22 December 2010

Tabernacle Fire - The Painting That Lived

Amidst the hub-bub of this painting that partially survived the fire in the Provo Tabernacle, I have one request: Show me pictures of everything else that wasn't completely burned.

I think we'll find that there a lot of things that only received partial damage from the flames. It's nuts to think this is some sort of sign from God. Seriously, how many of you Mormons out there believe those crazy Catholics when they see an apparition of Jesus in a tortilla or piece of toast? Yeah, that's how crazy you sound talking about the painting.

6 comments:

Abelard Enigma said...

it's not even an original painting, it's a mass produced print that hangs in thousands of chapels around the world.

Why would God save this particular print and not other copies in buildings that have been destroyed? Or even other pictures of Jesus which undoubtedly hung in the Provo tabernacle?

If this is a 'miracle' then I am truly baffled about what I'm supposed to gain from it - but it won't surprise me if we hear about this 'miracle' in the next April conference

Beck said...

Amen to what Abelard said... This makes me snicker!

Gay LDS Actor said...

And then why would God even allow the Tabernacle to burn in the first place? Just to show how he can save this one print?

Original Mohomie said...

1) Things don't generally "char" from the middle out, so it's not remarkable that the center of the print remained uncharred. The depiction of Jesus was (not surprisingly) in the center of the painting, so...

2) I wouldn't be at all surprised if firefighters let it become charred until just that point (firefighters were perpetually on the scene as the building smoldered, and the painting was visible from outside of the building, so _someone_ likely observed this process happening and could easily have "planted" it elsewhere in the wee hours of morning as if it had just been sitting in a pile of rubble all along) not out of a malicious attempt to deceive but out of a 'testimony' of what LDS believe.

3) Could the surrounding white area around the depiction of Jesus have anything to do with the slowed charring?

Wait, wait, wait, you guys are just being cynical and denying miracles! CLEARLY the tabernacle was burned by God as a symbol of purification of the saints, and to be "resurrected" in a perfected form, to draw the world's...or at least Utah's attention to this painting, a testimony of what the LDS centrally believe.

...or it was, as other Christians might proclaim, the destruction of the church of the devil and its puffed up workings as a sign to stop relying on the arm of flesh (the institutional church and its authorities) and a signal (the painting) to look to the One who is mighty to save and redeems all without the intermediary influence of a hierarchy or gatekeepers.

So many fun and self-serving ways for people to interpret this from many directions and make their own meaning out of an unremarkable phenomenon...

Unknown said...

Cheesus Christ!

I think it's pretty cool,IRREGARDLESS (yah, I just used that word) of what ya'll think.

Abelard Enigma said...

I think it's kinda cool too - I just think it's silly to ascribe it to divine intervention.