Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Terminator Jesus?

Fire and property damage are never funny. But then this story reminds me of the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, in which Elijah calls down fire from heaven.

The Solid Rock Church, just off I-75 north of Cincinnati, OH, built a three-story tall statue of Jesus early in the previous decade. Everyone referred to this statue as "Touchdown Jesus" for reasons obvious to anyone familiar with American football.

This week that statue was struck by lightning and burned like Elijah's sacrifice. The images (available here) of the steel frame left behind after the fire destroyed the plastic foam and fiberglass reminded me of the classic Terminator. And can't we all imagine Jesus telling the Eleven just before the Ascension, "Hasta la vista, baby," or (wait for it . . .), "I'll be back."

Update: A colleague mentions this event on his blog.

3 comments:

Andrea said...

I watched the video and a lady by the name of "Gifty" seems pretty upset. The next person says that his Lord is now gone. OK people. Do you realize that if you are acting like this, the statue was more to you than just a statue.

Steve C said...

What is really bizarre as that the co-pastor was on the local news tonight and she made the following statement:

"Although it will take much longer than three days to see this Jesus rise again, he will be back— just like the Terminator, he'll be back."

So your Terminator reference was apt.

Pete W said...

Well, in the bible Paul says everything we do/build will be tested by fire and what is left is what is worth keeping. I guess they either built it wrong, it's just not worth keeping.

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