Monday, August 26, 2002

The Thing is Jewish


I grew up reading the Fantastic Four, not religiously, but I liked it. In a recent comic book, we found out that the thing is Jewish!

In the story, Ben returns to his boyhood neighborhood and saves an old friend, Mr. Sheckerberg, from a bad guy called Powderkeg. In the battle, Sheck goes down and may be badly injured. Ben stands over him, unsure what to do.

"Sheck could be dyin' and I can't do nothin'! No ... No, there is one thing."

And suddenly, it's davening time.

Ben starts davening, or praying in Hebrew. He recites the Shema, the most important Jewish prayer.

Ultimately, Sheck is fine and the bad guy is caught. In the last two panels, Powderkeg looks down at the rocky, orange face of the Thing.

"And you're really Jewish?" he asks.

"There a problem with that?" the Thing growls.

"No! No, it's just ... you don't look Jewish."

DallasNews.com | Dallas-Fort Worth | Religion

I remember when on one Star Trek, the residents of one planet kept talking about the Sun coming. The Star Fleet officers thought it odd that they would worship the Sun at this point in their development. But no!! They were talking about the Son of God!! That really excited the officers. We don't see much Christianity on the Next Generation. What does this have to do with church? Probably more than we think.

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