Giant Jesus statue completed in Polish town

[Chris]

Giant Jesus statue completed in Polish town
AP
By VANESSA GERA, Associated Press Vanessa Gera, Associated Press – 1 hr 2 mins ago

SWIEBODZIN, Poland – A gigantic statue of Jesus that Poles claim is the world's largest rose majestically above a small town on Saturday, as the grandiose dream of a local priest finally came to pass. The white statue with outstretched arms and golden crown rising above the western Polish plains in Swiebodzin provides competition to Rio de Janiero's iconic Christ the Redeemer. The mayor of the western Polish town, Dariusz Bekisz, claims it is now the world's tallest. Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki, the 78-year-old priest who created the statue said it rises 108 feet, or 33 meters — one meter for every year that Jesus lived. Other members of the construction team, however, gave differing figures. One said it rises 167 feet (51 meters) if you include a mound it sits on and the crown on the head. By comparison, the statue in Brazil's Rio is 125 feet (38 meters) tall.

While it wasn't possible to verify the exact height of the new statue, there was no doubt that "Christ the King," as the golden-crowned Polish statue is called, cut an imposing sight as it was finally completed. It has divided Poles and underlined the deep cultural divide between a deeply Catholic population and an increasingly confident secular society — with many mocking the statue project as tacky. But many residents in Swiebodzin welcome it. They believe it will put their town of 22,000 on the map for tourists and Roman Catholic pilgrims and bring in needed money to renovate the historic buildings in the tiny town center.

more..............Giant Jesus statue completed in Polish town - Yahoo! News

[Momof3angels]

I'm not sure I like the idea of cashing in on Christ.

Of course, we do it every year at Christmas time. How our Savior must grieve to see so many people bustling about to celebrate His birth without paying the slightest bit of attention to Him.

[MikeD]

I'm quite sure the world wide earth quakes to come will take care of this in quick order...

[micah719]

Plenty of reasons to abhor this image....the leaven-lovers won't like to hear this; and if I listed in detail why, it would be deleted, so I won't bother.

[Andrei]

I thought it was shameful for a Jewish man to have long hair. But wait, that statue is just an idol, and not the real Jesus.

[Robert]

I thought it was shameful for a Jewish man to have long hair. But wait, that statue is just an idol, and not the real Jesus.

Unless they were a Nazarite; then by taking that vow, they were forbidden to cut their hair.