coming up roses

1The very first page of our Old Testament (Revised Standard Version, Genesis 1:24) says that on the fifth day of creation, God made animals, specifically calling forth "cattle and creeping things" from the earth. Later, He gets upset at his creation, and decides to wash these things away in a flood (Gen. 6:7).

2It really does all end up in "some revelation." The final book of the New Testament is called Revelations and presents "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants what must soon take place." (Rev. 1:1) That's a not-too-subtle reference to the end of the world.

3Harbingers of the end of the world, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They ride different colored horses (white, red, black, pale) and take different things from the humans on earth. Guy No. 4, for example, is Death. His job? Leading the swarms of hell onto the earth.

4Death, the rider of the pale horse, sweeps into Revelations 6:7 "to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth."

5Gideon pops up in Judges (6:11 - 8:35) to lead the people of Israel back to God's good graces after they lapse into worship of false gods. This prophet also lends his name to Gideons International, an organization of missionaries who leave bibles in motel bedstands. Finn's Gideon has a more complicated relationship with virtue than his namesakes.

6Druggy paraphrase of the General Mill Trix cereal slogan, "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!"

7An in-joke: "Certain Songs," from the album The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me contains the line "Hard drugs are for the bartenders and the kitchen workers and the bartender's friends."

8This is a nice image: a character named Gideon tearing pages out of a bible that was left in a motel by the Gideons.

9Each of the New Testament's four Gospels has a scene in which Jesus enters the temple in Jerusalem, overturns the tables of moneylenders, and drives out those who buy and sell goods (Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45, John 2:13-15). It's a scene that echoes the actions of Old Testament prophets like Gideon, who are frequently employed by God to refocus the Israelites when their attentions are diverted from their covenantal duties.

10The phrase "original sin" doesn't actually appear in our Bible, but the idea is central to Catholic doctrine. It refers to the disobedience shown by Adam and Eve in the 3rd chapter of Genesis and their resulting expulsion from Eden. The significance for the rest of us? The Catholic Church says that we are born with the stain of that disobedience and must repent in order to be saved. It has absolutely nothing to do with the 2001 film starring Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie.

11He heard right. This is pretty much exactly what happens in Genesis 3:8-13. See also the next two lines.

12In Genesis 4:8, Cain kills his brother Abel in a fit of jealousy. These two brothers, the sons of Adam and Eve, are often referenced as the progenitors of human conflict.

13Because they believe in original sin, Catholics (like Protestants) believe that to be saved, you must be born again. Jesus even says so: "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

14Near Tampa, FL. How Holly made it here from Minnesota, I'd like to know.

15The second book of the Old Testament, Exodus is the story of Moses leading the Jews out of enslavement in Egypt. God helps out by sending ten plagues down on the Egyptians (blood, frogs, hail, etc.), and parting the Red Sea. Once the Jews are safely out of Pharaoh's clutches, He reveals the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai.

16The fourth of those plagues mentioned earlier. In Exodus 8:20-24, the Lord sends swarms of flies to fill the houses of the Egyptians. Flies don't quite do the trick, and six more plagues ensue.

17A reference to the result of smoking drugs (often freebase cocaine) from a sheet of foil. Some of the plagues visited upon Finn's characters are self-inflicted.

18The sixth and seventh plagues visited up on the Egyptians. Pharaoh's resolve is weakening at this point.

19The eighth plague in Exodus: Just joking. Actress and daughter of John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, best known for her role as a teenager in George Lucas' American Graffiti. Phillips was arrested for cocaine possession while a cast member of the sitcom One Day at a Time.