My Comment
A statue worth 300, 000$ erected by a so called Christian church. What nonsense!!! Why not send this money to Africa to construct a church for poor Christians who worship from leaking roofs. Why not spend this money to pay the medical bills some very poor persons in Asia or Africa who are HIV positive . This statue is indicative of how wicked and selfish human beings can be. They pretend to advertise Jesus when in reality they are advertising them selves. Shame upon this so called Solid Rock Church. Take it or leave it was God who smashed that Gabbage statue. Put up another statue and live to regret what God will do next. Do not say I never warned you.
'Touchdown Jesus' statue fire not a sign from God, Solid Rock Church leader says
Replacement will be fireproof; Internet publicity worth 'a billion dollars'
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100615/NEWS01/306160001/Rebuilding-plan-Make-it-fireproof
By Janice Morse and Jennifer Baker • jmorse@enquirer.com | jbaker@enquirer.com • June 15, 2010
MONROE - Bigger, better – and fireproof. That’s the type of Jesus statue that Darlene Bishop hopes will replace the 62-foot-tall foam-and-Fiberglass “King of Kings” sculpture that burned to the ground after lightning struck it late Monday.
Bishop, co-pastor of the sculpture’s home, Solid Rock Church, 904 N. Union Rd., along northbound Interstate 75 in Monroe said the $700,000 fire, while an upsetting mess, has wrought blessings, too – including worldwide publicity.
“I think he (Jesus) couldn’t have gotten this much advertising if we had paid a billion dollars,” she said Tuesday.
Bishop disagrees with people who lit up Internet comment boards suggesting – either jokingly or seriously – that the lightning strike could have been a sign that God disapproved of the statue. During the statue’s six years in front of the church, “he’s weathered a lot of storms,” Bishop said.
Monday’s traffic-stopping fire struck just before the church was to begin repainting the statue. Because of insurance coverage, “Now we get to build a whole brand-new one, paid-for,” Bishop said. “We are blessed.”
Erected in 2004 at a cost of $250,000, the statue likely would be worth about $300,000 now, fire officials estimated.
The much-debated local icon was known by nicknames ranging from “Big Butter Jesus” because of its yellowish, lumpy texture, to “Touchdown Jesus,” because its outstretched arms resembled a referee’s signal for a touchdown.
Flames consumed the statue, leaving only a charred metal skeleton. A reflection pool surrounding the statue was afloat with dead fish and burnt debris Tuesday. The blaze also caused $400,000 damage to an adjacent music theater, destroying most of its roof and damaging costly audio and electrical systems, fire officials said.
But the church’s nearby home for 23 battered, pregnant or homeless women was unscathed, Bishop pointed out. She said she consoled its residents and told them, “Jesus took a hit for you today, girls.”
Bishop said she’s just grateful no one was injured.
Seeing the statue burn was “kind of surreal,” said Monroe fire Capt. Richard Mascarella. “Whoever would have thought that we’d get dispatched for this?”
Fire Chief Mark Neu said that a statue would be among the last structures anyone would expect to burn in a fire, let alone a lightning-strike fire.
The materials used in the Jesus statue ignited rapidly after lightning struck, Neu said, because of flammable gases that Styrofoam-type materials emit after a fire starts.
“The fire burned very quick and it was very hot,” Neu said. In fact, the heat was so intense, the first group of firefighters was forced to back away and begin using larger hoses to douse the blaze.
At one point, flames soared 30 feet above the statute’s outstretched hands, Mascarella said. About 75 vehicles stopped cold on the Interstate as passersby gawked at the spectacle, he said.
Cars pulling on and off the interstate and people getting out of their cars made safety crews worry that someone would be seriously hurt or killed in a crash. The Ohio State Highway Patrol issued dozens of warnings, urging motorists to move along.
The first call reporting the fire came around 11:15 p.m. Monday during a severe thunderstorm.
A Butler County dispatcher called a Monroe dispatcher and relayed a caller’s report and said: “Did you get a call for the Jesus being on fire at Solid Rock yet?...Apparently it’s been struck by lightning and it’s now on fire.”
In hindsight, John Centers, a Monroe assistant fire chief, realizes he probably witnessed the lightning bolt that struck the statue.
Centers was outside on his deck, about a mile from the church, watching Monday night’s spectacular storm. He saw a very bright lightning flash, and heard a loud thunderclap.
At first, he didn’t think much of it, “because there had already been so many ground strikes that night,” Centers said. But he could tell that the lightning had struck fairly close by and “it was a very significant ground strike.”
“The pattern of light flashed all the way to the ground,” and was in the general direction of the church, Centers said.
Within four minutes of his witnessing the strike, firefighters were being called to the blazing statue.
The lightning hit in spite of preventive measures, Neu said.
“Everything around the structure and even the structure itself has lightning resistors and grounding rods,” Neu said, but he added that the unpredictable nature of lightning can decrease effectiveness of those devices.
Firefighters spent about an hour extinguishing the blaze. They remained working at the scene until around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, Neu said. Battling the three-alarm fire required about 50 firefighters from Monroe and several neighboring departments, including Middletown, Liberty Township and Deerfield Township.
The fire left a mess – and considerable discussion about the statue – in its wake.
The statue had been a much-debated icon since it was erected along busy I-75.
For fans, it inspired religious experiences. A man reported that the sculpture helped him reconsider his intention to commit suicide, Bishop said.
For critics, the structure represented a garish waste of money that could have been devoted to humanitarian causes.
But for many casual observers, the statue simply served as an eye-catching photo backdrop and a source of lighthearted jokes.
Whether they liked Giant Jesus or not, people grew accustomed to it.
The statue was such a landmark, businesspeople and local residents would tell visitors how to find them in relation to the sizable Savior.
Even firefighters that Mascarella, the fire captain, would meet at conventions would be unfamiliar with Monroe until he’d mention the statue, he said.
“It’s bizarre for it not to be there – and just to have this weird, creepy-looking metal frame there now,” said Megan Coscia, 25, of Lebanon, a manager at the nearby Hustler Hollywood of Ohio store.
Coscia said customers have often mentioned the statue – and some would note the irony that a big, religious-oriented statue would be within view of a store selling adult-oriented merchandise some consider sinful.
But Coscia points out, jokingly, that the Lord hasn’t struck down the store yet. “We’re right down the road and lightning didn’t hit us,” she said.
Neu said the destruction of the statue left church officials and devoted members exhausted and devastated.
The church claims its membership hovers around 4,000.
“They’ll pick up and they’ll move on,” Neu said, “and they’ll continue to do the work that they’re doing.”
COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE
mikeylikesit513 wrote:
The statue was not erected to glorify Jesus Christ and his teachings... it was erected to promote and glorify the church and the pastors massive ego.
6/16/2010 12:48:49 AM
Cliftondweller wrote:
"You shall not make for yourself a graven 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 or serve them; for I The Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My Commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6) The Second Commandment, interpret it as you want.
6/16/2010 1:03:19 AM
Chadufunny wrote:
I don’t get IT, Christians are always asking for God’s will to be done. God burns down this ridiculous statue that some super ego right wing Christian wants to put back up because he wants everyone to see how much he loves Jesus. God burned down this Insult of Jesus because it’s about attraction not promotion. Take the money and feed some family or get their house out of foreclosure. OMG when will these crazy people get it.
6/15/2010 11:01:24 PM
anonniemuss wrote:
Pat Robertson is always so fast to say that people bring catastrophes on themselves because they have displeased God. He and Falwell blamed 9/11 on the "pagans, gays, lesbians, and abortionists". The earthquake in Haiti was because of "the pact with the devil" that Haitian slaves made 200 years ago. He told Chile, after the earthquake THERE, that God was even angrier with them than with Haiti because they had attempted to prosecute that good man Augusto Pinochet. He threatened Dover, Pennsylvania with Divine Retribution because it ousted local school board members who favored teaching "intelligent design". Although this certainly doesn't qualify as a "catastrophe," I wonder what he'll say about the lightning strike of Touchdown Jesus...
6/16/2010 1:39:49 AM
schnecken wrote:
....How about...using the money that would build another huge legless jesus for the good of the people..Why do you need a million dollar statue? Would Jesus do that? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't.What woul the "secondary effects" of this statue inspire people to do???Really..someone is insane!!!What is the message of a styrofoam skyscraping jesus? What kind of church is this? I don't need to be lured in by Starbuck's ,wii,oversized eyesores,or free donuts! I will walk in a door that has friendly caring faces that care about people and have their priorities together.There are a lot more important things they could use that money for.
char51 wrote:
it sounds like the church could have spent the money more wisely. like helping people, with food a place to live, help the old. besides you are not to make and image of him. maybe got tired of looking at that thing.we need churchs to help the people, not be like the goverment and wast it.
myspinonit wrote:
Fireproof..wait a minute. Isn't god omnipotent? Can they build a graven image that God can't destroy by fire..a theological conundrum..
6/16/2010 3:17:20 AM
Fox2140 wrote:
Make it as grandiose and big and flashy as possible!!!!
Over 350 feet!!!! Its not like that money could be better spent helping the poor or sick or elderly!!!! And really, what goes along better with Jesus's message than building something as extravagant as this!!!
Build it taller than the Carew!!!
wcrob wrote:
I hope the Bishops are reading this, because you know what nauseates me to no end about the plans to rebuild that statue? It's all the talk about how much money it is (was)worth, and how to build it bigger and better, and how to get more publicity, and how much the statue meant to people. Tell me something, where is the talk about Jesus in all this? A perfect opportunity to share the gospel that Jesus died on the cross for us, and not one peep about that. Do people only care about the publicity that spending money on a statue will bring?
Listen, Bishops...I have never had, nor will I ever have, any intention of stepping one foot inside your church. I'd rather flee into the wilderness and worship in a mountain cabin.
cydwest wrote:
why not feed the poor, rather than building another idol??
How is it possibly worth the cost in a World of starving people?
seems rather self serving - what would jesus do...
6/15/2010 7:51:52 PM
