Lightning levels 6-story-tall Jesus statue
15 June 2010 by Stardust
Before and after (a video is inserted below, but will probably be removed from YouTube soon like others have been.)
Naomi wrote about this “Touchdown Jesus” statue some time ago. There is even a song about “Big Butter Jesus” on YouTube. Well, it’s now rubble. I guess Zeus must have been jealous.
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.
Travelers on Interstate 75 often were startled to come upon the huge statue by the roadside, but many said America needs more symbols like it. So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them.
The 4,000-member, nondenominational church was founded by former horse trader Lawrence Bishop and his wife. Bishop said in 2004 he was trying to help people, not impress them, with the statue. He said his wife proposed the Jesus figure as a beacon of hope and salvation and they spent about $250,000 to finance it.
I wonder what imaginative stories the builders, financiers and worshipers of this statue will make up to explain this one. I bet they will blame it on the debbil. 
15 June 2010, on 1:19 pm
If they spent $250K on this monstrosity, do you suppose they had it insured for $300K. Against “acts of God” maybe?
15 June 2010, on 1:31 pm
I see you beat me to the punch, Star [ala "Great minds" shtick?]…I wrote the following (with the link to the Yahoo News story), immediately after cracking up reading it:
I imagine many, if not most(?), of you heathens have seen this little bit of…”Cosmically appropriate hilarity”(?)…which happened yesterday (6/14/10).
“6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning”:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_lightning_strikes_jesus_statue
What!…something like (in a, deep Southern drawl, fundy voice?):
“Well now…imagine ma surprise…Like, y’all could kick me through the Goalpost of Heaven, readin’ that!…
Halloweenja!”
Or (of course!), maybe…
“Church Lady-like”…(all together now?)…
“Could it be…”S-A-T-A-N”?
Y’almost can’t make shit like that up. Like some of the crap going on with the “Tea baggers” and various, “holier than thou”, fundy politicians.
15 June 2010, on 2:39 pm
This is just too funny. Guess their god was serious about that “thou shalt not make any graven images” rule!
Read that they plan to rebuild the monstrosity. Maybe this time they should put a lightning rod on top of his head.
15 June 2010, on 2:41 pm
I know how Jesus feels. I didn’t get along with my abusive father, either.
15 June 2010, on 3:37 pm
Note to Jesus.
Let that be a lesson to ya boy.
Plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame. Two arms of steel lightning rods with a super flammable plastic foam and fiberglass fuel source.
Maybe an appropriate caption would have been ” Go ahead I dare you hit me with all you got”.
15 June 2010, on 8:07 pm
Love co-pastor Darlene Bishop’s comment “It will be back, but this time we are going to try for something fireproof,” she said.
15 June 2010, on 9:24 pm
Was it the answer to the burning bush bull in the babble? Did the sky fairy decide to prove its existence by setting fire to the jeesus figure, sort of like a symbolic second ritual slaying? Perhaps gawd was hosting a barbeque and simply forgot the loaves and fish fingers. Finally found a use for jeesus.
16 June 2010, on 11:29 am
Check out the Solid Rock Church website . . . marketing Jeebus to make money.
16 June 2010, on 9:08 pm
I have always heard that there is beauty in religion. And here’s my proof. Watching 60 foot Jesus burn was truly beautiful!
17 June 2010, on 9:22 pm
I *love* the 8 steps to being a “true Christian” on the Solid Rock Church website:
http://www.solidrockchurch.org/true_christian.php
1.) You must realize that no one is good enough.
YOU SUCK!
2.) You must accept the fact that even you are a sinner.
YOU SUCK!
3.) You must know that God loves you, even though you have failed Him.
God loves you, but … YOU SUCK!
4.) You must see that a price must be paid for your sin.
Somebody’s gonna have to pay for the fact that YOU SUCK!
5.) You must realize that Jesus paid the price!
Jesus had to suffer and die because YOU SUCK!
6.) You must repent of your sin (turn away from your sin).
YOU SUCK and YOU KNOW IT, and you should STOP SUCKING, except that you CAN’T because YOU SUCK!
7.) You must ask Christ to save you.
Only Jesus can help you because YOU SUCK!
8.) Believe and confess
KNOW you suck, SAY you suck, and NEVER FORGET that YOU SUCK!
17 June 2010, on 9:24 pm
Ray, that is true. Christians are taught that they suck and are hopeless nothings!
Naomi sent this to me via email in response to the story link I sent to her while she is out there on the road:
Ramen! Thanks very much Sarah! Too damn funny! (Despite a couple of serious comments boo-hooing blasphemy, most folks who have commented on Sarah’s post continue to find humor in the “catastrophe”.)
19 June 2010, on 2:06 am
One huge DashboardJeebus down, two big-ass crosses to go.
Psst! Sir Lightning-flinger, they’re in Groom TX and Effingham IL. You can’t miss them — they’re 190 and 198 feet tall, respectively. If your electrical charge is low, just sent a coupla tornadoes… Or you could shame them into destruction since neither is as tall as their looney-tunes owners claim.
Just sayin’
19 June 2010, on 10:04 am
Psst! Sir Lightning-flinger, they’re in Groom TX and Effingham IL.
ROTFLMAO!
19 June 2010, on 5:15 pm
Burn jesus…burn!
2 July 2010, on 7:07 am
Ray, are you saying that Christians are suckers?