Ezekiel - Mythical and Non-mythical

Hi, folks!

I came upon something really odd today and couldn't help but share it with you all. 

So I have a weakness that not many know of - call it my own personal kryptonite if you will. 

I like superheroes. (This is not the odd thing I mentioned. I'm getting there - don't worry!)

Not all superheroes, and I'm not a comics geek by any means, but I do like movies about them. Maybe more on this later. Anyway, I saw part of Captain America: Winter Soldier the other day. At the end of the movie, the viewer is treated to a picture of a headstone. 

Name obscured to avoid spoilers. 

Being the person I am, I naturally looked up the Bible reference, Ezekiel 25:17. It's a quote by God to Ezekiel. 

"And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them." (KJV)

Okay, unusual choice for a headstone, but I wasn't too surprised, given the nature of the person for whom the stone was intended. I was a little confused by "The path of the righteous man..." bit on the stone, but figured there was an in-joke I was missing. 

So I googled it. 

And I found two different types of results. 

Half of the results were from various online Bibles, and read like the quote I just gave you. The other half referred to a quote starting "the path of the righteous man," just like the headstone. 

What???

I double and triple checked the scripture reference. I read the whole of Ezekiel chapter 25 to see if I was missing something.   Nope, no mistakes on my part. 

Strangest of all, nobody online appeared to have any idea that the Ezekiel 25:17 they were quoting was not the Ezekiel 25:17 in any Bible translation I could find.  About the only thing the two quotes had in common was the word "vengeance."  Here's the other one. 

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

See what I mean?  

Anyway, turns out pseudo-Ezekiel 25:17 is actually from the R-rated 1994 movie Pulp Fiction.  Made up by director Quentin Tarantino and the actor who delivered the line, Samuel Jackson, this so-called "quote" is a mishmash of biblical-sounding language being passed off as a Bible verse. 

Actor Samuel Jackson delivering his mythical Bible verse

Does that make anyone else mad?  It annoys me severely. The two quotes don't even mean the same thing! Well, the meaning of the Tarantino quote is apparently debated during Pulp Fiction, but it runs along the lines of the speaker delivering vengeance as they see fit. On the other hand, if you actually read Ezekiel 25, you'll see that the Lord is angry at the Philistines for taking vengeance into their own hands. As a response, he warns that vengeance is God's prerogative alone, and he will rebuke them for their presumption and wickedness. 

I could go on with that train of thought, but I won't. People choose to interpret the Bible in many different ways, and I don't want to get into a fight about it. 

My main pet peeve about this whole situation is that in 1994 some filmmakers decided to pass their own philosophy off as a Bible verse. I have no problem with them stuffing their movie full of their ideas - it's their movie after all - but it bothers me that they deceitfully attributed it to another source, especially the Bible!  If I did that in a research paper, I'd lose points. It's like reverse plaigerism, in a way. 

I found this whole situation very odd. Embarrassing too, that so many people seem to accept this mythical quote without a second thought. Very few people in my Google search even seemed to notice the discrepancy. (Kudos to those who did, by the way!) Does nobody else look up scripture references these days?

Finally, I'm embarrassed for the directors of Captain America: Winter Soldier. Did they not notice that they were referring to a twenty-year-old movie quote that never existed in the Bible?  Or did they actually mean to put the Ezekiel verse in and messed up?  Maybe they thought that nobody would really look up the reference?  Or maybe they gave the job of designing the headstone to some hapless crew member with a passion for old R-rated movies and no Bible. I don't know. But it is very odd that they would let it slip through like that. 

Or maybe...

No, it couldn't be. 

Maybe it's a secret message. 

Maybe since the quote is mythical, it's a message meaning the death itself is mythical and the dead person could still be alive!

I think that's giving them too much credit, personally. 

Something Non-Mythical for a Change

So I've been filling this blog with mythical brain candy, trivia and other delightful non-essentials.

Let me take a minute to focus on something else.  Something non-mythical for a change, although increasing numbers of people around the world are starting to see it as a myth.

The birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

At this time of the year, many people celebrate the Savior's birth at Christmastime.  I proudly count myself among that number.  And I love to buy gifts for my loved ones, and hang up tinsel and holly, and decorate the tree and crunch through the snow - but that is not all there is to Christmas.

Let me tell you.

Two thousand years ago, give or take a few, the Savior of the World was born in Bethlehem - a tiny city in what we now call the Middle East.  He was and is the Son of God, come to show us the right way to live, teach us love and understanding and truth, and ultimately take our sins upon himself.  This means that if we turn to Him, even our darkest and deepest mistakes and sins can be forgiven and taken away, as if they never happened.  He died a tragic death, and then became the first man ever to defeat death and rise to live again, making it possible so that we all can live again, after we die.  Jesus Christ is now with His Father, actively watching over us.  He will return to this earth again someday, with power and great glory, on a day full of joy and gladness.

This is no myth.  This is the truth - God's truth.

Merry Christmas!


Click to learn more about the story of Christmas.

Mythical Morbid Mantra

We've all heard it: "He's dead, Jim."

At least, those who are Trekkies have heard it.  Even post-60's Trekkies like myself have heard it.  Whenever people say "Dr. McCoy," that's one of the first things that comes to mind.  It's in a hundred places, quoted a hundred times, sprinkled throughout our culture.  On Google Chrome, Google's web browser, that's what pops up if the internet connection goes bad.

"He's dead, Jim."  We've all heard it.  So how many times does Doctor McCoy actually say it?  That's what I wondered, so as I watched the episodes of the Original Star Trek TV series, I kept my ears open.  I did my very best job, and can report with pride that I scrutinized all but two of the original episodes for the morbid mantra.  ("Wolf in the Fold" and "Catspaw" are too spooky for me to watch - why put myself through something I won't enjoy?)

Here's what I found.

In the Original Star Trek TV series, in all but the two I didn't watch, McCoy only says "He's Dead, Jim" three times.  That's it!  Three times, to make a memory that's been known and loved and quoted and misquoted since the 60's!  I call that impressive.

Of course, I'm also being a little bit misleading.  McCoy doubtlessly has been quoted as saying his famous mantra in countless books, movies, fan fictions, and other interpretations of the Star Trekkian story.  As a matter of fact, he also used a number of variations of his most famous line in the original series itself.  "He's Dead, Captain," "He's Dead," "She's Dead," and even "The Captain is Dead."  Most of the time he was addressing Captain Kirk.  (Except for the last time, when he was talking about him.  But that's a different story, and if you want it, you'll have to watch the episode.  "Enterprise Incident."  About 24 minutes in.)

A lot of times, McCoy seemed as if he was trying to consciously avoid repeating his most famous quote.  Again and again, especially later on in the series, he would crouch beside whoever had just collapsed, feel for their pulse or scan them with his tricorder, and sadly shake his head at Captain Kirk, or say something nonquoteable like "It's too late."  It might have worked better, except that every time he did it, something incorrigible in my brain would gleefully chant, "He's Dead, Jim!"

The same thing must have happened to hundreds of other Star Trek fans, because the phrase that was only said three times became a legend.  The ultimate mythical mantra.

"He's Dead, Jim."

In case you're interested, I compiled a little chart of "He's Dead, Jim" and other similar announcements, including the episode and the rough time of announcement.  And in case you're like me, and don't have the entire series on tape, go to the Star Trek Website and you can find the entire original series online, for free.  (That is, if you can make it work.  I confess it has a few issues, but on the whole, it was great!)

Words Said	Episode and Approximate Time
He’s Dead, Jim	The Enemy Within 36:19 Changeling Is There in Truth No Beauty? 23:55
He’s Dead, Captain	Dagger of the Mind 47:35 And the Children Shall Lead 1:20
He’s Dead	I, Mudd Return to Tomorrow 27:30 For the World is Hollow 49:50
She’s Dead	The Deadly Years 26:20 A Private Little War 47:00 The Lights of Zetar 16:17
The Captain is Dead	Enterprise Incident 24:40

Mythical City

Have you ever played Scattergories?  It's a delightful, mind-stretching game, where you have a list of categories, such as "Famous people" and "Things you like to eat."  You also have a letter, and your answers all have to start with that letter.  The person who gets the most unique answers out of the group, wins the round.  It's very fun.

So our family was playing this game at Thanksgiving.  My aunt and uncle and cousins, and another cousin and her husband, and our grandparents had joined us.  There were way too many of us to each play on our own, so we got together in groups and played in teams.  It's a good way to play, because when one person has their mind go blank, their teammates can carry on.

The team with my uncle and my cousin and her husband were the especially weird team, coming up with goofy answers and all that.  One of the categories was "Name of a capitol."  My cousin's husband came up with one that I'd never heard of.  He is from South America, and it sounded Spanish or Portuguese or something, so I didn't bother to question it.  I figured he knew what he was talking about.  But my aunt called him on it - "What country is that the capitol of?"  He didn't even miss a beat - "New Ecuador," he shot back.

It actually got a few of us for a moment or so, he was so absolutely positive about it.  That became the standing joke of the evening.  I don't think I've laughed so hard in a really long time.  Every so often, it kept coming up again and again.  Mythical City - New Ecuador.  Ha!  Makes me smile even now.

The Actual Ice Cream

So it all started back in Nauvoo, Illinois.  My family went back there this summer to be volunteer performers in the Nauvoo Pageant, displaying the history of the Latter-day Saint Pioneers who founded the city and were then chased out.  Perhaps more on that later - if you want to know more, you can check out the Nauvoo Pageant Facebook page.  Anyway, we were there for two weeks and it was an absolutely wonderful experience, and I recommend you all should go see it.

This was our first year being involved in the Pageant, and we quickly found out that there was an established custom of going to a frozen custard place after the show each night.  The place was called Annie's and it purported to have three flavors of frozen custard - vanilla, chocolate, and a mythical ice cream - salty cashew.

Everyone claimed that such an ice cream actually existed, but I never actually met anybody who had seen or tasted it.  We even asked people who had been coming to participate in the Pageant for years and years, and they all swore it existed, but had never actually had it.

We decided to track down this mythical ice cream.  Only having two weeks, and only being able to afford a few visits to this expensive but delicious place, we decided to use strategy.  The Direct Approach.  We asked the lady who ran Annie's, and she informed us what time to show up during the day, right when it would come out of the machine.

It worked!  And we had our salty caramel cashew.  The mythical ice cream actually wasn't as good as it might have been, but it was fun to know that we had been able to track down our mythical ice cream after all.

So that is where my obsession surfaced with what I now call the "mythical" aspects of my life - the things that are elusive, not entirely real, or made to be searched for.  I'm not sure that exactly makes sense, but here goes - I'm on a quest for more "mythical ice cream," in my everyday life.