Act of God Kills Touchdown Jesus June 15, 2010

Act of God Kills Touchdown Jesus

By Guest Contributor
June 15, 2010

This is Touchdown Jesus, a.k.a. Drowning Jesus, a.k.a. Big Butter Jesus, a.k.a. Quicksand Jesus, a.k.a. King of Kings, in Monroe, Ohio:

He no longer exists, though. An “act of god” has done away with him.

The large Jesus statue iconic to Interstate 75 in Monroe is destroyed following an apparent lightning strike.

Motorists were stopped along the highway and around the Monroe area to watch the 62-foot “King of Kings” statue burn before officers dispersed traffic. The fire was reported just 11:15 p.m. Monday, June 15. Within minutes, all that was left was the steel frame of the statue at Solid Rock Church, 904 N. Union Road.

Of all the giant crosses and Jesus statues out there, this was one of my favorites.

At least an atheist wasn’t blamed for the damage…

***Update***: Pics of the burned Jesus are available at the Dayton Daily News:

(Thanks to Stephen for the link)

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  • flawedprefect

    Y’know, I’m starting to think there IS a God… and she’s an Atheist with an awesome sense of humor.

  • Valdyr

    You’d be surprised how many churches are hit by lightning… at least right up until the point where you realize a building with a huge metal protrusion on its roof is a hell of a temptation for any passing thunderstorm.

  • Lauren

    Praise Fulgora!

  • What no lightning rod? That’s just bad planning.

  • jcm

    It was a graven image anyway!

  • Revyloution

    Ive seen this article around the web. One problem, no pictures of Jesus on fire!

    There has to be pics of this out there.

  • Bob Roberts

    I live in the Dayton OH area, driving by Touch Down jesus always gave me a laugh. YOU WILL BE MISSED TDJ!

  • Richard Wade

    And that fish was THIIIS BIIIG!

    I have to say that I feel sorry for the congregation and for the sculptor. They were proud of it and it took a lot of money and work.

    But I’m sure they’ll raise even more money, and work even harder, and put up an even bigger, even uglier, even more glorifying one.

  • Esteban

    A few pictures of the aftermath and or video of the incident would be a great addition. Thanks for posting Hemant.

  • Bridget

    Wholly JESUS! LMAO

  • Lauren

    Click on the linked article. Look in the left corner. Pictures.

    Burnt to its wire frame because Leviticus probably warned about mixing fiberglass and styrofoam.

  • Daniel Dorfman

    Now it’s “burnt touchdown robot with no hands”

  • Zeus

    Athena told me not to, but I couldn’t stand it anymore. How is it fair that guy is praised while we are seen as mythology? So, this one is to show you they don’t call me God of Thunder for nothing. You fuck with me, you fuck with the best.

  • fritzy

    “Well, baby, I’d say it’s about this loooong…”

    Hey, c’mon, Jesus was a man–the Bible said so. And boys will be boys…

  • Ben

    Who knew Jesus was a giant Terminator.

  • Donna

    I love the fact that it’s called the “Solid Rock Church” when the statue was anything but.

  • Lobar

    Now it’s Terminator Jesus, I guess.

  • PrimeNumbers

    God is, of course, an atheist. That much is obvious. They do not believe in a higher power because, by definition, there is none. And if atheism is good enough for God, it’s good enough for me.

  • shame that, looked like a nice statue, a lightning rod probably wouldve been a good idea on the other hand the terminator thing would explain a few things so mabie our judgment day will be closer than we think and perhaps the resurection was really just the start of the rise of the machines, is he really our salvation? (yeah im gonna stop with the terminator puns now cos im out of movie names and cant fit in the sarah connor chronicles in that haha)

  • Samiimas

    You’d be surprised how many churches are hit by lightning… at least right up until the point where you realize a building with a huge metal protrusion on its roof is a hell of a temptation for any passing thunderstorm.

    I remember watching a documentary about Ben Franklin *it was on the history channel so it might have been complete BS* that said the lightning rod was originally dismissed and attacked by the church in America. They claimed lightning as God’s judgment and refused to accept that this supposedly divine strike from the heavens could be deflected by a simple metal rod.

    Unfortunately theirs only so many times the local lightning rod equipped whorehouse can survive while the Church burns before you have to admit that lightning doesn’t decide targets by morality.

  • would hardly suprise me if said local ‘lady of the night’ (please dont ask haha) house was more moral at the time 😛 lol more importantly im sure any god that controls the lightning would have much more fun aiming for the small metal thing on top of a church than a bigger target, more points that way 😀 think about how bored they’d get otherwise ^_^

  • Maakuz

    It was an act of Thor, obviously. Praise be Him who judges false gods from mighty Midgar!

  • Ubi Dubium

    I just need to link to Big Butter Jesus, in case any of you has missed it.

  • Vivian

    What is the “reasoning” religious people gave for this? Usually something is a miracle or act of god…. so…?

  • Vivian

    Haha, I also just realized how “evil” this blog might seem, having a good laugh about a burning Jesus.

  • JD

    I don’t recall the passage where Jesus tells us to spend time and money on gigantic statues of him and his cross. I do recall the ones where he says to help the poor and the oppressed. Half a million dollars can go along way in helping the poor and oppressed, but nooo, show your hypocrisy in a brazen way.

  • Citizen Z

    At least an atheist wasn’t blamed for the damage…

    ..yet. Pat Robertson has yet to comment.

  • the way ive always looked at things like that is quite simplistic and perhaps a little too human haha i mean mabie if it were divine will it would just be jesus’ way of saying he’s seen enough crosses for 1 lifetime, you know baaaad memories and all that, think it’d be the last thing he’d want to be reminded of 😀 could just imagine the disgusted look on his face coming back to earth and seeing crosses everywhere, might make the poor bloke go nuts with rage, POSTAL JESUS! how’s that for a hyper on sugar girls logical explination of the end of days? 😀 (that is assuming you belive in that lot of which i dont but it killed a few mins didnt it? ^_^)

  • muggle

    When I saw your heading and the first pic, I thought it was about a flood some place. Then I read on and realized they built Jesus to look like he’s drowning!!! WTF!!!

    Maybe god’s literally striking them down with lightning for both the hypocracy and the blasphemy.

  • Flah the Heretic Methodist

    Maybe god’s literally striking them down with lightning for both the hypocracy and the blasphemy.

    How about just for bad taste?

  • Revyloution

    Don’t worry, he will rise again in 3 days.

    If he’s the real son of god that is…

  • Adviser Moppet

    Clearly Thor was angry with them. What other explaination could it be?

  • Amenhotepstein

    Wow! The Almighty actually has good taste…who knew?

  • hey hang on a minuite! a statue of him drowning and i thought he was supposed to be able to walk on water, im suspicious now, did he have flotation devices of some kind the first time or did somone just paint the ground blue? this is very conflicting messegeing i think but then self contradictions arnt exactly new but thats not the point 😀 either he is the pre-curser to Aquaman or he isnt we need answers!

  • I haven’t laughed like this in a while. I love Atheists and their irreligious humor. 😉 And it’s not evil, it’s not like we are relishing in the pain of a person who got struck by lightning. Last time I checked styrofoam doesn’t have feelings. 🙂

    Hey, maybe the church will take this opportunity to raise more money and actually live by what Jesus taught, by helping the poor in their community. Could you imagine? Christians actually abiding by Christ and the Bible? Yeah, me neither.

  • My husband drives past this everyday on his way to work. Its creepy presence will be missed, especially when we have out of town guests.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUZ3d1tTbWg

  • they did try to adhere 100% to the bible once but that kinda led to the spanish inqisition so perhaps not the best idea 😛 im already a living abomination that needs to cleansed from the earth (and thats not even the worst 1 lol) i dont want to be tourted into a confession of guilt or anything like that ^_^

  • Maybe it’s god’s way of telling Subway to end it’s ‘Five Dollar Footlong’ deal?

  • The post fire picture is a hell of a lot better than the pre-fire picture. I knew God hated teh gays but I didn’t know that he was a art critic too.

  • inmyhead9

    I just posted this on my fb page with the caption, The big butter jesus has melted, i hope that there was a disgustingly giant baked potato around. 😀

    I grew up in Southern Ohio and would pass there quite often. It is more massive than pics show and we always gawked at how much it does look like butter. What a waste of money.

  • inmyhead9

    The big butter jesus song from a bob and tom episode.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq01UYiMyHg

  • Andrew T

    What you DON’T know about this thing is, there’s a Hustler store right across 75 from it. Made me laugh when I drove by before, and it’s even better now.

  • For a complete explanation of what happened here…

  • Matt

    The lightning storm is soooo going to hell.

  • Bob Roberts

    More importantly, the Hustler store across the street from touchdown jesus remains unharmed. Can’t wait to hear Pat Robinson’s explanation.

  • inmyhead9

    I didn’t know that there was a huslter store there. Awesome. Man i am homesick.

  • littlejohn

    Don’t worry. Pat Robertson will have a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Maybe the sculptor used gay fiberglass.

  • Jude

    Clearly this is the judgement of God because America is too tolerant of Westboro Baptist Church.

    😀

  • Silent Service

    Yeah, lightning takes down the Butter Jebus but leaves the Hustler Adult store standing. Things that make you go hrmmmmmm.

  • You’d be surprised how many churches are hit by lightning… at least right up until the point where you realize a building with a huge metal protrusion on its roof is a hell of a temptation for any passing thunderstorm.

    I heard that Ben Franklin originally had a hard time selling lightening rods to churches because they thought it was thwarting the “will of God.”

    He got a lot of them to purchase by arguing that if using a lightening rod to deflect lightening was going against the will of God, so was using a roof to deflect the rain.

  • Karen

    ROTFLMAO! The whole story is hilarious – especially the “after” picture.

    The Ben Franklin thing is true. It’s documented in Susan Jacoby’s excellent book, “Freethinkers.”

  • Edmond

    This is a hilarious story, of course. An article on Yahoo News had this to add:

    “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.”

    HELP people? And they SPENT that much just BUILDING the stupid thing?

    Typical religious thinking.

  • Eliza

    RUST IN PIECES

    Does any Cincy-based skeptic here know the truth behind the drug rumors at Solid Rock? I have difficulty believing even a wealthy pastor could avoid serving time if caught smuggling cocaine in horse rectums.

  • Richard Wade

    Crispy Jesus
    Christian soccer mom: “Look Honey, you can take home a piece of Burnt-to-a-Crisp Jesus!”
    Young future atheist: “Ewww! Gross! Mom, that is so creepy!”

  • ckitching

    JD wrote: “I don’t recall the passage where Jesus tells us to spend time and money on gigantic statues of him and his cross. I do recall the ones where he says to help the poor and the oppressed.”

    It’s a big book. Try Matthew 26:6-13. Basically the story in that section is about a woman who pours expensive ointment on Jesus’ head, and his apostles complain that it was a waste because it could’ve been sold to help the poor. Jesus responds by telling them, “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.” Therefore, since there will always be poor people, wasting money on Jesus is always good and right.

    You can find a justification for just about anything you could ever want to do in there, whether good or bad.

  • Citizen Z

    Christian soccer mom: “Look Honey, you can take home a piece of Burnt-to-a-Crisp Jesus!”
    Young future atheist: “Ewww! Gross! Mom, that is so creepy!”

    Why would she find it creepy? They already eat Jesus’ “body” on a near-weekly basis.

  • Joanna

    That soccer mom photo is priceless, thanks! Burnt-to-a-crisp-Jesus….too funny. It’s the butter in the recipe…ha ha.

    I think the community should keep the strange robot skeleton reaching its pipe arms up to heaven…it’s a modern art masterpiece symbolizing what happens when false idols are worshiped. It speaks volumes.

  • Elisa Day

    I wonder about their property insurance. It would be wonderful if they don’t cover this since it was “an act of god”.

  • Has a new God taken over? The Babbler is on the case!

  • Catherine

    Boobs cause Earthquakes
    Gays cause Oil Spills
    Atheists cause Christ to burn?

  • Dan W

    Touchdown Jesus is a giant Terminator. Obviously it gave up searching for John Connor… unless it was told that John would eventually visit that area of the country…

  • butter jesus fan

    you know i believe every one has a right to their beliefs so have them i am just reading about what people think of the fire… i am not atheist but i to have a thought and opinion .. even though it burnt down it sure does have a lot of people talking about Jesus who otherwise wouldn’t and by the way it made national news i hate graven images but it did give me a chance to talk to my daughter about Jesus every time we passed it giving me the opportunity to lead my daughter to him.does any one else have a god that made national news i think he knows how to get people attention and that statue is the most goggled thing on the net even pre fire my god knows what he is doing …but on a different note a 62 foot statue built with metal rods was bound to get struck by lighting it was the tallest structure standing in the middle of nowhere and Jesus will get more talk time after it is rebuilt God bless

  • So I live in the Dayton area and this is probably the best thing Ive heard in ages.

    Of course they’ll rebuild, cant let an act of god keep the church down amirite?

  • Richard Wade

    Hi butter jesus fan,
    I agree with you that it would be good if this incident gets people talking more about Jesus, IF it were along lines of something like this:

    Imagine that Jesus speaks to the people who built that thing and he says to them,

    “You spent a quarter of a million dollars on that to spread your love for me? And now you’re going to spend another seven hundred thousand dollars rebuilding it and the amphitheater behind it?

    I told you how to love me: Feed me when I’m hungry, give me drink when I’m thirsty, welcome me when I’m a stranger, clothe me when I’m naked, and visit me when I’m in prison.

    How big a free clinic, or a food bank, or a day care for single working mothers would that money have built? How long would a program for at-risk kids have lasted if you started it with that money? For generations, if they grew up to run it after you.

    I don’t need your showy, prideful, self-aggrandizing public monument to your own piety out here in this pleasant farmland, I need your gritty, hard bitten, unglamorous real-world love right now down in the crappy part of Cincinnati. You know, the kind of place where I used to hang out. Don’t build another one, live your love the way I taught you.”

  • Haha! I passed this thing going to and from the Creation Museum, interestingly enough.

  • butter jesus fan

    i keep hearing all this bla bla bla about money that it cost what people don’t realize god don’t need our money he can provide for all with or with out our meager resources

  • ckitching

    god don’t need our money he can provide for all with or with out our meager resources

    Then why doesn’t he? Why are there millions upon millions of people starving to death all over the world right now? Why are churches constantly canvassing for more money? And for that matter, why shouldn’t we point out that this icon (or idol, if you prefer) is not about helping the needy by rather a public show of piety?

    By the way, you should strongly consider using some punctuation. Your posts are difficult to decipher and read. I’m not asking for English teacher levels of punctuation, but a period now and then would be helpful.

  • Tom

    Burned Jesus actually looks like Giant Cockroach Jesus.

  • Can FSM cause lightning strikes? *snicker*

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