6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning

[kpete]

Source: Associated Press

6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning
AP



MONROE, Ohio – A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

The "King of Kings" statue, one of southwest Ohio's most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m., Monroe police dispatchers said.

The sculpture, 62 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way the arms were raised, similar to a referee signaling a touchdown. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday.

The fire spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheater but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured, police Chief Mark Neu said. The fire department would release a monetary damage estimate Tuesday, he said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_lightning_strikes_jesus_statue

[CurtEastPoint]

1. After...

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

2. It's that whole graven image thing

God thought it was tacky.

[No Elephants]

7. the graven image thing is one o the Big ten "thou shalt" thingies.

I always thought non-Catholics agreed with Jews on that one.

[damntexdem]

32. Especially with plastic foam and fiberglass.

Or maybe Zeus is getting upset at the competition.

[xxqqqzme]

3. Touchdown Jesus!

I like it!

Plastic foam and fiberglass, it just all fits together in a looney bizarro world.

My head hurts now.

[damntexdem]

33. Goooooo ooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooal!

Wait, wrong type of football. ;-)

[Barack_America]

55. That seems to be what God thinks.

Touchdown Jesus smote during the World Cup? Makes you wonder.

[izquierdista]

4. What was that Commandment??

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image

Yea, that one!

[GodlessBiker]

11. Apparently, some commandments good, other commandments, not so much.

[pscot]

30. It's more like a menu

than actual commandments; as in things you really, really have to comply with.

[damntexdem]

34. Well, that's the Protestant version of the Ten Suggestions.

The Catholic Bible doesn't include that one, instead having two "thou shalt not covets" -- wife and goods.

That's why the Catholic Church has gotten away with graven images for millenia. This only shows what happens when a Protestant Church ignores its own version of the Ten Suggestions. ;-)

Now, about all those graven images of the bible that RWers want to put into court houses .........

[meegbear]

13. ...

You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

[enlightenment]

44. Isn't that actually saying that people shouldn't make

statues of birds (in the sky), moles (and other underground dwelling critters), and fish? Seems a bit vague . . .

[katmondoo]

5. When I first saw this I thought it was a joke

How gross can an object be?

[damntexdem]

35. "I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I have my plastic Jesus."

I guess the "rain" in the song doesn't include a thunderstorm. ;-)

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mikita]

8. one piece of poetic justice in a f**ked up world

[No Elephants]

9. Has Pat Robertson explained this?

[sunwyn]

10. Thor 1 Jesus 0

[mikita]

24. funniest post today

:toast:

[kpete]

41. I believe

it could be my BEST post EVER!!!!
peace, kp

[YOY]

48. Thor 2 Jesus 0

Thor has a hammer...Jesus has already been nailed.

You do the math.

[AsahinaKimi]

62. DUZY!

LOL

[Warpy]

12. That's almost as clear a message as the lead in

"The Passion of Christ," the Mel Gibson holy snuff film, getting hit by lightning during shooting. If superstitious Christers aren't getting it now, then they never will.

[Yeahyeah]

14. It did not uh-burn-uh!God-uh has transfigur-id it-uh!

Hallelujah.

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. Drove by this one recently. I wonder how it has fared with lighting...

"World's Largest Cross" Effingham, Illinois


(thanks, kpete)

[brendan120678]

31. Is that steel or aluminum?

In any case, it probably acts as nothing more than a huge-ass lightning rod.
Just don't be standing next to it in a thunder storm.

[FailureToCommunicate]

40. Yeah, I wonder what Ben Franklin would've thought... But this is steel, and four feet

below FAA height limitations - but still two feet taller than the next tallest in Texas...

(Just like the cathedrals in medieval Europe: who wants to pilgrimage to the 'second tallest'?)


"198 feet tall and 113 feet wide, forged out of over 180 tons of steel anchored in untold fathoms of cement, the cross can withstand winds hurled by evilest of forces at up to 145 mph"

[Roland99]

16. I didn't know butter conducted electricity....

hehe


BTW, guess this was a sign from God that these fake Christians were too fucking vain.

[no limit]

17. I bet christians are shocked

[demwing]

22. Especially if they were standing next to Jesus when the bolt hit

Don't Tase me God!

[smirkymonkey]

43. This is a sure sign that the Rapture is upon us!

:evilgrin:

[ehrnst]

18. It's because of Gays, I just know it. Gays and Democrats and Abortion. (nt)

[Laelth]

19. I am very familiar with that statue. This is fitting and priceless. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[kenfrequed]

20. Zeus is getting pissed

I suppose.

[AlinPA]

21. Isn't that an Act of God?

[kirby]

28. I'm sure that is what the insurance co will say...

when they deny the claim. ;)

[EnlightenedOne]

23. Hustler was right across the street

how to explain that one away.

[Buns_of_Fire]

36. Bad aim? nt

[SpankMe]

38. Holy cow, you're right!!

I Google-mapped this, and there's a Hustler super store a mile away near Rte 63!!

How can we convince these delusionaries that the high powers spanked a Jesus and not a nearby Hustler store for a reason? From what I've seen, they'll believe anything.

[Greyskye]

45. God's infallible aim?

Surely he couldn't miss! :evilgrin:

[MineralMan]

25. Why does God hate Jesus so.

[mnhtnbb]

26. Damn! It's that science thing again.

:rofl:

[Turbineguy]

27. OK, close, but no cigar.

If Pat Robertson is stuck by lighting and turned into a smoking piece of pork rind, I'll start going to church.

[Taverner]

29. I KNEW making statues out of butter was a bad idea!!!

[SemperEadem]

37. graven image--isn't there a commandment somewhere about the store put into these things?

[dropkickpa]

39. Big buttah jeebus ----> now TERMINATOR jeebus

RUNNNN!!!!!!!

[NBachers]

42. How Far the Mighty Have Fallen

From Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla:"

"History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of men"

[ThomThom]

46. beware brother beware

god is not happy
must have been a false idol

[hedgehog]

47. Six stories tall? Isn't there also a commandment against lying?

[Corey_Baker08]

51. It Really Is 6 Stories Tall-The OP Photo Was Taken From Across The Interstate...

Therefor making the semi appear to be bigger than the statue, no in fact it is over 60 ft. tall and 40 ft wide, it was very large.

Also known as "Touchdown Jesus" to us Locals

[superconnected]

49. It would be nice if the mods would write why they move things, instead of having a rule that

we can't question the mods, while they constantly move topics.

[Corey_Baker08]

50. This is Very Close To Where I Live...

Local News said the owners of the Church do plan to immediately begin work on re-building the statue!

[alfredo]

52. Touchdown Jesus in happier days

[stubtoe]

53. This is not the first time Jesus has been hit by lightning

Happened to the world's largest Jesus statue in Rio, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/12/a-hoax-worlds-largest-jes_n_86303.html (picture included!)

and at a shrine in Golden, CO in 2007
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/13355400/detail.html

[Barack_America]

54. Oh the humanity!

Wonder what it looked like when it was burning.

[guitar man]

56. plastic foam and fiberglass!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kECF4NPkKA&feature=related

glows in the dark cause it's irradescent! :rofl:

[Poiuyt]

57. The irony is unmistakable

How many of those giant Buddhas have been struck by lightning?

[Evasporque]

58. Looks like he's buried up to the waist

and having crosses thrown at him. The one laying in front of him just hit him in the forehead.

[Yeahyeah]

60. It's from Bible story when Jesus got stuck in quicksand and heathens flung crosses at Him.

[Yeahyeah]

59. pastor says lightning-struck Jesus statue will rise again:

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2010/06/southern_ohio_pastor_says_ligh.html

>The giant Jesus, titled the "King of Kings," was a statue of steel, Styrofoam and fiberglass that rose like a glacier on the grounds of Solid Rock Church in the tiny town of Monroe in Butler County. If you've traveled on Interstate 75 between Dayton and Cincinnati over the past six years, you've seen it -- unless you were sleeping or arguing with someone in the car. It was huge, illuminated and depicted Jesus only from the torso up, with his hands raised 42 feet apart toward the sky. >

The statue earned numerous nicknames, including Touchdown Jesus and Quicksand Jesus, and inspired a song titled "Big Butter Jesus" after comedian Heywood Banks saw the statue on his way to a gig in Dayton. Banks thought the statue looked like one of those butter sculptures at a county fair.>

"My wife and I planned for it to be 6 feet tall," he said. "But before the election in 2004, we had reporters from 20 different nations asking what it meant. Who knows how many saw it as a sign from God?" >


"I don't see anything spiritual about this," he said. "The frame was made of steel, and lightning hits steel. It could have been a horse or a donkey; if it was made with steel, it was going to get struck by lightning. But what that statue expressed can't be destroyed." >

[HillWilliam]

61. Erected by nuts, taken down by bolts n/t