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<DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks for the comment Nick.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I have been informed by unimpeachable sources that the
torching of Touchdown Jesus was an intentional, though wholly understandable,
Act of God.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>God's explanation: "Upon further review, Jesus did not
score a touchdown. The world is now worse off spiritually and morally than
it was before his occurrence. How anyone looking at the actions in world
since that occurrence could have came to any other conclusion is unfathomly
hard to understand. The play is unequivocally reversed."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Art Deco, Channeller for God</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=NGIER@uidaho.edu href="mailto:NGIER@uidaho.edu">Gier, Nicholas</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=deco@moscow.com
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> ; <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 16, 2010 8:36
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Vision2020] Irony/Comedy in
Our Lives and Spiritual Titanism</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<P><FONT size=2>Hi Wayne,<BR><BR>I've been following this story closely.
Statues like this are artistic manifestations of what I call "Spiritual
Titanism," an extreme form of humanism in which humans take on divine
attributes and prerogatives. <BR><BR>For the front cover of my book
"Spiritual Titanism" (SUNY Press, 2000, picture attached and reviews at <A
href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/steab.htm,)I">www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/steab.htm,)I</A>
chose the 60 foot statue of a naked Jain saint. He and his colleagues
are considered more perfect than the gods. As far as I know none of the
gigantic statuary of Buddhas, Jain saints, or Hindu gods has been destroyed by
lightning, which goes to show where divine favor really lies!<BR><BR>The very
first textbook I used for my philosophy of religion class referred to a study
done on tornado damage. Quite a number of churches had been destroyed,
but very few bars and houses of prostitution. In this case one could not
say that high steeples were the attraction.<BR><BR>I was unaware of all the
other Christ statues that have been hit. There is a real theological
lesson here.<BR><BR>I'm also reminded that a state legislator somewhere wrote
a bill changing "act of God" to "act of Satan" for the insurance
industry. This is yet another example of theological illiteracy in the
U.S. To deny the omnipotence of God and allow Satan his own agency is the
heresy of Manicheanism, an ancient form of cosmic dualism which has always
been rejected by orthodox Christianity.<BR><BR>I have to chuckle when the
Solid Rock Church's pastor declared that this was yet another act of
self-sacrifice on J.C.'s part! I would also remind him that the ancient
Indians had the good sense to make their huge statues out of solid
rock.<BR><BR>Nick<BR><BR>Nicholas F. Gier, Professor Emeritus<BR>Department of
Philosophy, University of Idaho<BR>President, Idaho Federation of Teachers,
AFT/AFL-CIO www.idaho-aft.org/ift.htm<BR>208-882-9212, 1037 Colt Rd., Moscow,
ID 83843<BR><BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From:
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com on behalf of Art Deco<BR>Sent: Wed 6/16/2010
6:56 AM<BR>To: Vision 2020<BR>Subject: [Vision2020] Irony/Comedy in Our
Lives<BR><BR>Irony/Comedy in our lives, especially the comments made by
readers.<BR><BR>Ohio's Jesus statue is latest religious statue to be struck by
lightning<BR><BR>By Monica Hesse and Dan Zak<BR>Washington Post Staff
Writer<BR>Wednesday, June 16, 2010; C01<BR><BR><BR><BR>It appears God has
sacrificed his only son. Again.<BR><BR>A bolt struck a 62-foot-tall statue of
Jesus Christ on Monday outside a church in Monroe, Ohio, and the statue
erupted in flames. All that remains is a charred steel skeleton, its spindly
arms stretched toward heaven, a gesture that once earned it the nickname
"Touchdown Jesus."<BR><BR>Darlene Bishop, co-pastor of Solid Rock Church, says
she's simply relieved that the lightning hit Jesus and not the home for
at-risk women next door.<BR><BR>"I told them, 'It looks like Jesus took a hit
for you last night,' " she says.<BR><BR>Act of God? Act of nature?<BR><BR>In
2008, lightning singed the fingers and eyebrows of Christ the Redeemer, the
130-foot Jesus statue that stands over Rio de Janeiro. In 2007, a bolt blasted
the 33-foot Jesus statue at Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colo. One of
Jesus's arms fell off.<BR><BR>The saints and angels are not safe either. The
Notre Dame de Chicago's Virgin Mary burst into flames from her perch atop the
church's dome in 1978; the Engineering News Record covered the construction of
a new, lightning-resistant statue with the headline: "Burned once, dome
reMaryed."<BR><BR>A bolt that struck St. Joan of Arc's statue in New Orleans
sliced her brandished staff in half. Statues of the Angel Moroni, which
frequently top Mormon churches, have been hit by lightning with such frequency
-- Moroni's horn is particularly susceptible -- that the Salt Lake Tribune
once fretted over their safety in a front-page story.<BR><BR>(Side note: Actor
James Caviezel was struck by lightning in 2003 while filming Mel Gibson's "The
Passion of the Christ." He was playing Jesus.)<BR><BR>Believer or not, we can
always count on lightning to energize the what-does-it-mean lobes of our
brain.<BR><BR>Ancient Romans equated statues being struck by lightning with
bad omens, such as chickens beginning to talk and blood raining from the sky.
Presumably, the latter two were less-frequent events.<BR><BR>To find some
modern-day meaning in Touchdown Jesus, we turned to Pat Robertson, host of
"The 700 Club," who has divined meaning from Hurricane Katrina (abortionists?)
and the Haitian earthquake (historic pact with the Devil?). Alas, he declined
through a publicist to interpret the significance of the lightning
strike.<BR><BR>So, we turned to science. Religious structures, especially
church steeples, are regularly zapped because they are often the highest point
in a given area, according to John Jensenius, lightning safety specialist for
the National Weather Service. But the same goes for towering secular
symbols.<BR><BR>"Oh, she's hit by lightning on a continual basis," says Statue
of Liberty spokesman Darren Boch.<BR><BR>When asked whether such lightning
strikes might represent a malevolent act of God toward America, Boch says, "I
can clearly state that no one here deems it an act of God."<BR><BR>Which
brings us to the main reason for writing this story: Lightning Safety Week
starts Sunday.<BR><BR>Summer is a bolt-heavy season for much of the South and
the East Coast, so the National Weather Service recommends seeking shelter
when there's thunder and waiting 30 minutes after the last flash to
emerge.<BR><BR>But some people don't need to worry too much: Only five people
have been killed by lightning inside the District of Columbia since 1959,
despite a flash-per-square-mile rate (11.7) that exceeds 35 states, including
Virginia (66 deaths) and Maryland (124).<BR><BR>As for the incineration of
Touchdown Jesus, Pastor Bishop isn't reading into it.<BR><BR>"Honey," she
says, "it's just some fiberglass."<BR><BR><BR>Post a Comment<BR><BR><BR>View
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