee for me yeah sure like okay all right if you need me i'll be in the office okay i'll get the coffee okay all right babe hey hi what time is it 7 30. i actually thought you left for work did you sleep out here i think so a little bit anyways i actually gotta leave for work why don't you jump in the shower get yourself all cleaned up all right i will do you feel ready for today i don't know babe there's so much information i don't know if i can remember it all i'm gonna be praying for you okay just tell him everything that the bible says tony god's gonna give you the words okay you got it i love you i love you too baby glad to see you could make it mr fry let's let's get something clear okay i'm i'm not a biblical scholar by any means all right i just i know what i believe i respect that i also know what i believe and that's what we're going to talk about today so um how do we get this thing started tony first of all this is not a fight it's not about who throws the first punch it's the discussion between two people and i hear you okay so what about this why don't you tell me what the bible says about same-sex attraction okay when the bible mentions homosexuality its emphasis is on the behavior the lifestyle not the individual god loves a sinner but he condemns the sin and my take on homosexual behavior just like all sexual immorality is that it's wrong hold on i didn't ask about your take on it i want to know what the bible says about being gay okay but yeah i think the two go hand in hand and as a christian as a believer no okay for the sake of this conversation again let's just stick to what the bible says okay in leviticus it says thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind it is an abomination the old testament yeah i'm familiar with that are you familiar with the writer thomas paine yeah he wrote um common sense good he also wrote something called the age of reason do you know how he referred to the old testament no whenever we read of the obscene stories the voluptuous debaucheries the torturous executions the extreme vindictiveness of which half the bible is written it would be more consistent to call it the word of a demon than the word of god it is a history of wickedness that has served to condemn and brutalize humanity and for my part i sincerely detest it as i detest anything that is cruel end quote i think that pretty much sums up the old testament all right that's right i can't claim that the old testament was written by pollyanna all right i'm sure that there's things about the old testament we don't understand and we probably won't understand until we get to heaven like clues to a murder mystery or something that went undetected don't you think the old testament the bible itself is a bit antiquated doesn't it say in deuteronomy that when men fight with one another and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the one who's being who's beating him and reaches out to seize upon his private parts that ye shall cut off her hand your eyes shall have no pity now that seems a bit extreme to me yeah i wasn't aware of that passage that's my point i think the bible has to be taken with a grain of salt how how can something been written thousands of years ago apply to today okay but solomon said that there's nothing new under the sun i mean yeah sure we have new widgets and gadgets and instant communication and entertainment on demand etc but man is faced with the basic core to live for himself or to live for god all right people from our era right now yeah i'm sure we can get into trouble a lot easier than somebody from the time of moses because their idols were clearly idols ours are just disguised as hobbies pastimes and careers golden calves for the 21st century but doesn't if i remember correctly doesn't the old testament endorse and actually condone child abuse it says somewhere in there do not hold withhold discipline from a child if you beat him with a rod he will not die if you beat him with a rod you may save his soul it says discipline not abuse so you think hitting a child is disciplined to some extent yeah i mean don't get me wrong there's people that go way too far but i was raised in a home where if we stepped out of line we got spanked where god put a little extra padding and you think that's okay it worked i didn't get into any real trouble because i was scared of the punishment my parents never led a hand on me and i turned out fine i've never committed a crime i've never hurt anyone okay so what about you mr fry i mean what is exactly that you believe i believe that basically everyone is free to make their own choices i don't think that anyone can say anyone is wrong because they make a different choice is a chevy owner evil because he doesn't buy a ford it's like that eric clapton song before you accuse me take a look at yourself i believe that people just like to pick on other people because of their different choices and no matter what you do in life somebody's gonna find something that's wrong with it so it's kind of like a double-edged sword then how do you mean well i mean you're darned if you do and darn if you don't okay if you as a member of the gay community decide to mind your own business and not speak out then you'll be persecuted by the radical militant gays but if you speak out like you're doing here with your gay pride day then others the whatever you call them then they'll be on your case homophobes yeah but there's a third group activists who leave the quiet ones alone i mean if we have the same right to choose between gay and straight don't we have the right to choose between being silent and being vocal as well absolutely and christians should have the freedom to speak out against your lifestyle i don't i don't know about that okay so just for the sake of argument you're saying that if someone were to hold a rally speaking out against homosexuality you would argue their freedom to do so of course so you have freedom but we don't i mean doesn't that seem hypocritical to you we don't hold rallies against heterosexuality and call it perverse our rallies are peaceful they're for us as a community to come together and support one another but what i'm hearing is that the same rules don't seem to apply to you as you know for somebody who's speaking out against your lifestyle in other words if somebody doesn't see things the same way you do they're persecuting you it seems to me that people who speak out against us are nothing more than prejudice bigots and mr morris i have to honestly tell you i'm starting to think you might be one of them whoa hold on a second here no i don't hate anyone where do you guys come up with this that just because we tell you that your behavior is wrong that we hate you huh well no no stop let me finish if i tell people who drink soda that they're wrong because it contains harmful substances does that mean i hate people who drink soda no okay and if if i tell people who drink alcohol and drive that that's wrong does that mean i hate them good point to say but there are people that hate us hate us i have personally suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune for these haters yes but they can't be true christians it says in the bible that if you hate your brother then the truth is not in you only pseudo-christians can hate you for being gay i just wish that somehow you guys could discern the difference between real hate and love that gets construed as hate love that gets construed is hate yeah let's play a what-if game here if if god warns you in the bible not to be involved in same-sex activity and you do anyways and he banishes you to hell for all eternity now that's the stipulation all right yeah and the punch line is what if i know that you're going to hell and i don't tell you then i in fact i'm showing hatred but then there's the flip side of the coin if i go out on a limb and risk getting my head bitten off and getting accused of hatred to tell you that you're wrong that would require love on my behalf that would be a very strange kind of love look you wanted logic all right i just dumped a bunch of it in front of you and now you're ignoring it so you believe that all gays are going to hell i i don't know luckily i'm not the judge of all mankind okay jesus is gonna decide your faith not me you just said if i believe in jesus then i get into heaven should not trump whether i'm gay or not no see i also said that you have to follow his rules now there's a bit of controversy here yeah so i not only have to come to jesus i have to give up my lifestyle i have to do both in order to dance in streets of gold right maybe i'm wrong but i i really think so but you have some doubts okay if you refuse to give up your lifestyle i would say that you're playing russian roulette with your future in this version five of the six chambers would have bullets in them and only one would be empty do you feel lucky what about christian artists who have recently come out as being gay after entertaining and inspiring other christians for decades don't they still get into heaven for their service to god i done told you all right i don't have all the answers i struggle with the same kind of question as you do right now but okay there's a passage in matthew that says not everyone who says lord lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven i mean even some who have done great things in the name of jesus christ who are guilty of iniquity and lawlessness now i don't know exactly what that means all right i don't but i don't want to see anyone go to hell i want to warn them and i want to give them a chance to repent okay you really care don't you i'm deeply touched i've been attacked for my lifestyle in many different ways but never with tears their language too you know okay that's nice but don't think i'm just going to be soft on you now i'm still going to hold your feet to the fire on this i had a feeling you'd do that one more thing on hate it seems that someday it's going to be against the law to say that homosexuality is a sin people who do they'll be put in jail that kind of thing makes me weep that people in america could lose the very freedoms that thousands of people have died to preserve that good people will be faced with the choice of obeying god or obeying the law i'm just going to claim no comment on that landmine okay we've covered a lot of ground now what's next i i believe it's your turn to broach a subject okay what about the holier-than-thou attitude that christians have basically that if you don't agree with them everything you believe in is wrong that's a valid question aren't gays assuming that christians who take a stand that homosexuality is a sin are automatically wrong because they believe differently if we agree with the christians then we would both be wrong that's funny but christians get their opinions from the bible so you're saying that everything that you believe is accurate everything actually happened flood talking snake all of it happened it was written by god i mean sure i mean it's the word of god it was written by men but they were just vessels they were just writing what god told them to write if it came from god who might have doubted it what if the men who wrote all those things so long ago how do you how do you know that they were actually writing what god wanted them to write faith i guess i mean we put our faith in that and we believe it well your faith that's something i have struggled with for a long time i mean what's the comfort in believing for the sake of believing there are so many things in this world that are right in front of us all the time right around us why not believe in those things according to the bible faith is having the confidence in something that you haven't experienced with your senses yet wouldn't that be blind faith actually it's the opposite it's the act in believing in something unseen that you do have a good reason to believe in can you can you see bacteria or viruses with your senses can you experience that no but you have faith and the scientists have looked into microscopes and have seen them before microscopes people theorized that bacteria and viruses existed because they saw the signs of decay and sickness they couldn't see bacteria because it's too small maybe we can't see god because he's too big but he he left behind the signs of his creation as a witness of himself i remember i remember reading somewhere once where mark twain said and i quote he said that faith is believing things that you know ain't true that is why religion christianity can't be proven because the rationality leads us part of the way and then we have to take this leap of faith to make it a way across now see i don't think that's true because the bible says that faith is a substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen i know that the bible is contradictory in a lot of places it seems to be this battle between faith and reason uh no actually it says in the bible let's see it says we're supposed to reason so that we can attempt to show people that our belief is reasonable justified and logically defensible so that the bible makes sense doesn't that conflict with with faith the bible says that we're also supposed to have faith we're supposed to trust in god not lean on our own understanding we're supposed to trust god whether or not his word makes sense to us or not so which is it is it faith reason reason faith what is it well when the two are both understood by biblical standards i don't think there is a conflict i think reason is just a tool that god has given us to draw conclusions from other information like information that comes from the bible and you believe that faith and reason actually work together exactly when we're talking about biblical faith and biblical reasoning see i think faith is a prerequisite for reasoning in order to have faith we have to believe that there are laws of logic that are in place for me i i can't account for that kind of logic because it disagrees with logic my world view okay so maybe you need to trade in your world view for a god view doesn't god want us to be happy i'm happy being who i am a gay man why why should he care who i share my love with why should he care how i love who i share my love with okay now don't confuse love and lust okay it says in the bible that the only way into heaven is through jesus christ and believing in him and and following his rules and that includes sexual purity i think it's your turn to ask a question all right um when i was getting ready for this interview i was doing a lot of research it seems to me that these celebrations are a way for your people to i don't know flaunt themselves flaunt themselves yeah like guys wearing bikini briefs and high heels and wearing wigs you know if you guys are wanting to be respected and accepted why would you try to stick out so much you think that all people that are gay are like that that's the impression i got when i looked it up online have you ever actually known anyone who's gay yeah actually i had a couple friends in college that were gay and did they wear heels and wigs to class little bikini briefs in front of the professor no okay then why would you ask that question okay first off i'm not saying that all gay people are like that i'm just saying if i was put in a position to celebrate my beliefs and my lifestyle i wouldn't want to make a spectacle of myself and maybe bug other people you mean you're not you mean you're not going to hold a little christian pride parade and and wear wings and carry harps down the street right no not anytime soon all right in fact i think my halos are the dry cleaners no but but seriously i i have to ask you though during this pride that is there going to be you know those wild things or whatever you want to call them are they going to be around here strutting their stuff for this gay pride parade maybe okay but i won't be one of them but do you think our city deserves that type of agitation and disrespect i mean i love my city here and i i don't want to see anything bad happen me too i share that love look there are some in our community who like to express themselves some like to express themselves quite a bit just like the christian community look at that church that protests funerals and everything do you agree with what they do no no not at all those people are extremists all right that no jesus doesn't even condone that kind of stuff they really believe in what they're doing i can't justify what they do then how can the entire gay and lesbian community be defined by a few extremists trying to put us in all in a little box and say that we're all the same you can't do that just as i can't say that all christians are the same apparently so please don't classify me and my friends as being like what you've seen online i assure you i'm not doing that all right but i'm a reporter all right and sometimes i have to ask questions to get to the heart of the story do you think it's possible the times have changed to the point where people just have to accept that the culture has moved forward i mean some people need to to really move forward or be left behind no because in the eyes of god we're still being held at the same standards regardless of what time or generation we're living in are you so stubborn that you can't admit that people need to change their thought process okay in the bible let me give you another one here it says see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on christ how do you interpret that don't go by what the world says instead of what god says what if the world as most of it does doesn't find anything wrong with being gay and lesbian what about that the bible says it isn't right there's another factor we haven't even considered here a very big consideration what is that the devil you're trying to make me laugh now aren't you no i assure you i'm not okay here why don't we play another what if game let's say there's a man named john doe all right and your job is to keep him from getting to hollywood california the promised land you're invisible you can travel instantaneously but you can't physically mess with him how would you keep john from getting to hollywood i'd whisper in john's ear and tell him that hollywood doesn't exist okay that's a good start now what else would you do i'd give him a direction that led him to take a left turn at the black forest and end up in albuquerque see you're good at this okay what else i convinced him that hollywood wasn't such a great place and to end up in so i sent him out west to end up with a fat lady in kansas getting involved in drunken stupors send him to a casino where he'd lose all his money that's great all right oh to be really cool i'd dress up a town near a mountain with a hollywood fake hollywood sign and make him think that he's arrived at hollywood he'd park his car bingo i see now you've hit the guru stage now what would you do if someone told john that you were doing this convince him that i didn't exist it'd be so easy to mess with people this way it is so easy to mess with people this way people are basically sheep okay now come back to real life jesus talks a lot about the devil now jesus is the son of god as he said and if that's true then the devil is just as real as jesus okay now if we take that into consideration don't you think the devil's been doing a number on you to keep you from getting to heaven you walked me into a little christian trap here didn't you powerful logic if your what ifs are true your punchline is only valid if the premises and assumptions that you've made are true show me god show me he exists only the holy spirit can show you that god exists all right look i urge you to block these methods of deception these these things and see if you can clear a path for the holy spirit so you believe it's your job to tell people what is right and what is wrong i believe everybody already knows what's right and wrong because god's given us this guide our conscience you know the same laws he places in our heart are the same laws that are in the bible every time we we lie cheat steal whatever you know we're breaking god's law and we're sinning and this little alarm is going off in our head saying ding ding ding hey this is wrong what if my conscience doesn't convict me for my sexual behavior could that mean that it's okay for me and it might be wrong for you no because your conscience can be disarmed persistent sin will do that but we're all going to be judged by the same standards my brain hurts okay we've covered a lot of ground today and i've got other things to do so why don't we try this again tomorrow i'll be here great i'll i'll see you then wait um i just want to tell you that i really appreciate you getting real with me today sharing your vulnerabilities your doubts and your tears well maybe tomorrow you can bear your soul it's your turn tomorrow take care marcus it's you tony hmm it went that well huh i'll just look at it this way right you just write the story and then you turn it in and you'll never have to worry about it again no no no no no not exactly what he just wanted a recess at recess yeah i gotta go back tomorrow but why i guess i stumped him what am i doing april besides beating my head against the wall you know what you're doing exactly what god wants you to do yeah but why because he told you tony you could have went in there and wrote the story that you were supposed to tell but apparently god put something else on your heart otherwise it must be that because this stuff i'm telling him it's really deep what do you mean i mean i know a little bit about the bible and you know i've been doing all this homework to get ready for this but the stuff i'm telling him is like way over my head you know i even had the guts to bring up satan today yeah i was risked being laughed right out of the coffee shop but it actually went well well i think i weakened his defenses a bit when he had to consider that he was being led by satan like a sheep on a leash to the slaughter and didn't even know it i'm so proud of you and i did some thinking on the way home too yeah what about i have been approaching marcus like he was an enemy somebody had a joust with but now i i understand that passage that says we we wrestle not with the flesh and blood both principalities and spirits of darkness yeah and satan is a real enemy here not marcus you know i'm not going to be able to defeat satan with logic we need to lift marcus up in prayer so you're calling him marcus now well he's a person of course and he's a nice guy yes wow that's incredible tony what do you think is going to happen when this is all over i have no idea i mean you don't think he's gonna come crying to you asking for forgiveness for his sins do you no not at all i mean he actually believes there's nothing wrong with what he's doing sure and that's that's what worries me that i'm going to talk until i'm blue in the face and he'll never let me in he's got a thick shield you know but i i think i did it today you know if if anything you're planting seeds yeah i guess i'll just go in there and keep telling him what i can maybe get him to think about some things so what do you think you're gonna write when all this is over i have no idea yeah but i gotta write something you know what you'll figure it out you always do all right thank you yeah um hey what's that verse in the bible corinthians i think it is that talks about being gay um i think you mean first corinthians chapter six can you read that one to me please uh yeah sure it says do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven uh do not be deceived neither sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men yeah that's the one no that seems a bit tough doesn't it i i guess but it's it's right here in black and white seems interesting to me some of the other words that are used alongside that word you translate as being gay idolaters the sexual immoral and adulterers check it out okay what is this surprise where did you get this as we've already established mr morris i also have friends in high places this is nobody's business true but it seems to me that makes you a hypocrite all this time you've been saying that my being gay is a sin against god and yet all this time i've been sitting across from an adulterer i mean that's what it says in the divorce papers right your wife caught you in the act of having an affair and isn't that classified right there alongside being gay being a drunkard being a thief adulterer you know what you're right you're right i i committed adultery i cheated on my first wife i committed that sin and someday i am going to be judged for that sin all right i i've accepted that i sinned and i've taken responsibility for that and i asked god for forgiveness and he has forgiven me well you see there you go you and i aren't so different if you mean because we're both sinners i mean yeah you're right i mean yes i'm a sinner we're all sinners here amen but see there's one big difference between you and me what's that i know that i committed a sin i know it and i admit it i asked for forgiveness for it but i stopped doing it and that just makes it all better i know jesus says forgive me for those sins you don't say okay what about you if you look in the bible and god says that it's a sin to be involved in homosexual activity and you do end up standing before him being judged what are you going to say are you going to say you're sorry for what you've done no i am who i am and i will never ever apologize for that wow you know what you are going to be your own prosecuting attorney i guess i'll cross that bridge if i come to it when excuse me you will cross that bridge when you come to it you know if there is a heaven and there is a judgment day i think i've got a better than average chance of getting in on what basis on the fact that i've led a good life i've never heard anyone i've never killed anyone out of the ten commandments i've kept eight of ten of them so like you i think i deserve to get into heaven okay first off none of us deserve to get into heaven all right it's been made very clear that actions and deeds alone will not get you in the only belief in jesus christ and acceptance of him will get you in obviously we see things very differently obviously you know one of the things i've noticed in the past few years is the churches are talking a lot less about gay issues and why do you think that is okay um i feel like you're setting me up for something here so i'm gonna say why do you think it is well i think it might be that the church is starting to reconsider its position last night i did a little research myself on the internet did you know in 2003 that the episcopal church ordained a gay bishop and in 2004 the pacific northwest methodist church supported a lesbian pastor now if the bible is so clearly against homosexuality why are so many churches supporting it because i think that you know in our society we've gotten to a point that the bible is no longer seen as an absolute authority by all the churches maybe that's a good thing maybe the church is starting to get some clarity see i can't say that that's a good thing as a christian all right i believe that the bible is the word of god who are we who are we to pick and choose as his creations what we want to believe no i think the bible is an all-or-nothing thing no seriously listen you either got to believe all of it or you believe none of it god just sound like my dad for real i was raised catholic i used to go to mass every sunday catechism class every saturday i really loved learning about god in my classes so okay i didn't know that now how did your parents react though i mean when you told him that you were gay how do you think not so well my dad still doesn't talk to me that's another problem i have with religion christianity in particular if if religion is all about love and accepting people then why are why is it so against what people do with their love i think christianity is not about religion it's about a relationship that supposed to mean i think religion is man's way to try to reach god you know but okay instead of using following god's law you know they enacted their own laws that would i don't know that would suit their lifestyle or give them control right on for the first time in three days i actually have to agree with you it's true okay i realized very early on that there was something different about me and i also realized what was different about me is something that the church was not going to agree with that was going to be my next question to you how did you know that you were gay i guess when i was 18 i mean i think i knew before then that i was different but it was only after high school once i got out in the real world and lived a little bit that i started to realize it what was it that convinced you and i saw things differently that i thought differently i i wasn't attracted to the girls i went to school with them in depth when i wasn't attracted to the men either i mean boys i was more like a plant you know asexual i started to read and meet people live life and then i realized maybe i was born this way oh let me guess you don't believe people can be born gay no i don't you think it's all the science i mean doesn't science i don't think there's ever been a gay gene identified by science you think you think it's a choice yeah medical professionals experts the world over the kinsey institute nothing like alfred kinsey alfred kinsey was a homosexual no he spoke out on restrictions against sex in any format he was all for bestiality incest and rape i mean that dude was sick and he unleashed with his faulty research one of the greatest revolutions the sexual revolution upon the entire world do you realize that half the people he used for his research and in surveys where people in prisons and silence no hold on don't take my word on it okay you do the research okay that man was putty in satan's hands he's at least half to blame as charles darwin for the messed up state of our society darwin really you don't believe in evolution either you think that the earth is flat don't even get me started on that all right here let me ask you one question one of the rules that governs survival of the fittest is the ability for a species to procreate okay the more offspring a species has the better chance of survival how does homosexuality fit into that framework i mean how many offspring has ever been produced by same-sex encounters a gay man can artificially inseminate and impregnate a lesbian woman it's artificial yeah but isn't that the opposite of natural and that's like a force that lies outside of the supposed process of evolution including natural selection so you think there's some biblical principle at work that made gays and lesbians just decide to swim upstream against wrong humanity to say that god made me a homosexual because sin didn't originate with god it originated with us man do you think there might be things in life other factors that as you say might sway a kid yeah i i've already mentioned to you the devil and i really honestly believe that your homosexual agenda nowadays with your whole it's okay to be gay slogan is really it's swaying kids to believe that they can they're gay you really think that's the case yeah i do don't you think there's other things in this world that could impact a child a kid okay define other things for me like i said i used to go to church regularly at least until i was 14. so what happened decided i didn't want to go anymore yep i mean why i don't think that's relevant of course it is you were going to church all the time and then you just up and stopped i mean something must have changed your mind are we off the record here fully don't take any notes yeah yeah of course when i was 14 i was molested by a man i went to church with a friend of my dad's i never told my parents i never told anyone until years ago when i told my therapist i'm i'm so sorry i had no idea something changed in me after that i felt like i was worthless and broken i kept asking myself how could how could this christian man how could this god-fearing man do this to me how could god let something happen like this how could god let this happen especially to a little kid you blame god for what happened i blame god for not stopping it i can't believe i'm telling you this you don't have to i think i got it i think i gotta let you know that there are things that can happen in this world that can change a person forever i came to peace with what happened a long time ago i realized it wasn't my fault but i can you could never understand how your god could let that kind of evil live in this world see there you see your devil is really just a man he was just a tool in the hands of satan just like god uses people to build his kingdom satan uses people to build his kingdom of darkness that sounds like some kind of 80s horror flick except except it's real do you do you think that what happened to you helped you make the decision that you were gay i think you're missing the point what happened to me didn't make me gay i was born this way what happened to me just made me think the whole church thing wasn't all it's cracked up to be here was this good christian man he did this to me i was gay before this happened did you get it i also thought that the church was a good thing after that i wasn't so sure look there's nothing that i can say i can make you feel better it's all about free will you know i mean if if god gave us the ability to choose our own destiny evil had to be an option and ever since adam took a bite to that apple in the garden of eden we were all cursed to live in a sinful world i know you're good man tony morris [Music] i hope you just know that the people in the lgbt community just like the rest of the world we just want to be loved we would be loved and give love in return i know just like some extremists it's like some people use christianity to do the same satan is pulling the strings of anyone he can marcus you know there there are people out there that can help you reverse this shirt i'm talking about deep programmers pray away the gay i'm talking about people who set people free through god's word and his love that there are people out there who heterosexuals who struggle with sex and then and they put up this wall between them and god i did that myself once i did and i had to pray to god and ask him to help me tear down the wall research a man by the name of dennis jernigan all right he was a christian musician he is but he was gay and now he's the he's the father of nine beautiful children it's just saying there's somebody who can make me stop being gay maybe quote unquote normal who defines what normal is the bible does i mean even if you look at nature even nature itself says that a male hooks up with a female to preserve life for the future right now it's it's critical that you understand that it's not just homosexuals heterosexuals like myself we deal heavily with with sex all right porn and and adultery are running rampant right now and satan he's having a field day right now on with the divorce rate and pulling strings and everything with us another name i want to drop for you here okay it's it's steve gallagher all right check out his books on sexual issues all right he had them and he overcame them hmm we're rambling all over the place here i think it's pretty clear that you can't prove god exists well maybe to you but you can't prove to anyone that god doesn't exist let's assume that he does exist okay my point is that you can't show that being gay or lesbian is wrong so far you've given me a few passages in the old testament if you look at the ten commandments you don't find anything new testament nothing if jesus made all the rules why didn't he say anything about being gay he did no actually he didn't i've looked all over backwards and forwards through the concordance nothing nothing oh here it is first of all it says in romans because of this god gave them over to shameful lusts even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones in the same way that men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lusts for one another men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error wait a minute see right there jesus did deal with gay marriage in the new testament no romans was written by paul paul was not pleasant paul was not present with the disciples he was not there when jesus spoke oh you're right no jesus didn't say this directly but what he did say goes hand in hand with same-sex marriage and homosexuality in general okay in matthew one second he said have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined with his wife and the two shall become one flesh this has nothing to do with what we're talking about because genesis is real history that can be confirmed by science he did deal directly with the doctrine of marriage science confirms genesis no that's that's that's a big stretch come on some scientists believe in the big bang theory i mean you had nothing and then boom universe created okay they even say that the law of gravity if it were just slightly higher or lower that the universe would have been stillborn wouldn't have created it would have crushed itself so where did the laws of gravity originate i'm not an astrophysicist checkmate god exists and he is the creator all right in john it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god now we believe that jesus the creator is the word and so when jesus is referencing the old testament he's actually referencing its principles okay god wrote the laws of the universe and society tell me this does jesus expressly condemn in the bible being gay not in those words no thank you for admitting that even if he did the bible was written by men men can pick and choose what to write about and over thousands of years things get translated aramaic to greek greek to latin english how can something translated over that many thousands of years be something you want to hang your hat on an imperfect representation at best some words may have changed through translation but the principles and teachings of the bible are still the same the biblical view on homosexuality has never changed it's still the same but the civilized world has changed their the world view has changed yes but we're not supposed to let the world views cloud what the bible teaches us just going round and round in circles here maybe we just have to agree to disagree marcus isn't that what we've been doing for the past three days all right it's it's like i said yesterday okay i can't reason anyone into believing i have been trying for four years to get this city to give me a permit to hold our event our peaceful event four years of no one listening four years of people mocking and judging the idea of a gay pride day four years yeah well look christians have been trying for over 2 000 years to get people to listen all right they have been and still are getting persecuted and mocked for for what they believe in now i've been lucky all right but there have been so many people who have sacrificed so that i can speak openly like i am here today and that's what i've been striving for for the gay community my community for us to speak openly we have to deal with people judging us and i've had to deal with your judgment no no actually see i haven't judged you at all i'm in no position to judge you i think you came here already having judged me already having judged gay and lesbians look i've always tried to have an open mind all right i usually don't get a feel for somebody until i actually get a chance to sit down talk with them now some reporters they they go in to write a story with a preconceived idea or a preconceived notion of who a person is before they write the story now see i pride myself on not doing that did you have a preconceived notion about me honestly no no i to me this was just another story that i was writing marcus i don't get that based on the things i've told you the past few days i would think that you would hate me by now there's something my mom used to always tell me okay she used to say love the sinner hate the sin i don't hate you marcus i can't judge you for the lifestyle that you live all i can do is tell you what i believe and you have the right to believe what you want to believe just like i have the right to believe what i want to be that that doesn't make either one of us bad people no what makes us bad people or at least in god's eyes is our sin your adultery yeah and your homosexuality see we're both gonna have to answer for this someday can i ask you one more thing sure what are you going to write you came here three days ago to write about my event a gay pride day all we've done the past few days is talk about heaven and hell and all this other stuff so what are you gonna write for the paper uh i guess so just write the story which story the ones that my hands right unfortunately marcus that's the best i can give you right now can i ask you one more question yeah are we good here with the whole mayor thing yeah man we're good i'm a man of my word i'll get the mayor off your back like i said i would he actually owes me a big favor well i guess i'll be heading out it's been a pleasure you ain't going anywhere me yeah i want to show some of your gay pride here for us wait a minute what's going on do i know you no but i know you and what you're trying to do not on my turn well just hold on a minute pal okay just put the gun down before somebody gets hurt and you regret this for the rest of your life you and i are on the same side i've been listening to your conversation get out of the way if that's true then you know that i believe in love and not hate all right and certainly not violence just please just put the gun down look man i don't want to hurt you just that freak behind you so get out of the way or i'll have no choice are you willing to die for this man are you i hear the elected chair is quite a shock greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for a friend i'm warning you if i'm gonna thrive for killing one dude doubling the score isn't going to matter i only want to take him down so get out of the way don't you don't have to do this look man you don't want to kill anybody all right if you did you would have done it since you came through the door you want to talk so let's go outside and talk what do you know about me what i want is my brother back the one that got involved with his sleaze like this guy and got aids and died can you bring him back for me look i'm i'm sorry about your loss all right but this isn't going to bring your brother back and killing this man won't either right is this what your brother would want i mean think about that think about that real hard you think i haven't thought about this what kind of fool do you think i am these people are all the same just like the one that got my brother sick you think this is what your brother would want all right he's gone you're still here all right you think he'd want you to throw away your life like this just what about your mom huh what about your mother would she does she deserve to lose two sons think about it man tony ah i think you just saved my life why i i i don't know maybe after my heart gets below 5000 beats a minute my head clears up i can tell you after the adrenaline ride subsides exactly oh i've never been so scared in my life he didn't show it he didn't hear my knees knocking i thought those were mine oh did you really mean it what's that that's your my friend yeah marcus yeah i'm your friend i don't know what to say i don't suppose you'd accept a hug from me marcus even friends need to have boundaries it's okay i understand thank you from the bottom of my rapidly beating heart i'm sure you would have done the same for me i don't know i hope so uh marcus look if you remember anything about what we talked about today please please remember this that even though we're sinners and we're broken there's this listen god still loves us he loves us more than we could ever know he loves us so much that he came to earth to die for the very sins that he hates all right god bless you marcus excuse me sir yeah i just want to let you know i called the police and reported that man oh thank you yeah that was good um you're tony morris from the paper right that's me yeah i couldn't help it overhearing you talking to marcus and i apologize but i have a couple questions yeah sure go ahead the things you were saying about getting into heaven earlier do you have a pamphlet or anything on that subject uh oddly enough i think i do there you go thank you so much no problem and another thing do you think that people really can help homosexuals change i don't i don't think so but god can so well thank you so much you god bless you thank you you too sir and the festivities begin at 11 a.m followed by a parade down main street ending with a carnival and a concert admission to all is free well what do you think it is what it is it's a story about the gay pride day definitely is that okay um what was i supposed to write i mean that was a story that was assigned to me i know but i'm just saying i don't know after everything that happened these past three days i thought you would have written about that terry wouldn't be happy all right i could lose my job we could lose everything i understand i'm just saying i think there's something bigger at work here and you shouldn't ignore it no i'm not ignoring anything all right i just just just promise me you'll pray about it okay i promise i'm gonna go take a shower lord god i don't know what the deal was these last few days but i really need to know this is the article it's getting turned in tomorrow what am i supposed to do what am i supposed to write [Music] [Music] so [Music] did you get it all done uh yeah at least until i get to the office [Music] um right now we uh we need to have a little talk you know that doesn't sound good normally it sounds pretty honest normally when someone starts that sentence it's followed by phasma or something it's not about you really it's it's about me i uh haven't been completely honest with you about what uh [Music] [Music] adultery you cheated on me oh no no no no no no no no no no i haven't cheated on you all right i would never cheat on you no um i i i did on my first wife and i never told you [Music] oh no i'm sorry i'm sorry my bad i was nervous about telling you right i mean i didn't want to tell you but i felt that i had to [Music] there's it's like a a wall it's not a big wall but more like a curtain between us and i don't want it there anymore and worry that one day you'd find out about it and you'd come to me and say hey we need to have a little talk [Music] why are you telling me now [Music] marcus he found out and he realized that if somebody would find out that information they could blackmail me with that my heart is up in my throat i'm sorry susan he didn't tell me way back when because i thought i was just gonna dump you if that would have happened that would have killed me in in one single act of lack of self-control and idiocy it would have destroyed not only my current marriage but destroyed my dream of a second chance with a wonderful woman [Music] penny for your thoughts [Music] and more than a [Music] i guess thank you thank you for being honest with me and trusting me i uh i i can't to be honest with you i can't i don't know what i would have done in the beginning of our relationship i can't say what i would have done six years ago i mean i might have given you the boot i understand we've both grown up a lot in six years oh yeah amen and i really like what we've grown into i can honestly say that i'm a happily married wife [Music] you're you're a happily married wife you know what i mean um okay just just just to get some closure of this um can you just tell me what happened so i can i so i could try to avoid something similar happening you know i did a lot of thinking about this and i got married before i was 20. i wasn't even ready and i certainly had an incomplete you know understanding of what a covenant marriage was all about [Music] no you do no not complete but much better i think [Music] you know i i see more each day when i read the bible and i see how god is married to his church do you understand what i mean yeah i know what you mean covenant is a big part of the equation it's an important part i don't understand how you [Music] you didn't get that um what caused you to break it i'm convinced it all started when my wife and i stopped praying together family that praise together stays together yeah well we stopped as a result our our arguments accelerated and snowballed out of control it was pretty soon it was like my whole house with a war zone the only time i could even bring myself to say i love you was in the thrall of passion i was totally unappreciated and she complained about everything that i did made me feel the height of a flea and lola came along [Music] she had nothing but good things to say about me and she built me up instead of tearing me down she prettier than your wife no no she gave me encouragement and respect ben do crave respect i know i did oh do you know no i already have it [Music] at least i did for this confession stop crying come here give me a hug there you go i'm assuming that this is finally your story on gay pride day yes sir why are there two folders did you write two versions and you wanted me to pick the one that i like the best not exactly there are two stories there but only one of them's what you asked me to write the other one is a bonus all right i want to be printed either today or at another later date maybe we can't print this why not i mean that's just as much story as a gay pride day it's gonna make some people mad what do you think the article on gay pride is gonna do well that's different in what way because the gay and lesbian community have a large backing behind them or because it's a kick a christian to the curb decade look tony i understand your frustrations with this i remember when i was in high school they showed us this movie called future shock it depicted a marriage between two men my classmates and i were just laughed until the roof shook because it was so ludicrous to just contemplate two guys walking down the aisle and now it's happening in several u.s states i mean so you're not a supporter of their cause oh heavens no i don't even understand this situation i mean like women are made like this and men are me you know what i mean you know you can't put two bolts together and expect to hold anything up that's a good analogy so it's kind of like holding up an entire society through the atomic family structure so you'll print my story then hold on i'm not taking sides here this is a newspaper our goal is to make money not take sides in a mini civil war terry you don't take sides by printing the arguments of both parties if you don't print my second article then you are taking sides and you're muting information all right newspapers the purpose of them throughout all these years has been to inform and empower society to make intelligent choices all right like watchmen on the walls to make sure that society and government are the best they can be how about i give you a new murder story instead no not instead also all right look terry i want my story printed i'm look i'm guessing there's no problem with the mayor's office anymore yeah the mayor did call and you're off the hook on that but if i print this you could be right back on it i'm willing to take that chance terry this story is that important to me okay okay i will read it over in its entirety and i'll think about it that's all i can promise in the meantime here's your new lead story come on it chief good morning good morning newspapers on the table anything interesting in it today i thought so that i'm biased because my husband wrote some things in it gay pride article yeah and another story as well what you mean terry printed my article ah he never told me he's gonna print it he just wanted to surprise you well that he did just wow i i don't know maybe he figured he couldn't fire me so he'd cause me to have a heart attack instead why don't you read it sure all right when my editor assigned me the task of writing about the preparations for the first gay pride day to be held in our fair city i was less than thrilled to say the least regardless i met for three days with the organizer of the event mr marcus fry and was amazed by the enthusiasm and charm that he demonstrated like any other story i've ever written i did my best to gather the facts i soon realized however that this story was different than any of my previous work for the first time in my life i felt compelled to share something very personal and dear to me most of the time my job just requires me to just gather facts and spit them out i couldn't do that this time there was something bigger than myself driving me to inject myself into this story although my journalistic training screamed at me to back off as i researched and wrote this first draft i was finding that i had a story to tell about my journey to complete this assignment this experience was almost like reading an interactive story on a computer i took a risk and told mr fry that my beliefs as a christian were interfering my ability to write about the preparations for the gay pride day mr fry agreed to discuss our differences with me in an open forum he did the best to share with me all the defenses that have been used to condone homosexuality for years and i did my best to show what the bible and christianity say about homosexuality mr fry and i had some heartfelt conversations that opened up new vistas to both of us however my story was not about a new vista but rather about refocusing on an old one in the clamor of the homosexual community to show their pride i discovered that i needed to come out of the closet myself i'm not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ and i needed to show my pride in my creator i realize that we as a society have decided that being politically correct is more important than obeying god's laws the laws of mankind have somehow superseded god's laws i realized that we needed to change this if we want our country to rise again i think we need to get back to using the bible as a moral compass and not using the gps of corrupt and corruptible men the practice of tolerating everything even when you know something is wrong just to avoid conflict isn't always the best way of handling issues i've been doing that but now i draw a line in the sand and say no more i have to wonder why my feelings are no longer respected is the vocal minority in our world now controlling the silent minority through intimidation and indefatigable lobbying pressure i fear we have sacrificed the very principles that our forefathers founded this country on we've taken sacred principles of democracy and freedom and distorted them so that the freedom of religion this nation was founded upon can be retired to be replaced with the repressive systems of the past where anyone who differed with the ruling party in religion or politics was in danger of having their necks stretched we used that policy to remove prayer from schools and then refuse to examine the evidence of how our society is decayed as a result can we honestly say that our country is better because of these changes i wondered why god put me into a position to talk to somebody that was never going to change his position on something then after all the conversations were over and i was about to exit a young lady came up to me and asked to know more about my faith i realized then that i wasn't wasting my time for those three days my words the words that god gave me touched someone that i didn't even know was listening this may very well be the last article i ever write for this paper maybe any paper but i can truly say that if i had to do it all over again i would the homosexual community should be allowed to express their opinions but in a truly free society christians should be allowed to keep their rights to express opinions that they glean from their use of the bedrock of american society the bible i am a christian a believer in jesus christ in the word of god it is my god-given right to believe and to think and to worship in any manner that my conscience dictates i choose to exercise that right to believe [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: EncourageTV

Views: 360,658

Keywords: movies, trailers, EncourageTV, christian, bridgestone multimedia BMG, God, Movie, Jesus, Christopher Hunt, Timothy Paul Taylor, Donald James Parker, Chip Rossetti, Right To Believe Full Movie, Right To Believe Movie, encouragetv movies, encouragetv films

Id: 9RjqfC_Xn7Y

Length: 111min 45sec (6705 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 13 2019