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June 15th, 2010
11:02 AM ET
Jesus statue struck by lightningIf 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." Check out Time.com and CNN affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati for more on the story. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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By the way, is this a black church or a white one since 'god' is race sensitive in this country?
lets start off by saying finally that eyesore comes down. the city of monroe and middletown have been fighting for years to get that eyesore taken down due to tons of controversy it has caused. and to top it off the guy in chrage bishop lawrence use to be a horse trader and got busted with trading drugs years and years ago and now he starts a church and builds this weird thing. now i admit i use to live down the road from there and it was an eyesore. plus the bishop makes u show ur taxes to become a member of the church that is not right at all. i wish they would wake up and redo that whole area it looks so crappy anymore.
Reminds me of the tornado down South a couple years ago. It only hit one building – a church. Smashed it to pieces. The people inside just barely survived. After, the pastor said that the divine message was – wait for it – God loved that church! The proof – he saved the people from the tornado! Real moral of the story – people will believe what they want to believe.
@Mikey,
What's your point? Christians, Muslims, Jews, Atheists(Mao), Pagans... the list goes on and on. All of them have killed because of their unrelenting, intolerant, dogmatic beliefs and bitterness about anyone who might have another point of view.
Sorry Aqua I meant that as a post to Mikey.
We used to drive by Big Butter Jesus and to us, it looked like Jesus was looking to the sky saying.....
"Dear Father in Heaven, Don't these people have any taste??!?"
I have thrown down my lighty lightening to show that I, the great Zeus, is still around and in power! Behold my proof as I strike down the very image of the god you worship! Come back to me children, come back to the father of all gods!
nevermind.
I hear you.....I don't blame you!
Hey CT,
The article is not poorly named. For those of us who live in Southwest Ohio and could give a crap about ND football (which is probably the vast majority of us) this horrible piece of glorified lawn art is Touchdown Jesus! It's also Big Butter Jesus if you know Haywood Banks!
Looks like the devils in the details..... >8)
WOW, THIS IS REALLY FUNNY, some of ya are really trying so hard to figure God's mind out and don't have a clue about who God really is! Too many here are lost and I will pray for all of you! Jesus loves you!
Oh, and YOU know all about god? Do you have even 3 working brain cells in your head???? You don't know #$&%. Your beliefs are based on the brainwashing you got practically from birth. It's just old myths, the same as Roman myths, Greek myths, Norse myths, tribal myths etc. etc. etc. Use some logic and reason dude. Don't just blindly accept archaic nonsense. If you were raised in China you'd be just as adamant about Bhuddism, ditto for India and Hinduism, etc. etc. It's all because of where you were born and which myths you were brainwashed with. Nothing more. Get a brain dude.
OH YES MAWSTER! SMITE THEM WITH THE BREATHE OF YOUR HEAVING NOSTRILS! BURN THEM IN YOUR FLAME OF RETRIBUTION SO THAT THEY MAY KNOW YOR LOVE AND KINDNESS! LET THE BLOOD OF YOUR CHOSEN CLEANSE THE NONBELIEVERS!
It's because of nuts like you that people are leaving your religion enmass. Pray for the fallen, not for their damnation.
Talon needs the lord. People do need the lord.
Why would I need an invisible fairytale man? I wouldn't. Wake up to reality man. Use logic and reason instead of blind acceptance of 2000 year old myths, written by a primitive culture. Sorry, it's just so utterly ridiculous.
Well said! – V.Sullivan, but as long as we work out our own salvation, he will be sorry for not even accepting his free gift of salvation that Christ so humbly and loving offers him and everyone else.
Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, oogah boogah Boo!. The stupidity of Christians never ceases to amaze me.
Thank God of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is now at the right hand of God!
You were slightly amusing yesterday. Today you are just boring. Switch into your alter-ego Death Likes Look at Naked Kittens or whatever it was.
How about they spend the 700k on the needy instead of more mega building... disgusting
Hey, it doesn't really look like he's making a touchdown signal. It looks like there might be someone underwater.... oh, nevermind. Halleluja!
Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. Otherwise, you'll be tortured forever by an invisible red guy with horns.
Talon, I applaude you for your literary talents but instead of wasting them on foolishness, try spending that time studying the bible and you'll find out some things you may not be aware of about the God you so quickly slander.
Hmm... If I had to make a suggestion, I would recommend making something slightly less tall and conductive. Why wouldn't it have caught fire? I'm surprised it lasted this long.
Time to round up the usual suspects. Zeus, front and center, Thor, right next to him, Tlaloc, get in there. Okay Perkūnas, you too. And you, Tawhiki. Now, which one of you was tossing around the ol' thunderbolt last night in Ohio?
Dear People-
That whole 2nd Commandment thing (no graven images)...I meant that...
love God-
ROFLMAO!
Nice shot, Jesus!
Let's not replace it. Use the $700,000 or more on the poor.
Amen...
You're right on the mark brother. Its sad to see what churches do with what is actually God's money all in the name of their religion. Do something good with the money instead of practicing idol worship by building a statue that God most likely wouldn't have approved anyway.
Exodus 20:1-6 says:I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Styrofoam Jesus was burned down for your sins.