The real ending/epic epilogue of the 21 Pilots Lore/Saga/Storyline?

photo credit

The 21 Pilots ten-year, five-album (though I Could say twelve year, six  album) conceptual series /song cycle/concept album(s)/story/storyline ...often called "The Lore" (see this)....of Blurryface, Clancey, the  evil bishops  of Dema and company is apparently over..,.

                    ...or is it?

So much to say about this ten-year trip. Do check out a summary or two online if this is new territory,

Like many concept albums (or movie trilogies!), the last song didn't seem to end quite up to snuff or expectations. Satisfactory? Yes, but something seemed missing. 

 The task of finishing triumphantly, or shockingly, may be impossible, especially with long, dramatic, sometimes convoluted storylines

. The Who's "Tommy"  (by most accounts, the first rock opera/truly concept album) ended strong with the finale song.

 Genesis' "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" ended fairly well with "It", but it was  anticlimactic and generic ; as  Tony Banks recently  ) expressed (Who could top Supper's Ready's" return of Christ ?) 

  Though I have lamented abut U2 endings; I will not complain about the ending of U2's quasi-concept album, "No Line." It didn't end with a bang, but a whisper;  but what a holy hush!

And  I once wrote about Pink Floyd:

Even though the double "Wall" album, and concert, ended with a short piece, "Tear Down the Wall," and that seemed like a good thing; it is not so good. In the record’s scenario, once we tear down the walls that keep us from others and reality, instead of freedom, we find our worst nightmare: there’s nothing behind it! We are hopeless, and now to make matters worse, naked, and in front of an enemy. A careful listener will hear, after the sounds of the wall crumbling, the "real last song" of the Floyd record, which numbly  submits to circumstances , and coldy bends the arc full circle (literally in this case..I’ll explain) from fear to… fear. The last voice one hears at the end of side 4 (remember records? This was a double album; so four sides) is someone quietly saying something that gets cut off mid-sentence: "Isn’t this where…", and the sentence (as one discovered later) was "continued" at the beginning of side 1: "…we came in." "Isn’t "Isn’t this where we came in?" Clever tactic, depressing thesis: The record (literally) comes full circle (literally); life (spiritually) is endless circle; spiraling  through the grooves of the record, and life, into nothingnumbness. Even if we do tear down a wall, we’ll build another and another...link

And thought more at this link:  Gregory of Nyssa and Green Day: death/birth of the concept of the concept album)

Don't get me started on "well-ended songs that end well by not ending well"...
But I started that conversation here in honor of Ray Bradbury).

I love the "Clancy" series, no matter how it ends.

Note that several thought the storyline was over, though hanging, with the fourth installment
But everyone eventually agreed, and band seemed to confirm, it closes with the closer of the fifth, "Breach."

Or does it?

In typically  subtle, sneaky and  subversive  Pilots fashion, a few weeks after the final final album was released, out of nowhere, an epilogue, (coda? alternative ending?)  was dropped as a download on the deluxe album version, called the Digital Remains edition, and it's officially behind a paywall for now,,

Or is it?

This is the real, and really satisfying. ending.

Happier, even.

The devil loses. God wins, Christus Victor.

This amazing loaded video by a fan who started tracking and tracing the story when he was 14, and is now 24, should be watched and full, but today, watch from 1:35:52 to learn about the two closing songs.
Then test drive the two candidates for closing hymn below.

I like them both, but I think #2 wins.

Or does it?

Cast your vote. But know that my name is Blurryface ...and I care what you think. (:

--

Intentions lyrics:

=
I am starting it all over once again
Did I learn a thing?



Intentions are everything


Intentions will set you free


You will fail most every day and every way
Did you learn a thing?



Intentions lack memory


Intentions will set you free


Just try to be

===

Here is one review: of the other ending::

‘Drag Path’: The Meaning of Twenty One Pilots’ Epic Finale

14/09/2025 by Songs Discussion

“Drag Path” by Twenty One Pilots is a cinematic and deeply allegorical track that serves as a powerful narrative of capture, faith, and ultimate rescue. The song’s core meaning centers on a protagonist who, while being dragged away by a demonic, devil-like force, makes the conscious and courageous choice to deliberately leave a trail of clues—a “drag path”—as an act of profound faith that a loved one or a community will follow this evidence and save him. It is a triumphant story about finding salvation through unwavering trust in others, even in the absolute darkest of nights.

Introduction to the Song

Released on September 12, 2025, “Drag Path” is the fourteenth and final track on Twenty One Pilots’ fictional new album, Breach. As the album’s closer, the song provides an epic and emotionally satisfying conclusion to the tumultuous journey of the entire project. Musically, “Drag Path” is likely a dynamic and cinematic alternative rock anthem, building from tense, narrative-driven verses to a powerful, pleading chorus, and finally resolving into a continued here

--

and this:

 

For now (it may well get removed), here is "Drag Path (Devil's Eyes)"

Drag Path lyrics:

When I see the devil's eyes
A current travels down my spine
He found me
Seems as though I've lost again
A story told ad nauseam
He found me
Maybe once or twice or three
He's tried his hand at drowning me
But I'm still on fire
At least, I'm pretty sure

When I see the devil's eyes
I'll look away and smile wide
You found me
'Cause then I'll know you're also there
'Cause proof is in the adversere
You found me

A drag path etched in the surface
As evidence I left there on purpose
A sad sack, laying on the surface 
Can you find me?
I dug my heels into the gravel
As evidence for you to unravel
A drag path, etched in the surface 
Can you find me?

Would you 
Please, please hurry
Would you
Please, please hurry

Can you, can you, can you, can you?

A drag path, etched in the surface
As evidence I left there on purpose
A sad sack, laying on the surface
Can you find me? (Can you, can you find me?)
I dug my heels into the gravel
As evidence for you to unravel
A drag path, etched in the surface
Can you find me?

Can you find me? (Can you find me?)
Can you find me? (Can you find me?)
Can you find me? (Can you find me?)
Can you find me? (Can you find me?)

Then the sun begins to rise
We made it through the darkest night
You found me

"Examined Life"--the "Moving Head" film and the backtracking booktrack which "calls philosphy down from the heavens" Cornel West and Slavoj Žižek

I love that Astra Taylor assembled the "Examined Life" film, which interviews
public and ethical philosophers as they walk  (usually in a city or context that connects to their theme)..

I love that this surely turned out differently as a  somewhat spontaneous lab (not a scripted talking head flick, even though there are talking heads, they and their bodies are in motion) and a peripatetic exercise, and thus a "geography of place."  (see

sideways city-texts )

I love that I found the book version (the "booktrack" to a movie?) first, which features complete transcripts of each interview, including scenes edited out of the film.

Of course, I love that Cornel West and  Slajov Žižek were featured, and that their venues or vehicles were slightly different than the other stars.

West is interviewed in a car moving through Manhattan.  At one point, this is eerily similar to the Matrix scene when Neo realizes his greenview  out the car window is of a world that is

not "real"  and people who are not "really" alive (What is the opposite of simulacra? )
 West, who is  well aware of the Matrix hyperlink (He was even in the second Matrix film!) quips that someone studying in a  library is "more alive than the folks walking by us"...

Žižek's vignette...of course..set in a  garbage dump. (:
--

I'm sure you have trainspotted the title to Socrates' maxim about the "unexamined life is not worth living, butTaylor adds that also draws from Socrates' way of (per Cicero)"calling philosophy down from heaven."  Bring it on...er, down.

Here's the Cornel West "chapter":  Truth below.
Some takeaways: centrality of music, why he's a "Chekhovian Christian," Jesus' anger (better yet, righteous indignation) in the temple, the "kairotic dimension of being in love,"  Charlie Parker riding on dissonance, "blues sensibility," "natural piety," As Christians, "nothing human ought to be alien to us", a "Kierkegaardian leap in Beckett's universe,"
-
- Here's Žižek's chapter: Ecology (in two languages no less):  Just watch(:
---
Most of the rest:
 -- Avita Ronell: Meaning:
 
Peter Singer: Ethics:
 
Appiah: Cosmopolitanism (Sadly, this is the only section not online, so here is a more traditional talk of his on the same topic):
 
 Martha Nussbaum: Justice:
Michael Hardt: Revolution:
Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor: Interdependence:

A Seder connection in Matrix Reloaded?

 A Passover connection in Matrix Reloaded?:


Morpheus: All of our lives we have fought this war. Tonight I believe we can end it. Tonight is not an accident. There are no accidents. We have not come here by chance. I do not believe in chance... I do not see coincidence, I see providence, I see purpose. I believe it is our fate to be here. It is our destiny. I believe this night holds for each and every one of us the very meaning of our lives... 

Niobe: What if you..and the prophecy.. are wrong?
 
Morpheus:Then tomorrow we may all be dead, but how would that be different from any other day? This is a war, and we are soldiers. Death can come for us at any time, in any place... Now consider the alternative. What if I am right? What if the prophecy is true? What if tomorrow the war could be over. Isn't that worth fighting for? Isn't that worth dying for?  link

--

the best-known quote from the Pesach Haggadah is, "why is this night different from all other nights?" This line is usually recited by the youngest person at the table (or at least, the youngest person capable of reciting it). It is meant to express the child's confusion at the difference between a typical every-day or holiday meal and the unusual features of the seder.    link

Resources on "The Matrix"

Websites:
 Matrix Explained 

Matrix Decoded: Symbolism

  The Matrix as Christian Allegory

The Messiah and The Matrix by Debra McCaw

Matrix as Messiah Movie

Forget sci-fi and guns - The Matrix is really about religion 

Christian symbolism in The Matrix part 1 of 3:

Books:

• The Gospel reloaded: exploring spirituality and faith in The matrix

• The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Popular Culture and Philosophy

•  The Reality Within The Matrix

• Taking the red pill: science, philosophy and religion in The Matrix

 DVD: The Roots of The Matrix (philosophical and religious)

 

 License Plates in the Matrix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christian Symbolism in The Matrix, part 1 of 3:

More:

Neo Christus Victor and the "literal Deus ex machina"

 "I believed that it was all about me... that all I had to do was point my finger and anoint whoever I chose"

Search ResultsSearch Results

" I love seeing you non-believers. It's really a relief.."):

 

ceremonial cleansing in The Matrix

 15 Mind-Altering Facts About ‘The Matrix’ To Make You Say Whoa On Its 15th Anniversary

1. 
   

Watching this Japanese interview of The Matrix stars is as trippy as the film itself

Watching this Japanese interview of The Matrix stars is as trippy  
as the film itself.   It was found on 15 Mind-Altering Facts About ‘The Matrix’ To Make You Say Whoa On Its 15th Anniversary.

(Oh, and Eugene Peterson was right!)

U2 devotionals: "It's the way you don't pay that's okay.."

U2 song lyrics often work on several levels...and one level in most (all?)  every song is, of course, the spiritual, God/Jesus story.

It's ironic that in U2's ironic era (the 1990's), many fans thought they had lost the faith, and ditched the spiritual lyrics.

 But just check out "Discoteque."  Read the lyrics BEFORE watching or listening to the song. 
What's it's ultimately about?    What..or Who..is "it" in the lyric? (see"What the hell is IT"?)
 How obvious..and evangelical..is a line like  "It's the way you don't pay that's okay, 'cause you can't earn it."  Any card-carrying evangelical knows the "saved by grace and not by works, salvation can't be earned"  motto (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Bono has said the song is "a little riddle about love."  And it works on  that and other levels, as Bono admits in the same interview.  Just google the song interpretation; is it about  music?  U2's style? drugs? romance? the search for salvation?  All that and more..

The haunting background vocal, "you want heaven in your heart" is really brought up in the mix (and therefore the meaning) in some remixes of the song

Cleverly disguised as a disco song, it subverts the genre; making fun of "bubble gum" music/salvation while using bubble gum music and scenario.  But, as if to sneak "fish in the sand" yet again, Bono sneaks in some more soteriology in the outro: "I can't get in, I paid, it's not enough"

(Interesting that in some "live" versions, Bono adds a litany about things that enslave..even that we are  "slave to Rome")

Also note: this is pretty much the same story as "Vertigo."  Bono has said that song also takes place in a club, and the temptations along the way to salvation.  ("I was thinking about this awful nightclub we've all been to. You're supposed to be having a great time and. and the character in this stares at the cross just to steady himself").

Bonus: "you want heaven in your heart....but you take what you can get" connects to U2's "The First Time"..another controversial 1990s song.. in that the character doesn't choose salvation; settling for something else/less, and the song almost celebrates that poor choice, even as it mourns it  (see  cursing God's staff and revisionist U2 history and  Well-Ended Stories That Don't End Well).  Not to mention the "I want to get it wrong/Can't always be strong" of "Ultraviolet"...

Bonus: a reference to The One, two years before The  Matrix popularized that phrase (BTW, Not a bad translation of "Christ" ..." the Messiah, or the one;   "the one called the Messiah" as  NLT translates) .  How about a use of "Boom!" years before that became common slang..

Let's go to the discoteque:


You can reach but you can't grab it
You can't hold it, control it, no, 
You can't bag it
You can push but you can't direct it
Circulate, regulate, oh no, 
You cannot connect it

You know you're chewing bubble gum
You know what it is but you still want some
You just can't get enough of that lovie dovie stuff

You get confused but you know it
Yeah, you hurt for it, work for it, love, 
You don't always show it

Let go, let's go, let's go, 
Discothèque
Let go, let go, go go, 
Discothèque
Looking for The One 
But you know you're somewhere else instead
You want to be the song
Be the song that you hear in your head
Love

It's not a trick 'cause you can't learn it
It's the way you don't pay that's okay 
'Cause you can't earn it

You want heaven in your heart..

You know you're chewing bubble gum
You know what it is but you still want some
You just can't get enough of that lovie dovie stuff
Let go, let's go, 
Discothèque
Go go, go go
Discothèque
Love, love
Looking for the one 
But you know you're somewhere else instead
I want to be the song
Be the song that you hear in your head

Love, love, love
You want heaven in your heart
Heaven in your heart
The sun, the moon and the stars
But you take what you can get 
'Cause it's all that you can find
And you know there's something more 
But tonight, tonight, tonight

Boom cha, boom cha
Discothèque
I can't get in, I paid, it's not enough
Boom cha, boom cha
Discothèque
I paid, get in I can't, it's not enough
Boom cha, boom cha
Discothèque
I can't get in, I can't, it's not enough
Boom cha, boom cha
Discothèque
Boom cha, boom cha
 ) ) ) )

Jacques Ellul, Lewis Mumford and C.S. Lewis: magic and technique

I love these three thinkers...they should have toured together.
Michael Sacasas quotes them here in a post on Technology and Magic

Ellul:

“Magic developed along with other techniques as an expression of man’s will to obtain certain results of a spiritual order. To attain them, man made use of an aggregate of rites, formulas, and procedures which, once established, do not vary. Strict adherence to form is one of he characteristics of magic: forms and rituals, masks whichever vary, the same kind of prayer wheels, the same ingredients for mystical drugs, for formulae for divination, and so on...

Every magical means, in the eyes of the person who uses it, is the most efficient one. In the spiritual realm, magic displays all the characteristics of a technique. It is a mediator between man and ‘the higher powers,’ just as other techniques mediate between man and matter. It leads to efficacy because it subordinates the power of the gods to men, and it secures a predetermined result. It affirms human power in that it seeks to subordinate the gods to men, just as technique serves to cause nature to obey.”

Mumford :

Thus although capitalism and technics must be clearly distinguished at every stage, one conditioned the other and reacted upon it.”

“It was because of certain traits in private capitalism that the machine — which was a neutral agent — has often seemed, and in fact has sometimes been, a malicious element in society, careless of human life, indifferent to human interests.  The machine has suffered for the sins of capitalism; contrariwise, capitalism has often taken credit for the virtues of the machine.”

“… indeed, the necessity to promote continual changes and improvements, which has been characteristic of capitalism, introduced an element of instability into technics and kept society from assimilating its mechanical improvements and integrating them in an appropriate social pattern.”

“Between fantasy and exact knowledge, between drama and technology, there is an intermediate station: that of magic. It was in magic that the general conquest of the external environment was decisively instituted.”

“In sum, magic turned men’s minds to the external world: it suggested the need of manipulating it: it helped create the tools for successfully achieving this, and it sharpened observation as to the results.”

“As children’s play anticipates crudely adult life, so did magic anticipate modern science and technology …”

“… magic was the bridge that united fantasy with technology: the dream of power with the engines of fulfillment.”

 Lewis:

I have described as a `magician’s bargain’ that process whereby man surrenders object after object, and finally himself, to Nature in return for power. And I meant what I said. The fact that the scientist has succeeded where the magician failed has put such a wide contrast between them in popular thought that the real story of the birth of Science is misunderstood. You will even find people who write about the sixteenth century as if Magic were a medieval survival and Science the new thing that came in to sweep it away. Those who have studied the period know better. There was very little magic in the Middle Ages: the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are the high noon of magic. The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they were twins. They were born of the same impulse. I allow that some (certainly not all) of the early scientists were actuated by a pure love of knowledge. But if we consider the temper of that age as a whole we can discern the impulse of which I speak.

There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the wisdom of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique ….

"I believed that it was all about me... that all I had to do was point my finger and anoint whoever I chose"

Another intriguing deleted scene from The Matrix, as Neo is on the way in to see The Oracle

(see also   

Search ResultsSearch Results

1. 
   

    " I love seeing you non-believers. It's really a relief.."):

 " I love seeing you non-believers. It's really a relief.."):

Search Results " I love seeing you non-believers. It's really a relief.."

Search Results " I love seeing you non-believers. It's really a relief.."

NEO
Morpheus, I don't think this is a
good idea.

MORPHEUS
Why?

NEO
I told you I don't believe in this
stuff. No matter what she says
I'm not going to believe it, so
what's the point?


MORPHEUS
What do you believe in?

NEO
What do I believe in? Are you
kidding me? What do you think?
The world I grew up in isn't real.
My entire life was a lie. I don't
believe in anything anymore.

MORPHEUS
That's why we're here.

NEO
Why? So I can hear some old lady
tell me, what? That I'm this guy
that everybody's been waiting for?
That I'm supposed to save the
world? It sounds insane.
Unbelievable. And I don't care
who says it, it's still going to
sound insane and unbelievable.

MORPHEUS
Faith is not a matter of
reasonability. I do not believe
things with my mind. I believe
them with my heart. In my gut.

NEO
And you believe I'm the One?

MORPHEUS
Yes I do.

NEO
Yeah? What about the other five
guys? The five before me? What
about them?

Morpheus tries to hide his heart being wrenched from his
chest.

NEO
Did you believe in them too?

MORPHEUS
I believed what the Oracle told
me... no, I misunderstood what she
told me. I believed that it was
all about me.
This is difficult for Morpheus to admit.

MORPHEUS
I believed that all I had to do
was point my finger and anoint
whoever I chose. I was wrong,
Neo. Terribly wrong. Not a day
or night passes that I do not
think of them. After the fifth, I
lost my way. I doubted everything
the Oracle had said. I doubted
myself.

He looks up at Neo.

MORPHEUS
And then I saw you, Neo, and my
world changed. You can call it
an epiphany, you can call it
whatever the hell you want.
It doesn't matter. It's not
about a word. It's about this.
So I can't explain it to you.
All I can do is believe, Neo,
believe that one day you will
feel what I felt and know what
I know; you are the sixth and
the last. You are the One.

His eyes blaze.

MORPHEUS
Until that time all I am asking
from you is for you to hold on to
whatever respect you may have for
me and trust me.

Neo feels a rush from Morpheus's intensity, the
unadulterated confidence of a zealot.

NEO
All right.
link

" I love seeing you non-believers. It's really a relief.."

Check this out, from the original Matrix script. As you can see by my highlights in red, some intriguing lines about believers/non-believers were eventually cut. Also, it is so key to the movie that The Oracle never says Neo is not The One (she knows he is, so in the final film when he  asks, she doesn't deny it).  Here she does:

                             NEO
   Hello?

     ORACLE (WOMAN)
   I know.  You're Neo.  Be right
   with you.

     NEO
   You're the Oracle?

     ORACLE
   Bingo.  I got to say I love seeing
   you non-believers.  It's really a
   relief.  All that pomp and
   circumstances just plain tucker me
   out.  Almost done.  Smell good,
   don't they?

     NEO
   Yeah.

     ORACLE
   I'd ask you to sit down, but
   you're not going to anyway.  And
   don't worry about the vase.

     NEO
   What vase?

 He turns to look around and his elbow knocks a VASE from
 the table.  It BREAKS against the linoleum floor.

     ORACLE
   The vase.

     NEO
   Shit, I'm sorry.

 She pulls out a tray of chocolate chip cookies and turns.
 She is an older woman, wearing big oven mitts,
 comfortable slacks and a print blouse.  She looks like
 someone's grandma.

     ORACLE
   I said don't worry about it.  I'll
   get one of my kids to fix it.

     NEO
   How did you know...?

 She sets the cookie tray on a wooden hot-pad.

     ORACLE
   What's really going to bake your
   noodle later on is, would you
   still have broken it if I hadn't
   said anything.

 Smiling, she lights a cigarette.

     ORACLE
   You're cuter than I thought.  I
   see why she likes you.

     NEO
   Who?

     ORACLE
   Not too bright, though.

 She winks.

     ORACLE
   You know why Morpheus brought you
   to see me?

     NEO
   I think so.

     ORACLE
   So? What do you think?  You think
   you're the one?

     NEO
   I don't know.

 She gestures to a wooden plaque, the kind every grandma
 has, except that the words are in Latin.

     ORACLE
   You know what that means?  It's
   Latin.  Means, 'Know thyself.'

 She puts her cigarette down.

     ORACLE
   Well, let's have a look at you.

 She widens his eyes, checks his ears, then feels the
 glands in his neck.

     ORACLE
   Open your mouth.  Say, 'ahhh.'

 She nods then looks at his palms.

     ORACLE
   Hmmm.  You sure got the gift, but
   it's tricky.  I'd say the bad news
   is, you're not the one.  Still got
   a lot to learn.  Maybe next life.

     NEO
   What's the good news?

     ORACLE
   Same as the bad news, you're not
   the one.

     NEO
   Is that it, then?

     ORACLE
   No.  Here.

 She picks up the tray of cooling cookies.

     ORACLE
   You better take a cookie.  Got a
   big day ahead of you.

 He eyes her, then takes a cookie.

     ORACLE
   Make a believer out of you yet.

Las Vegas as microcosm/shadow capital of America

From The Money and the Power by Denton/Morriss:

\

 "Shadow Capital:  The city was never, in truth, some perverse Atlantis apart from the main....When Las Vegas became the greatest business success story of the twentieth century, it was because the rest of America made it so with capital as well as customers.  When Las Vegas grew into a kind of shadow capital  in the last decades of the century,it was because the rest of America made it so by embracing the ethic of greed and exploitation

By the millennium the national surrender of democracy to oligarchy in the United States--the submission to house rules, as they might put it on the Strip-- had simply come into the open, where it had long been in Las Vegas.city h  It has been difficult, to see the city honestly in that context.  What  a sad, grim reflection Las Vegas gives back to us. America has yet to come to term to its own hidden history, let alone the city’s..”
  p. 392,The Money and the Power, click for context;  review here

In The Matrix, humans are used as a "crop."  Humans have soused machines, and become dependent on them, that now  humans are used by the Machines, who have them plugged in to their system (feeding a dream world directly into their brains), while ironically  the system itself now  gets its energy from humans: they are batteries.

Is Las Vegas The Matrix?  Or at least its capital/capitol?

See also:
casting shadows on the city

And do listen to/watch  some 1990s U2 Popmart Tour..which subversively kicked off in Las Vegas.

ceremonial cleansing in The Matrix

I had never fully "caught" the second baptism scene in "The Matrix" (if you never got the first, click the article) until reading Matthew Clendineng.
(It reminded me that The Voice translation originally translated "baptism" as :ritual cleansing")

The second baptism scene is when Morpheus is rescued from the agents. The sprinkler system comes on and drenches Morpheus and the agents in the room. This scene does not go back to the rebirthing like the earlier baptism scene does; rather this scene speaks to the tradition of ceremonial cleansing. When John the Baptist was baptizing Jews in the Jordan River it was not a

symbol of them being born again of the Spirit, rather it was a ceremonial cleansing that meant they were once again clean in the sight of God. Morpheus managed to withstand the agents and did not succumb to their evil. This baptism was a ceremonial cleansing that meant Morpheus was once again ready to take over his command.

link

"The Matrix in Real Life" by Improv Everywhere

Because there is just Something  so

                    God-haunted  and gospel-echoing
 about

• The Matrix (see posts tagged "the Matrix")

and

• improv  (see Ron Martoia and N. T. Wright for that connection)

..I was glad to see that

 Improv Everywhere

 staged 

"The Matrix in Real Life".

Video below, backstory here

"fear him who has authority to throw you into hell" : Who's "him"?

(HT to Richard Beck)

Spent some time on this passage, and context,  before you scroll to down to discover and consider N.T.Wright's interpretation.

Key question: Who does Jesus mean us to understand is the "him" who has authority to throw you into hell?

Start with these three translations (lifted from BibleGateway.com)
It's clear from The Message and The NASB that they read it as God, The Message takes 'him" as God, NASB styles it as "The One" (nice Neo touch, btw).

Who do you say "him" is?

Related: Who is the one who can "kill the body"?


Note: click the drop-down box to compare other translations

---Amuzgo de Guerrero (AMU)--- Amuzgo de Guerrero   ---العربية (AR)--- Arabic Bible: Easy-to-Read Version Arabic Life Application Bible   ---अवधी (AWA)--- Awadhi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Български (BG)--- 1940 Bulgarian Bible Bulgarian Bible Bulgarian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version Bulgarian Protestant Bible   ---Chinanteco de Comaltepec (CCO)--- Chinanteco de Comaltepec   ---Cebuano (CEB)--- Ang Pulong Sa Dios   ---ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍ (CHR)--- Cherokee New Testament   ---Cakchiquel Occidental (CKW)--- Cakchiquel Occidental   ---Čeština (CS)--- Bible 21 Slovo na cestu   ---Dansk (DA)--- Bibelen på hverdagsdansk Dette er Biblen på dansk   ---Deutsch (DE)--- Hoffnung für Alle Luther Bibel 1545 Neue Genfer Übersetzung Schlachter 1951 Schlachter 2000   ---English (EN)--- 21st Century King James Version American Standard Version Amplified Bible Common English Bible Complete Jewish Bible Contemporary English Version Darby Translation Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition Easy-to-Read Version English Standard Version English Standard Version Anglicised Expanded Bible 1599 Geneva Bible GOD’S WORD Translation Good News Translation Holman Christian Standard Bible J.B. Phillips New Testament Jubilee Bible 2000 King James Version Authorized (King James) Version Lexham English Bible Living Bible The Message Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament Names of God Bible New American Standard Bible New Century Version New English Translation (NET Bible) New International Reader's Version New International Version New International Version - UK New King James Version New Life Version New Living Translation New Revised Standard Version New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Orthodox Jewish Bible Revised Standard Version Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition The Voice World English Bible Worldwide English (New Testament) Wycliffe Bible Young's Literal Translation   ---Español (ES)--- La Biblia de las Américas Dios Habla Hoy Jubilee Bible 2000 (Spanish) Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy Nueva Traducción Viviente Nueva Versión Internacional Nueva Versión Internacional (Castilian) Palabra de Dios para Todos La Palabra (España) La Palabra (Hispanoamérica) Reina Valera Contemporánea Reina-Valera 1960 Reina Valera 1977 Reina-Valera 1995 Reina-Valera Antigua Traducción en lenguaje actual   ---Suomi (FI)--- Raamattu 1933/38   ---Français (FR)--- La Bible du Semeur Louis Segond Nouvelle Edition de Genève – NEG1979 Segond 21   ---Κοινη (GRC)--- 1550 Stephanus New Testament 1881 Westcott-Hort New Testament 1894 Scrivener New Testament SBL Greek New Testament   ---עיברית (HE)--- Habrit Hakhadasha/Haderekh The Westminster Leningrad Codex   ---हिन्दी (HI)--- Hindi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Ilonggo (HIL)--- Ang Pulong Sang Dios   ---Hrvatski (HR)--- Knijga O Kristu   ---Kreyòl ayisyen (HT)--- Haitian Creole Version   ---Magyar (HU)--- Hungarian Károli Hungarian Bible: Easy-to-Read Version Hungarian New Translation   ---Hawai‘i Pidgin (HWC)--- Hawai‘i Pidgin   ---Íslenska (IS)--- Icelandic Bible   ---Italiano (IT)--- La Bibbia della Gioia Conferenza Episcopale Italiana La Nuova Diodati Nuova Riveduta 1994 Nuova Riveduta 2006   ---Jacalteco, Oriental (JAC)--- Jacalteco, Oriental   ---Kekchi (KEK)--- Kekchi   ---Latina (LA)--- Biblia Sacra Vulgata   ---Māori (MI)--- Maori Bible   ---Македонски (MK)--- Macedonian New Testament   ---मराठी (MR)--- Marathi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Mam, Central (MVC)--- Mam, Central   ---Mam, Todos Santos (MVJ)--- Mam de Todos Santos Chuchumatán   ---Plautdietsch (NDS)--- Reimer 2001   ---नेपाली (NE)--- Nepali Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Náhuatl de Guerrero (NGU)--- Náhuatl de Guerrero   ---Nederlands (NL)--- Het Boek   ---Norsk (NO)--- Det Norsk Bibelselskap 1930 En Levende Bok   ---ଓଡ଼ିଆ (OR)--- Oriya Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (PA)--- Punjabi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Polski (PL)--- Nowe Przymierze Słowo Życia   ---Nawat (PPL)--- Ne Bibliaj Tik Nawat   ---Português (PT)--- João Ferreira de Almeida Atualizada Nova Versão Internacional O Livro Portuguese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Quichua (QU)--- Mushuj Testamento Diospaj Shimi   ---Quiché, Centro Occidenta (QUT)--- Quiché, Centro Occidental   ---Română (RO)--- Cornilescu Nouă Traducere În Limba Română   ---Русский (RU)--- Russian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version Russian Synodal Version Slovo Zhizny   ---Slovenčina (SK)--- Nádej pre kazdého   ---Somali (SO)--- Somali Bible   ---Shqip (SQ)--- Albanian Bible   ---Српски (SR)--- Serbian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Svenska (SV)--- Nya Levande Bibeln Svenska 1917 Svenska Folkbibeln   ---Kiswahili (SW)--- Neno: Bibilia Takatifu   ---தமிழ் (TA)--- Tamil Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---ภาษาไทย (TH)--- Thai New Contemporary Bible Thai New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Tagalog (TL)--- Ang Salita ng Diyos   ---Twi (TWI)--- Nkwa Asem   ---Українська (UK)--- Ukrainian Bible Ukrainian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---اردو (UR)--- Urdu Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Uspanteco (USP)--- Uspanteco   ---Tiêng Viêt (VI)--- 1934 Vietnamese Bible Bản Dịch 2011 Vietnamese Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---汉语 (ZH)--- Chinese Contemporary Bible Chinese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version Chinese New Version (Traditional) Chinese Standard Bible (Simplified) Chinese Standard Bible (Traditional) Chinese Union Version (Simplified) Chinese Union Version (Traditional) Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified) Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Traditional)  X Luke 12:4-7 New International Version (NIV) 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

The MESSAGE 4-5 “I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

6-7 “What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries

---Amuzgo de Guerrero (AMU)--- Amuzgo de Guerrero   ---العربية (AR)--- Arabic Bible: Easy-to-Read Version Arabic Life Application Bible   ---अवधी (AWA)--- Awadhi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Български (BG)--- 1940 Bulgarian Bible Bulgarian Bible Bulgarian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version Bulgarian Protestant Bible   ---Chinanteco de Comaltepec (CCO)--- Chinanteco de Comaltepec   ---Cebuano (CEB)--- Ang Pulong Sa Dios   ---ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍ (CHR)--- Cherokee New Testament   ---Cakchiquel Occidental (CKW)--- Cakchiquel Occidental   ---Čeština (CS)--- Bible 21 Slovo na cestu   ---Dansk (DA)--- Bibelen på hverdagsdansk Dette er Biblen på dansk   ---Deutsch (DE)--- Hoffnung für Alle Luther Bibel 1545 Neue Genfer Übersetzung Schlachter 1951 Schlachter 2000   ---English (EN)--- 21st Century King James Version American Standard Version Amplified Bible Common English Bible Complete Jewish Bible Contemporary English Version Darby Translation Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition Easy-to-Read Version English Standard Version English Standard Version Anglicised Expanded Bible 1599 Geneva Bible GOD’S WORD Translation Good News Translation Holman Christian Standard Bible J.B. Phillips New Testament Jubilee Bible 2000 King James Version Authorized (King James) Version Lexham English Bible Living Bible The Message Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament Names of God Bible New American Standard Bible New Century Version New English Translation (NET Bible) New International Reader's Version New International Version New International Version - UK New King James Version New Life Version New Living Translation New Revised Standard Version New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Orthodox Jewish Bible Revised Standard Version Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition The Voice World English Bible Worldwide English (New Testament) Wycliffe Bible Young's Literal Translation   ---Español (ES)--- La Biblia de las Américas Dios Habla Hoy Jubilee Bible 2000 (Spanish) Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy Nueva Traducción Viviente Nueva Versión Internacional Nueva Versión Internacional (Castilian) Palabra de Dios para Todos La Palabra (España) La Palabra (Hispanoamérica) Reina Valera Contemporánea Reina-Valera 1960 Reina Valera 1977 Reina-Valera 1995 Reina-Valera Antigua Traducción en lenguaje actual   ---Suomi (FI)--- Raamattu 1933/38   ---Français (FR)--- La Bible du Semeur Louis Segond Nouvelle Edition de Genève – NEG1979 Segond 21   ---Κοινη (GRC)--- 1550 Stephanus New Testament 1881 Westcott-Hort New Testament 1894 Scrivener New Testament SBL Greek New Testament   ---עיברית (HE)--- Habrit Hakhadasha/Haderekh The Westminster Leningrad Codex   ---हिन्दी (HI)--- Hindi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Ilonggo (HIL)--- Ang Pulong Sang Dios   ---Hrvatski (HR)--- Knijga O Kristu   ---Kreyòl ayisyen (HT)--- Haitian Creole Version   ---Magyar (HU)--- Hungarian Károli Hungarian Bible: Easy-to-Read Version Hungarian New Translation   ---Hawai‘i Pidgin (HWC)--- Hawai‘i Pidgin   ---Íslenska (IS)--- Icelandic Bible   ---Italiano (IT)--- La Bibbia della Gioia Conferenza Episcopale Italiana La Nuova Diodati Nuova Riveduta 1994 Nuova Riveduta 2006   ---Jacalteco, Oriental (JAC)--- Jacalteco, Oriental   ---Kekchi (KEK)--- Kekchi   ---Latina (LA)--- Biblia Sacra Vulgata   ---Māori (MI)--- Maori Bible   ---Македонски (MK)--- Macedonian New Testament   ---मराठी (MR)--- Marathi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Mam, Central (MVC)--- Mam, Central   ---Mam, Todos Santos (MVJ)--- Mam de Todos Santos Chuchumatán   ---Plautdietsch (NDS)--- Reimer 2001   ---नेपाली (NE)--- Nepali Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Náhuatl de Guerrero (NGU)--- Náhuatl de Guerrero   ---Nederlands (NL)--- Het Boek   ---Norsk (NO)--- Det Norsk Bibelselskap 1930 En Levende Bok   ---ଓଡ଼ିଆ (OR)--- Oriya Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (PA)--- Punjabi Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Polski (PL)--- Nowe Przymierze Słowo Życia   ---Nawat (PPL)--- Ne Bibliaj Tik Nawat   ---Português (PT)--- João Ferreira de Almeida Atualizada Nova Versão Internacional O Livro Portuguese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Quichua (QU)--- Mushuj Testamento Diospaj Shimi   ---Quiché, Centro Occidenta (QUT)--- Quiché, Centro Occidental   ---Română (RO)--- Cornilescu Nouă Traducere În Limba Română   ---Русский (RU)--- Russian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version Russian Synodal Version Slovo Zhizny   ---Slovenčina (SK)--- Nádej pre kazdého   ---Somali (SO)--- Somali Bible   ---Shqip (SQ)--- Albanian Bible   ---Српски (SR)--- Serbian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Svenska (SV)--- Nya Levande Bibeln Svenska 1917 Svenska Folkbibeln   ---Kiswahili (SW)--- Neno: Bibilia Takatifu   ---தமிழ் (TA)--- Tamil Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---ภาษาไทย (TH)--- Thai New Contemporary Bible Thai New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Tagalog (TL)--- Ang Salita ng Diyos   ---Twi (TWI)--- Nkwa Asem   ---Українська (UK)--- Ukrainian Bible Ukrainian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version   ---اردو (UR)--- Urdu Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---Uspanteco (USP)--- Uspanteco   ---Tiêng Viêt (VI)--- 1934 Vietnamese Bible Bản Dịch 2011 Vietnamese Bible: Easy-to-Read Version   ---汉语 (ZH)--- Chinese Contemporary Bible Chinese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version Chinese New Version (Traditional) Chinese Standard Bible (Simplified) Chinese Standard Bible (Traditional) Chinese Union Version (Simplified) Chinese Union Version (Traditional) Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified) Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Traditional)  Add parallelX Luke 12:4-7 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 4 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will [a]warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into [b]hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two [c]cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Foundati

-- N.T. weighs in:

:

 Some have seen 'the one who can cast into Gehenna' as YHWH; but this is unrealistic. Jesus did not, to be sure, perceive Israel's god as a kindly liberal godfather who would never hurt a fly, let alone send anyone to Gehenna. But again and again--not least in the very next verse of this paragraph--Israel's god is portrayed as the creator and sustainer, one who can be lovingly trusted in all circumstance, not one who waits with a large stick to beat anyone who steps out of line. Rather, here we have a redefinition of the battle in terms of the identification of the real enemy. The one who can kill the body is the imagined enemy, Rome. Who then is the real enemy? Surely not Israel's own god. The real enemy is the accuser, the satan. ---N.T. Wright,  Jesus and the Victory of God, pp. 454-455   

Again , thanks to Richard Beck for posting this, click here to read comments.