19 Church-goers hit by lightning on the 4th...1 killed

My local area always seems to have these bizarre kind of stories...

With thunderstorms a daily occurence here, we have a bit more laid-back attitude towards lightning and storms...but ironic that this happened with a church outing...

The odd part is nothing seems to have been struck other than the people (i.e. no trees, buildings, etc.)

www.msnbc.msn.com...

You are right. It's really odd.

Authorities were called to the Iglesia Bautista Maranatha's property at about 4:40 p.m.

I don't recognize the name - 'Iglesia Bautista Marantha'.
What denomination was this? Is it a stand alone Christian group?
Just curious.

Unlucky, it must suck pretty hard to get struck by lightening. I hope those who survived, make full recoveries. And condolences to those who weren't so lucky.

nature's not to be messed with.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Spanish, I believe....
Marantha Baptist Church....

I know this shouldn't be funny.......and I wish the best for everyone involved...........

It is just so d*m ironic. Struck down by the hand of God!

I wonder if the church will rethink what they are teaching? It absolutely has to be worked into the sermons from here to eternity!

Reminds me of "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival"

--> Someone feel free to embed the video, here is a link:

www.youtube.com...

Hrm, God is a terrible shot if he only managed to kill 1 of them.

Maybe Zeus could give him some tips

I recall reading something in the last year that discussed that lightning strikes in advance of storms (before a threat is recognized), the 'bolt out of the blue', so to speak, happen more than is commonly thought. A couple of causes were offered. 1) People tend to take shelter when there is a clear threat of lightning, so there are fewer people to be struck at that time 2) The odd lightning strike is like this, a small story that has a short news shelf life and is forgotten, so the 'lesson', if there truly is one, is lost, and the cycle repeats. This also comes from the aspect that lightning strikes are not 'sexy' news.

reply to post by Viking04


That is true, the leading and trailing edge of storms have much more "cloud to ground" lightning. During the storm, the downpours of rain, and the "cloud to cloud" lightning temper the effect of all the opposing charges.

I have two very personal experiences. A guy riding on my delivery truck was struck years ago. I was inside the building and our truck was struck while he leaned on it! He was ok after a couple of days, but very scary!

Another time, we were camping and my wife was on a large rock overlooking a river bank watching an approaching storm. I looked up at her because I heard whispering. Her very long hair was completely extended in a sphere. She was seconds away from a strike! I tackled her off the rock into the river. She was kind of pissed until everyone started telling her what had happened!!!

Originally posted by getreadyalready
I know this shouldn't be funny.......and I wish the best for everyone involved...........

It is just so d*m ironic. Struck down by the hand of God!

I wonder if the church will rethink what they are teaching? It absolutely has to be worked into the sermons from here to eternity!

Reminds me of "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival"

--> Someone feel free to embed the video, here is a link:

www.youtube.com...

I am wondering why you assume that they were struck down by the hand of God and not simply struck down by lightening? Is this the same old blame God scenario that always plays out here, while holding the belief that God does not even exist?

reply to post by DarrylGalasso


Bait taken. My post was obviously made in jest! "Struck down by the hand of God" is a fairly common cliche that I assumed you would recognize. The rest of the post discussed the irony involved.

In other words: I do not think they were actually struck down by God, and my opinion of whether or not God exists is neither here nor there.

I can say with some certainty that if I were a member of that church, I would be examining my belief system and recent deeds. BUT, I do the same thing after a bad poker streak. Karma can be a beeech, so when my luck turns sour, I examine my recent actions!