http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/15/jesus-statue-struck-by-lightning/?hpt=C2

June 15th, 2010
11:02 AM ET
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Permalink Jesus statue struck by lightning
If you've ever driven between Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, on I-75 then you probably saw the six-story King of Kings statue featuring Jesus coming out of a lake with hands raised in front of the Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio.

Monday night the statue was destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning.



CNN iReporters in the area are all over this story.

The gleaming white statue was unmissable, even speeding down the interstate.

Monroe fire chief Mark Neu told the CNN Belief Blog he's never seen anything like the fire in his 32 years as chief.

He said the 62-foot statue had a steel frame and was wrapped in Styrofoam and covered with a fiberglass coating to protect it. At 11:16 last night, the fire department got the call the statue had been hit by lighting and was on fire.

"It spread from the statue to the amphitheater," he said. "There was heavy damage to the amphitheater where the stature backed up to. It was a fast-moving fire. We’re looking at $700,000 worth of damage."

The chief has spoken with church officials, who have gotten calls about the statue today from as far away as China.

"I know the membership of the Solid Rock Church was devastated by the fire and have every intention of putting the statue and the amphitheater back as is was," Neu said. "They said they plan on rebuilding immediately and moving forward."

Neu said no one was injured in the blaze.

The statue made cameos in loads of Ohioans' snapshots and even made it into the documentary "Jesus Camp."

I once got a speeding ticket not far from it while on assignment. The Ohio state trooper would not give me a warning despite the fact my co-worker in the passenger seat asked if it counted if we had a "news emergency

I saw that too! how strange.

Hmmm..

I will be interested to see what Pat Robertson has to say since he likes to expell that natural disasters (not that this is one) are a judgement against the people. Suprised to see no comments about this. Oh well it's a shallow lake anywazes...Shalom...Miles

Struck His own statue? Who want's to touch that?

Really.

Maybe he was turning too much water into wine that day and got a bit disoriented.

The Tower falls.

The false Deity got God angry!


HA HA!



Now where is my Styrofoam Jesus!

Now I am going to say 'Flaming Jesus Christ' instead of 'Jumping Jesus Christ' from now on!

Deuteronomy 4:24....For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other.

Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God

It is merely a way to explain that God will not have us worshiping false gods, prophets, idols, or anything other then our great father himself.

right...I agree...that's why he sent down a lightning bolt at Jesus ...apparently people didn't get the hint when he was nailed to the cross

OOOOooooorrrr... there is no god, lightning is a natural occurrence and the statue was a good conductor... maybe? yeah... i think that's what a smart person would say.

Styrofoam especially is known to be a good holder of electrostatic charge.

Every crumple up a styrofoam cup and have the little bits and pieces stick to your clothes? Nope, it's not magic, it's just static electricity. No God required. But a vacuum cleaner is nice to have around.

NOt to mention the metal frame underneath it.

Did someone mention 'plastic Jesus' ? One of my favorite songs, ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzMjGbSoTj4&feature=related

Where is the lake of fire?

I got a bar of Lava Soap. I thought I would take a bath and clean up my act!


HA HA!

I always found the inevitable sermon about worship of anything but 'the great father' to be particularly ironical. Often, the preacher would helpfully include examples like cars and possessions, et al. Yet, those preachers would usually being driving around in Cadillacs paid for from the offering plate.

Anyway.

This topic is probably an example of Occam's Razor-- about never trying to explain with religion what is actually best explained by science and random chance.


-Kerry O.

I always love giving a young techie their first instruction in Hi-Pot (high potential) testing. They never quite believe that 2000 volts can produce violent arcs between pointy protrusions on pc boards until they hear the loud SNAP!!! and see the spark jump as much as an inch gap.

Seeing is believing and they never forget afterwards.

Makes ya wonder, though-- would a statue of Tesla get hit more or less often or never? :)


-Kerry O.