God messes with the Jesus

February 12, 2008 11:57 AM

Lightning strikes world's largest Jesus. Masonry + nature + photography = awesome.
posted by XQUZYPHYR (86 comments total)

That is actually Giant Jesus attacking Rodan with lightning bolts from his chest. It's a common misinterpretation.
posted by well_balanced at 12:02 PM on February 12 [5 favorites]

Zeus 1, Jesus 0
posted by ColdChef at 12:04 PM on February 12 [30 favorites]

That's got to be fake. What are the chances that someone would be taking a picture of the statue at just the right moment?

Besides, will lightening strike stone?
posted by Afroblanco at 12:04 PM on February 12

Of course it will. Lightning will strike the tallest thing in the area, and this certainly qualifies.
posted by Dave Faris at 12:06 PM on February 12

People of Brazil, all that booty shakin' means you're going down first.
posted by phaedon at 12:10 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Looks more like a screen grab than a photograph to me.
posted by Dr-Baa at 12:10 PM on February 12

Is this, then, the electric messiah? The AC/DC god?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 12:11 PM on February 12 [6 favorites]

What are the chances that someone would be taking a picture of the statue at just the right moment?

I would imagine that the odds are pretty good that someone is taking a picture of that statue at just about ANY given moment.
posted by dersins at 12:12 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Well, strictly lightning will strike the best path to ground in the area, which is usually but not always the tallest object.
posted by Skorgu at 12:12 PM on February 12

I bet Allah threw the bolt. Or maybe Thor based it with mjolnir.

Definitely not Zeus though, he wouldn't use his calling card like that.
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 12:16 PM on February 12

The article mentions it's made of reinforced concrete, which I expect means it contains rebar.

It's safe to assume this happens often, as Stone Jeebus is thusly a giant lightning rod.
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:18 PM on February 12

What are the chances that someone would be taking a picture of the statue at just the right moment?

No less likely than someone taking a picture of the Empire State Building at just the right moment, I'd guess.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:18 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

So does this mean the whole Jesus/salvation thing is off?
posted by Citizen Premier at 12:19 PM on February 12

You may not dictate what Zeus would or would not do, puny mortal. PREPARE TO FEEL ZEUS'S WRATH!

(hang on, need to recharge the tesla coil)
posted by DU at 12:19 PM on February 12

Ah you silly people. Do you think that GOD and THE SON OF GOD communicate using words like us mere mortals?
Of course not. They communicate by high powered imperceptibly fast beams.
posted by jouke at 12:21 PM on February 12

Things like this have always been a problem for people of faith. Why would God strike a stature of Jesus?

Ben Franklin (being a person of logic and reason) faced a lot of opposition from people of faith to his idea that it was the height and shape of a conductor that attracted lightning and not God's hand.
posted by three blind mice at 12:21 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

It's. . . Alive!
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:21 PM on February 12 [3 favorites]

World's Largest Jesus? Great name for a band!
posted by newfers at 12:23 PM on February 12

No less likely than someone taking a picture of the Empire State Building at just the right moment, I'd guess.

I must be doing something wrong then.
posted by monospace at 12:23 PM on February 12

I'd say there are probably no less than a dozen webcams pointed at the statue 24/7 and would imagine that the many tons of steel rebar in it is partially exposed somewhere.
posted by well_balanced at 12:24 PM on February 12

Don't taze me, Dad!
posted by Abiezer at 12:25 PM on February 12 [29 favorites]

I wonder what he did wrong.
posted by papakwanz at 12:25 PM on February 12

Is it wrong that this makes me smile?
posted by HuronBob at 12:29 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

It's not the worst thing God ever let happen to Jesus.
posted by Daddy-O at 12:29 PM on February 12 [16 favorites]

Awesome.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:29 PM on February 12

So does this mean the whole Jesus/salvation thing is off?

Logically, no, but it does lend some credibility to the "build a giant statue to attract lightning" thing.
posted by The World Famous at 12:31 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Daddy-O: It's not the worst thing God ever let happen to Jesus.

Mel Gibson is the worst God ever let happen to Jesus. Of course, Mel may incorporate lightning strikes into his sequel.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:33 PM on February 12

You don't need rebar (or any metal) to attract lightning. The electricity has travelled thousands of feet through nothing but air, and won't be stopped by a concrete statue. (It will usually propagate over the surface, anyway)
posted by rocket88 at 12:33 PM on February 12

I don't see how this is surprising. I've always seen Jesus as a bit of a lightning rod...
posted by GhostintheMachine at 12:34 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

It's actually fairly easy to take pictures of lightning strikes. My father used to take extensive pictures during lightning storms. By simply keeping the shutter open, he could capture two or three strikes in a single photograph. I have no idea whether the picture above uses a similar technique or is a grab from a webcam, but the notion that someone could have captured the image is certainly plausible to me.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:35 PM on February 12

MC 900 Ft Jesus plugs in.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:37 PM on February 12

What are the chances that someone would be taking a picture of the statue at just the right moment?

Are you doubting the journalistic integrity of the Daily Mail?
posted by birdherder at 12:39 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

A little disappointing for one of the new seven wonders. I mean, it's concrete!
posted by rottytooth at 12:41 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

sweet.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 12:42 PM on February 12

Concrete Jesus, Concrete Jesus
Stickin' up so proudly in the air
though his godly stony might
calls down every lightning strike
It never messes up his holy hair!

Sing it with me now!
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:42 PM on February 12 [3 favorites]

What would've been cool -- Lightning strikes and animates the concrete messiah, who then marches down the mountain and does a godly Godzilla thing on the heathens of Brazil.
posted by VicNebulous at 12:44 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

what are the chances ...

This looks like the same storm but a different photographer and better perspective.
posted by psyche7 at 12:47 PM on February 12 [5 favorites]

Somewhere, four members of a shitty hardcore band finally agreed on a name.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 12:48 PM on February 12 [5 favorites]

Well, shit. Jesus is charging up.
posted by cortex at 12:50 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

Are you doubting the journalistic integrity of the Daily Mail?


Every day of my life since I could read...
posted by i_cola at 12:52 PM on February 12

That'll teach him to golf in the rain. What a shame, he was having the best game of his life too.
posted by bondcliff at 12:53 PM on February 12

This is God's way of saying, "that dancer you took back to the hotel last Tuesday night, you know, the one that turned out to be a man, you're friends may not know, but I know."

Yeah, you know who the message was for.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:54 PM on February 12

Are you doubting the journalistic integrity of the Daily Mail?

*cough*
posted by phaedon at 12:54 PM on February 12

That's just how He goes to the bathroom. Man, the internets are wreaking havoc on our privacies.
posted by not_on_display at 12:58 PM on February 12

Are you doubting the journalistic integrity of the Daily Mail?

Even the shittiest journalists strike lucky once in a while. Shame they weren't chilling wit' their homeboy JC at the time.
posted by triv at 1:01 PM on February 12

It's taken this long for God to put together a plan to deal with Desert Michael Jackson?
posted by Artichoke Dance Off!! at 1:02 PM on February 12

RUN!!!! DAIKAIJU JESUS!!!!!
posted by Mister_A at 1:03 PM on February 12

It's been photographed before.
posted by mumkin at 1:05 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

It was a large storm. Presumably, the photographer was looking for a shot like this.
posted by theora55 at 1:07 PM on February 12

Or, lightning didn't strike the statue. The statue was striking at heaven.
posted by theora55 at 1:07 PM on February 12

Christ, what an asshole.

Hey, wait a minute, that doesn't even make sense...
posted by jefbla at 1:10 PM on February 12

Am I the only one that has a problem with that last line

This amazing photograph gives whole new meaning to the phrase "May God strike me with lightning if..."

Unless that was a direct quote from Jesus which I don't think it was.
posted by TwoWordReview at 1:13 PM on February 12

Noticing that Vernon Dursley's paper of choice is the Daily Mail made me like J.K. Rowling all the more.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:13 PM on February 12

So does this mean the whole Jesus/salvation thing is off?

Everyone seems to be asking:
Why would God let lightening strike Jesus?

See, it was REALLY God reminding everyone that his son Jesus "took the hit" for mankinds sins. That lightening could have hit a home, a boat, or even a goat, but instead, Christ the Redeemer said "hey, a gajillion kilowatts of energy? BRING IT ON!"
posted by JimmyJames at 1:13 PM on February 12

jefbla: were you meaning to post that in the porn thread, below?
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:13 PM on February 12

I want so badly for The Jesus to walk down off the mountain and start wreaking some divine vengeance and then for G Force to show up and kick some concrete messiah ass.

*sigh* I miss being 13.
posted by papercake at 1:15 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

I suspect the reason this was newsworthy was because someone managed to get it in a photograph, not because it's actually all that rare. That statue, being where it is and being far and away the tallest object near there, almost certainly gets struck with lightning quite a lot.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:18 PM on February 12

There can be only one!
posted by porpoise at 1:23 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

"This amazing photograph gives whole new meaning to the phrase 'May God strike me with lightning if...'"


It was really selfish of them to keep whatever the meaning was to themselves.
posted by hermitosis at 1:30 PM on February 12

I just know someone is going to blame the Jews for this.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:35 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

There goes Jesus, showing off again.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:41 PM on February 12

There was a second bolt from the grassy knoll!
posted by Daddy-O at 1:47 PM on February 12

No less likely than someone taking a picture of the Empire State Building at just the right moment, I'd guess.

Or the CN Tower.
posted by chococat at 1:55 PM on February 12

Lightning will indeed strike stone. For example, there are scorch marks from lightning strikes all over the tops of the granite monoliths in Yosemite. Which is not fun to realize when you're standing on top of them with clouds rolling in.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:59 PM on February 12

That wasn't lightening it was the transport mechanism the aliens use to invade earth. Someone should alert Tom Cruise.
posted by hojoki at 2:06 PM on February 12

Not to mention that it's reinforced concrete. Sucker's full of rebar.
posted by Eekacat at 2:06 PM on February 12

Not convinced that this was worth a Metafilter post to be honest. It's a cool picture but that's pretty much it. I mean, if you post things here it's because they're worth discussing, and we can all learn from the discussion. Is the idea. I think.
posted by jackbrown at 2:08 PM on February 12

it was posted here because it is awesome.
posted by boo_radley at 2:10 PM on February 12 [3 favorites]

if you post things here it's because they're worth discussing
"We are discussing it. What's this if it's not a discussion? A diesel locomotive?"
Sorry. I was just looking for an excuse to use a Red Dwarf quote.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 2:13 PM on February 12

Giant Stone Jesus does not get struck by lightning; lightning gets struck by Giant Stone Jesus.
posted by regicide is good for you at 2:23 PM on February 12

Oh rat farts!
posted by thewalrusispaul at 2:26 PM on February 12

dances_with_sneetches: Mel Gibson is the worst God ever let happen to Jesus. Of course, Mel may incorporate lightning strikes into his sequel.

We open on the last scene from "The Passion." Suddenly, we hear the sounds of familiar whips. Jesus opens his eyes and is still being whipped. He is bloody, bruised and battered.

Jesus: What happened? I thought I'd been crucified?

Centurion: Crucified? That's not until tomorrow.

Jesus: But what about all the torments and tortures I went through?

Centurion: It must have all been a dream. Now, your real punishment begins.

Centurion attaches Jesus' testicles to a pair of wires leading to a giant lightning rod. A lightning bolt immediately strikes it.

Jesus: Father! WHY!!!!

Opening credits roll
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:51 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Ok, I was wrong.
posted by Afroblanco at 2:55 PM on February 12

I don't see any lightning! Waaaah!! I wanna see Jesus get fried!
posted by The Light Fantastic at 3:04 PM on February 12

I blame the Jews for this.
posted by milquetoast at 3:13 PM on February 12

Thor doesn't appreciate competition. Notice that trailer parks and Baptist Churches get hit on a regular basis by the hammer.
posted by stirfry at 4:29 PM on February 12

Or, lightning didn't strike the statue. The statue was striking at heaven.
posted by theora55 at 1:07 AM on February 13 [+] [!]

Giant Concrete Jesus doesn't get struck by lightning, Giant Concrete Jesus allows himself to be struck by lightning, for Giant Concrete Jesus has complete control of all elements of nature. Giant Concrete Jesus was using lightning to charge his energy matrix. Long Live Giant Concrete Jesus. Amen.
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 6:44 PM on February 12

Wow, my monitor at work SUCKS! I couldn't even see the lightning in the photo, and I have the brightness and contrast turned way the hell down.

The number one sign that your dad wants you dead? He doesn't tell you to keep your 100ft tall ass off of the tops of mountains in a lightning storm.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 7:56 PM on February 12

That's got to be fake. What are the chances that someone would be taking a picture of the statue at just the right moment?

For those who don't know, it's more likely that it was a prolonged exposure, or an auto-setting on a light-sensitive camera. This is how they take pictures of just about *all* lightning strikes; the odds of you seeing a bolt of lightning, realizing that you have in fact seen a bolt of lightning, and pressing the shutter on your camera (and not jostling the camera out of frame) before the flash disappears is, to say the least, astronomical. There are cameras that exist which allow the user to set a trigger for 'when the light increases' based on a... I dunno what the measuring device is called for light amplitude... or to just create one long exposure of a still image to have any changes to the image recorded on that frame (which is more often used for cityscape storm shots, where the odds are greater of having more than one lightning strike in frame). There's also the possibility that it's a still image taken from a higher-end digital video camera. Hell, Joe Schmo could theoretically point a webcam or a home security camera at the thing and get a decent shot.

So, in fact, given the probable number of cameras of various kinds and capabilities pointed at one of the world's biggest and most famous dead guys, during a thunderstorm, with all these possibilities available for the eventual photography of a lightning strike, I'd say that the odds are actually pretty good (say, one in fifteen, given the number of people in that area of the world) of someone capturing a lightning strike on the Redeemer statue, on a recording device of some sort.
posted by Reth_Eldirood at 11:20 PM on February 12

And yet it is also true that a Google image search for lightning striking the redeemer statue isn't very fruitful. So (assuming the omniscience of Google), if these pictures are being taken, they're not being uploaded, or if they're being uploaded, they're described in different terms. I've searched using Portuguese terms and had less success than when searching in English. Is it possible that lightning is a rare phenomenon in Rio? For example, for all the rain we get in Portland, we almost never have lightning, as there's something anti-thunderstorm about our location. Might the same be true for Rio? I am not a meteorologist, amateur or otherwise, and am consequently not having much luck searching for info on the distribution and frequency of lightning strikes in Brazil.
posted by mumkin at 12:21 AM on February 13

Fun Fact no. 1

Looking at the picture and Giant Stone Jesus, it looks more like 'triggered' lightning, which is ground-to-cloud. So yes, GSJ is throwing bolts at Heaven's heart. Feisty goodness!

Fun Fact no. 2

Of course, Mel may incorporate lightning strikes into his sequel.

Jim Calviezel was struck by lightning while making Passion of the Christ-Thing (though, near as I can tell, not twice, as reported in some places - that was Jan Michelini, the assistant director.)
posted by Sparx at 3:42 AM on February 13

Great Image. Yeah lightning will strike the tallest thing in the area, and this certainly qualifies. Very nice though.
posted by born4thesurf at 5:26 AM on February 13

It's actually fairly possible this is real. All you need to do is mount a photoelectric eye on a camera and you're ready to capture lightning. From there just point it at something tall and wait out a storm.
posted by samsara at 6:03 AM on February 13

Well, God has been mad at us Coloradans for some time now. Last year, our Giant Jesus Statue was struck by lightning, with less benign results than the Rio strike.

And in 1997, our oldest cathedral was struck by lightning (for the second time), this time with dramatic results.

Too many homos and eggheads around here, if you wanna know what I think.
posted by kozad at 7:18 AM on February 13

"How do you kill a giant concrete Jesus Christ?"

"Um...a giant concrete Pontius Pilate?"
posted by zap rowsdower at 8:36 AM on February 13

It was named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

Really? That kind of depresses me. I mean, it's neat to look at and all, but it's just a concrete statue on a hill. It's not like, oh I don't know, a fucking Great Pyramid or a Colossus of Rhodes or anything.

Sheesh, kids today are impressed by anything, aren't they?
posted by quin at 10:40 AM on February 13