Q: What first drew you to the \u201cEmanuel\u201d project?<\/p>\n
A: I had just gotten married in June 2015, and I was on my honeymoon in New York. I walked into the bedroom, and my wife was crying. She told me nine people had been shot in their Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina.<\/p>\n
Then she looked at me and said, \u201cYou don\u2019t understand, they\u2019re forgiving him. The family members are forgiving the murderer.\u201d I remember looking at her and saying, \u201cI hope whoever tells that story doesn\u2019t skip that part.\u201d It was that moment for me \u2014 encountering this radical, scandalous forgiveness and love for the murderer \u2014 that drew me into the story. I wanted the world to know that part of the story.<\/p>\n
Q: What was different in this story?<\/p>\n
A: It was that they loved him. It was this moment when (survivor) Felicia Sanders said something to him that really changed me: \u201cWe enjoyed you.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I go out and talk about the film, I\u2019m not just talking about them forgiving him because they wanted to be emotionally free from him. I\u2019m talking about a kind of love you rarely see. Their love for the shooter was a love that said, \u201cI will bear the full weight of the wrong,\u201d which is the highest kind of love \u2014 a love for your enemy.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thanks to @mercnews<\/a> for picking up my interview with @EmanuelTheMovie<\/a> director Brian Ivie. If you didn't get to a theater last night, you have one more chance to see this powerful film tomorrow night. @PrayAndActNow<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/zoiGA128CQ<\/a><\/p>\n — Jamie Aten (@drjamieaten) June 18, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n