MONROE, OH – A lightning strike was the undoing of a very famous statue!
A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.
The statue, built in 2004 and dubbed “Touchdown Jesus,” was a feature on the grounds of the Solid Rock Church in Monroe. The statue was named “King of Kings” but colloquially became called “Touchdown Jesus” due to its arms appearing to make the signal a referee makes for a touchdown in professional football. The statue was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday.
According to the Associated Press, the fire spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheater but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured. The fire department would release a monetary damage estimate Tuesday, police chief Mark Neu said.
The statue had become somewhat of a landmark for the city. Travelers on Interstate 75 often would become startled to come upon the huge statue by the roadside, but many said America needs more symbols like it. So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them.
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The money spent on that statue, could have feed the homeless for a year!
I hope it's not reconstructed, It was tacky and pretentious.
What would the real Jesus think about this statue?
It’s pure blasphemy and Idolatry.
He would say, “Do not worship statues or idols".
Maybe the higher powers are trying to tell us mere humans something with this incident. Now, will the people who built it really listen.
That was struck the same day I was locked up by New York state. I am the second coming of Jesus. I am a mere mortal man. I am a Muslim. I live in Newburgh, NY.
I was driving down 75 and was startled by the number of folks that have decided to stop and check this out. Looks like people are looking for symbols these days.
So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them
I heard a rumore that Notre Dame was going to try and bring a class action law suit to have touchdown jesus relocated to their campus
Big Butter Jesus has been destroyed!?!