“Goodbye, Jehovah!” Sara, a 17-year-old girl, boarded a train to Copenhagen and said goodbye to God.Raised in a strict religious family, Sara was the eldest sister in her family and a proud member of her church, a “Jehovah’s Witness”, friendly, gentle and disciplined, knocking on the doors of houses with her fellow parishioners to deliver the “Gospel”. “She was friendly, gentle, and disciplined.
At this time, Sarah did not realize that Jehovah’s watchfulness did not bring endless happiness to her family. A few years ago, her older brother was expelled from the family because he had read a book he should not have read. From then on, church members, including family members, regarded him as a stranger when they saw him on the street. That year, her father, who was an elder in the church, made the terrible mistake of having an affair, thus divorcing her mother and resigning his position as an elder. But Sara chose to let her father stay and live with her three siblings because she could not understand why her mother insisted on the divorce and was not at all willing to forgive him.
Through a match made by her parishioner and close friend Tia, Sara falls in love with a boy named Tess, who is a complete atheist and cannot understand the harsh teachings and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but this does not affect his love for Sara. The two of them repeatedly argue about religion during their dates, but these arguments make Tess more aware of Sara’s kindness and helplessness, and Sara sees a frankness and courage in Tess that she has never felt since she was a child.
From her father, to the church elders, to her sister and her friends, they are unable to accept Sarah’s association with atheists, especially physical contact. To cater to Sara’s religion, Tess joins in the meetings and religious activities, but the prophecy of the end of the world and the excommunication of heretics really do not convince Tess of all this. For her part, Sara begins to lie for love. She moves in with Tess, lying about living in her mother’s house, where she lives alone. The lie was exposed by her sister who raided the house, and she became the second child to be expelled after her older brother, and even her best friend Tia could no longer speak to her.
“I don’t want to struggle anymore.” Sara said to Tess that she had voluntarily renounced Jehovah in her heart and rejected the elders who came to her door to persuade her. When Tia obtained the so-called “eternal life” in this way, the messenger of God had already lost his humanity and became a repulsive and despotic defender.
Before leaving home, Sarah asked her father, “Do you love me?” The father said, “Of course. Sara asked again, “Do you love the Lord more than you love me?” The father said, “Yes. “Why?” Sarah asked. “Because the LORD can give us eternal life.” The father said.
“Dad, you are actually the most selfish in the world.” Sara smiled a victorious smile.
The film is based on a true story in which the fictional protagonist, Sara, is said to be currently working as a teacher in Copenhagen, and she has no further contact with her family.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses are a small group of religious extremists that exist in reality and have an impact around the world. This film is not so much about a girl’s struggle with religion and her desire for freedom as it is about the awakening of humanity. How can a religion that was once willing to devote its life to collapse overnight in the face of love? Or is it just because of love?
Eternal life is the greatest honor God can bestow on his people, but how important is eternal life? Is it the whole meaning of a person’s life? On such a religious issue, as a non-religious person, it is difficult for me to understand, and even more difficult to explain. However, I could understand that all the doubts, anger, and sadness that Sarah exploded afterwards were because she started to consider things from a human perspective. If it is a human being, can such a thing still be done? If one has love for a person, then one should consider his feelings, not God’s feelings, and God’s feelings, in a way, are the person’s own feelings. Such a starting point is not arbitrary.
The film focuses on the relationship between the savior and people, using the method of isolation from the world to try to save themselves or people, and eventually go to a self-deceptive path to the desperate, the brain has long lost the ability to think, brainwashing from infancy, closed environment only exist in the doctrine of the concept of right and wrong, dogmatic environment growing up demonized the colorful world. The most frightening thing is that these people are walking down a sacred path that they think is so pure and righteous that doubt is sin. The father who loved Jehovah more than his loved ones committed the mistake of having an affair, and through repentance he was able to gain the understanding of his children and the church. The mother, on the other hand, who was the victim, was abandoned by her children because of her persistent unwillingness to forgive the father who had repented. Finally, she found the courage to tell Sarah: “I choose not to forgive because I have come to doubt our faith.” Such a confession, in the beginning, would not have been understood by Sarah.
Maybe there are no “Jehovah’s Witnesses” around you and me, but there must be people who are too attached to their faith. They attribute everything to the doctrine of providence, and instead of thinking through their own brains, they ask the invisible “authority” about everything. And where is the authority’s answer? Maybe it is the answer in their subconscious!
In my opinion, the eternal life of man lies in the value of existence in the world, in the eternal life in the hearts of the world. Eternal life is also not worth coveting, this expectation is simply the most greedy desire in the world. If I were Sarah, how willing I would be to be expelled, to be expelled by seclusion, to be expelled by tyranny, to be expelled by ignorance, to be expelled by selfishness . Cutting off affection is painful, but inner strength is the most valuable treasure of life. Sara went from weakness to strength, from ignorance to independence, which Jehovah, never gave her.
