"Come Sunday" tells the real-life story of an Evangelist who faced outcry and ostracism from his church after a heart-bleeding sermon in which he says that
everyone gets to Heaven and that Hell is not a thing. That preacher is Carlton Pearson and the test given to him was one that many might faced internally, to the point
of going through a deep crisis of faith of which some recover, others may not but unlike all of those other chosen people, Carlton's task gets the spotlight since he's
the one who dared to talk and later on faced the consequences, faced rejection by many of his peers and eventually lost his congregation.
I'll go a little beyond the movie because there's a great and interesting discussion going on there that makes a go a lot deeper than what was presented to us.
Carlton has some sort of breakdown after the tragic loss of a relative of which he couldn't save and after seeing the typical news headlines about hunger, poverty and death in African nations, he questioned himself why would God sent those people to hell simply because they didn't knew him and the word says you can only enter Heaven if you know him and accept him. I think the movie play a little simplistic with this since there is mention of limbo, destined to those who don't know him and not necessarily hell - but I get the man's point of view. And if we accept the simple terms as Carlton puts it, twist for the opposite and you have plenty of damage: if only knowing God is enough for people go to Heaven then a lot of hateful, bad, cruel people will stand a chance in paradise, and even people who don't believe Him at all.
Guess you get the point and that's how this preacher simply couldn't understand that notion, it's too vague and then it contradicts itself in other passages where love and salvation comes to all, as Jesus had died for all of us sinners, and Carlton makes clear point of that, which infuriates a member who yells at him in disagreement and leaves the church.
As you watch the story unfolds and it all goes downhill you keep asking yourself: was it worth it? Was it worth it all the pain and trouble to present the bible words as they were and getting scoffed and ridiculed because a whole majority of people will only accept portions of the book according to their own judgemnt, reinventing God in a way they're the ones who can get the blessing while others are cursed without a chance of redemption? Was it worthy to create controversy when you knew people wouldn't give you a chance to explain your reasoning? Was it worthy to present yourself throwing inflamatory discourse instead of a more rational conversation? I kept wondering this time and again and the movie (obviously) would take a long time to actually get where I needed and where Carlton needed.
The story was real, no question about it, and the questions made are all valid if you have a rational mind. But seeing the movie isn't much a thrilling experience while dealing with those issues or when it comes to present the problems faced by the preacher. I was hoping for more heated reactions against the man's preaching, as it is typical in those circles, and what was shown was quite soft, almost any man can face yet when we see him crying or very low it felt he was carrying the greatest burden of all (which is when you're in his position as a veteran Evangelist). But the movie didn't make me feel that and I'm not blaming Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance since he was quite good, though quite distant from his other excellent performances. Maybe is a script problem. Or maybe the factuality of things weren't so compelling enough for you to care for the characters or the situations were lacking something. When fictional stories deal with those themes we have masterpieces. Take "Winter Light" for example, where a small town priest has a crisis of faith when another atomic war is about to begin and he starts questioning his work and God's attributes. In a pivotal scene, a poor man asks him for comfort and guidance knowing that the world will end, what can it be done and the priest gets nothing worthy to say so what does the man do? He kills himself. Completely different movies and I'm only placing them together since we have men of God trying to understand His ways, His words and a way to help their communities.
I'm not sure in what part of the issue you can include me since I'm not a religoius person and I'm not firm enough to claim to be a non-believer. Let's leave it at that. But I like to have conversations on the topic - even though it's a topic to not be debated unless you have curious open-minded people and I was lucky enough to meet some people like that, and I guess that's what attracted me to this particular story, to see how Carlton dealt with everything around him and the way he caused such a commotion (I thought it was very valid, and had I been there I wouldn't walk away). So, in order to get some enlightnement or even some enjoyment of this movie, you must try to be open-minded, free-spirited, allow yourself into listening to the preaching with quietude, calm and form a reasoning. Not sure if the movie can work with deep religious people, maybe a couple or two will get it specially when it comes to the story of resolution (which comes from one of the most heartbreaking moments I've ever seen with Carlton talking with his friend/church band musician, a gay man dying of AIDS); but something tells me non-believers will love this or at least agree in plenty of things that are said in those preachings and with that comes two roads: they can just say "that's all I've keep saying that's why I don't believe in God" or they can come to some understanding and move towards acceptance, respect. And no, I'm not saying this is a movie destined to conquer new followers but it can inspire you to clear your thoughts, do some research and make what you think is the best choice. A movie with such an open space must be a good one. It is. 7/10.
I'll go a little beyond the movie because there's a great and interesting discussion going on there that makes a go a lot deeper than what was presented to us.
Carlton has some sort of breakdown after the tragic loss of a relative of which he couldn't save and after seeing the typical news headlines about hunger, poverty and death in African nations, he questioned himself why would God sent those people to hell simply because they didn't knew him and the word says you can only enter Heaven if you know him and accept him. I think the movie play a little simplistic with this since there is mention of limbo, destined to those who don't know him and not necessarily hell - but I get the man's point of view. And if we accept the simple terms as Carlton puts it, twist for the opposite and you have plenty of damage: if only knowing God is enough for people go to Heaven then a lot of hateful, bad, cruel people will stand a chance in paradise, and even people who don't believe Him at all.
Guess you get the point and that's how this preacher simply couldn't understand that notion, it's too vague and then it contradicts itself in other passages where love and salvation comes to all, as Jesus had died for all of us sinners, and Carlton makes clear point of that, which infuriates a member who yells at him in disagreement and leaves the church.
As you watch the story unfolds and it all goes downhill you keep asking yourself: was it worth it? Was it worth it all the pain and trouble to present the bible words as they were and getting scoffed and ridiculed because a whole majority of people will only accept portions of the book according to their own judgemnt, reinventing God in a way they're the ones who can get the blessing while others are cursed without a chance of redemption? Was it worthy to create controversy when you knew people wouldn't give you a chance to explain your reasoning? Was it worthy to present yourself throwing inflamatory discourse instead of a more rational conversation? I kept wondering this time and again and the movie (obviously) would take a long time to actually get where I needed and where Carlton needed.
The story was real, no question about it, and the questions made are all valid if you have a rational mind. But seeing the movie isn't much a thrilling experience while dealing with those issues or when it comes to present the problems faced by the preacher. I was hoping for more heated reactions against the man's preaching, as it is typical in those circles, and what was shown was quite soft, almost any man can face yet when we see him crying or very low it felt he was carrying the greatest burden of all (which is when you're in his position as a veteran Evangelist). But the movie didn't make me feel that and I'm not blaming Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance since he was quite good, though quite distant from his other excellent performances. Maybe is a script problem. Or maybe the factuality of things weren't so compelling enough for you to care for the characters or the situations were lacking something. When fictional stories deal with those themes we have masterpieces. Take "Winter Light" for example, where a small town priest has a crisis of faith when another atomic war is about to begin and he starts questioning his work and God's attributes. In a pivotal scene, a poor man asks him for comfort and guidance knowing that the world will end, what can it be done and the priest gets nothing worthy to say so what does the man do? He kills himself. Completely different movies and I'm only placing them together since we have men of God trying to understand His ways, His words and a way to help their communities.
I'm not sure in what part of the issue you can include me since I'm not a religoius person and I'm not firm enough to claim to be a non-believer. Let's leave it at that. But I like to have conversations on the topic - even though it's a topic to not be debated unless you have curious open-minded people and I was lucky enough to meet some people like that, and I guess that's what attracted me to this particular story, to see how Carlton dealt with everything around him and the way he caused such a commotion (I thought it was very valid, and had I been there I wouldn't walk away). So, in order to get some enlightnement or even some enjoyment of this movie, you must try to be open-minded, free-spirited, allow yourself into listening to the preaching with quietude, calm and form a reasoning. Not sure if the movie can work with deep religious people, maybe a couple or two will get it specially when it comes to the story of resolution (which comes from one of the most heartbreaking moments I've ever seen with Carlton talking with his friend/church band musician, a gay man dying of AIDS); but something tells me non-believers will love this or at least agree in plenty of things that are said in those preachings and with that comes two roads: they can just say "that's all I've keep saying that's why I don't believe in God" or they can come to some understanding and move towards acceptance, respect. And no, I'm not saying this is a movie destined to conquer new followers but it can inspire you to clear your thoughts, do some research and make what you think is the best choice. A movie with such an open space must be a good one. It is. 7/10.