This week we heard about a statute in Ohio of Jesus that literally burned down from lightning strike. A article I found stated:
"The "King of Kings" statue, one of Ohio's most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.
The 62ft tall 40ft wide sculpture, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way the arms were raised, similar to a referee signaling a touchdown in a game of football."
see rest of article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7831077/60ft-Jesus-statue-burns-to-ground.html
When I first saw this article, I thought about it and wondered to myself when is it expressing reverence and when it is it a graven image? In Exodus 20:4 it says, "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,. . . ." God warned them not to make images because of the tendency of people to worship things rather than God. We make idols out of all sorts of things whether or not we realize it. Could it be that God allowed this statute to be struck down because it was becoming too important to the people of this church? Could it be that it was becoming a source of spiritual pride to these people? Maybe
I was also struck by the phrase that God used in this passage I quoted that God is a "jealous" God. This word is also used in Exodus 34:14 the original Hebrew word is "annq". God is saying that He desires with a passion our allegiance. It is right for God to be jealous of this because He deserves it, as our creator and sustainer. In fact, when we don't allow Him to be the priority of our lives as He should be it is sin. Normally we think of jealousy in negative terms, but in its proper context, it is appropriate.
Apparently, the co-pastor doesn't think that there is anything wrong with the statute because they want to build another one, this time to be fireproof. Quote from the pastor “I think he (Jesus) couldn’t have gotten this much advertising if we had paid a billion dollars,” she said Tuesday. Wow! It is just me or is there something terribly wrong with that statement. See the article about the rebuilding:
http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20100615/NEWS01/306160001/-Touchdown-Jesus-statue-fire-not-a-sign-from-God-Solid-Rock-Church-leader-says
