A six-story-tall statue of Jesus nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way his arms were raised, similar to a referee signaling a touchdown was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm and burned to the ground. Needless to say I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when I read the headlines. Was this an act of God? Okay, off course it was an act of God, but I meant, was it some sort of sign that God disapproved of the statue?

I know a lot you are going “Yes! Off course it is!” but before you get too excited, I have another theory. Perhaps the statue getting hit by lightening wasn’t necessarily because the statue is a giant idol with it’s hands raised to the heavens. The fact is, there are so many idols in our world today, so much disregard for God and His rules, that if God were to punish us all based on each and every fault, well lets just say that statues of Jesus wouldn’t be the only things burnt to the ground.

My point is this: the six-story-tall statue of Jesus was hit by lightening precisely for that reason. It’s a six-story statue made of steel. It might as well have been screaming at lightening to hit it. For me the most upsetting part of the whole story is the knowledge that this statue that’s now a bunch of charred metal cost $250,000 to finance. And now all that is burned to the ground. Even if it hadn’t been burnt to the ground, it might as well have been, because that’s the biggest waste of money I’ve heard in a Loooong time.

With the recession hitting not just the US economy, but all economies around the world, those $250,000 would have gone a long way towards feeding, clothing, educating, and improving the lives, of hundreds if not thousands of people. The biggest irony is that Jesus was not extravagant, and he preferred to sacrifice and help the poor, so erecting a $250,000 statue of him, seems more like an insult to him and what he stood for rather than a proper tribute.

Take from the story what you will, for me, it reminded me that extravagance no matter how you package it is ugly.

You can read the whole story at abcnews

And if you have the time and the inclination, there’s an entire post on giant statues of Jesus around the world at Annie Lambert Files. According to the author, “75% of the citizens of Monroe think this giant Jesus (Touchdown Jesus) is an eyesore and bad for Monroe. Some of them call him “Drowning Jesus.”