I’m late to this one — I’d planned to blog over the weekend, but not with high-speed internet access in our hotel being billed at $7 for 30 minutes, no sir — so I apologize if you’ve read it before.
Besides, when the man who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s “Passion” is struck by lightning, I think that can’t get enough attention. Plus, there are weird, somebody-up-there-doesn’t-like-me weirder-than-weird details:
An assistant director on the film, Jan Michelini, was also hit — for the second time in a few months. The first time, a lightning fork struck his umbrella during filming on top of a hill near Matera in Italy, causing light burns to the tips of his fingers, VLife, a supplement to Variety publications said in its October issue. A few months later the second strike happened, a few hours from Rome.
Memo to Mrs. Gibson: Make sure the insurance is up to date.
Joseph said on October 27, 2003 at 12:53 pm
It may just be a matter of perspective (though I feel it is much more than that), but I think that being struck by lightning, and being unhurt thereby, is a “sign” that the Lord likes one very, very much. Saul may not have been struck by lightning, but Paul went on to do great things. Perhaps Caviezel has a quite a wonderful future ahead……
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Nance said on October 27, 2003 at 1:19 pm
Hmm. Sounds like what we tell people who get run over by a truck and survive — “You were lucky.” Wouldn’t “lucky” be defined as “not getting run over by the truck in the first place”?
I’m just amused by the coincidence. Struck by lightning. How…Biblical.
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Dan Gallaugher said on October 27, 2003 at 6:13 pm
Why should we suppose that God strikes people with lightning? Because of Zeus or Thor? Or…
…could it be… Satan?
I’d vote for that guess. Because, from what I’ve seen of the preview, as well as comments by people who saw the version Mel was touring around a few months ago, this is going to be a very good, very powerful experience for many, many viewers. And if anyone would want to prevent that, or punish those involved, it would most likely be the devil himself.
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Bob said on October 27, 2003 at 8:42 pm
I’m bewildered by the logic that some people follow in ascribing their narrow escapes to God’s intervention. Maybe twenty years ago, a tornado uprooted a gigantic (no exaggeration; the trunk was nearly six feet in diameter!) cottonwood tree on Rockhill Street in Fort Wayne, and in its fall the tree sheared an upstairs dormer, front wall, and porch from a large apartment house. A newspaper article quoted the young born-again residents as saying that it was God’s will that none of them were home at the time. Maybe God had decided it was time to punish a sinful landlord, while sparing his saved tenants? Or was their God incapable of diverting the tornado or keeping the tree from striking the house, and was getting them to leave the best he could do?
It’s the height of arrogance for survivors of disasters to take credit for their (self-)righteousness before God, implying that those who perish are less worthy.
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