Stranger Fruit

This is cool. A rainbow and lightning in Arkansas (source). But the comments appear to miss the point of basic physics:

Incidents like this make we wonder how some people say there is no God.

The pictures are truly amazing!! Proving outright the power and existance of a higher power.

I, too, witnessed the rainbow in the sky last night. It was an awesome experience. It reminded me that God is really in control.

While the newspaper running the story is British, the comments about God are American. No surprises.

Comments

#1 The Ridger
July 14, 2006

God is in control … because of a strange weather phenomenon?

Is there anything that doesn’t validate “god is in control”? And thus anything that’s the slightest bit meaningful about the statement?
#2 PaulM
July 15, 2006

There’s nothing like an overly religious justification to take some of the pleasure out of a beautiful natural phenomenon. As for proving the existence of a higher power, it certainly did. We call it electricity.

As for the picture, it really puts my one and only successful lightning-and-rainbow photograph to shame.
http://static.flickr.com/34/122816315_32bf99236d_o.jpg
#3 wamba
July 16, 2006

Even when God misses, his failures receive praise:
Lightning zeros in on teenager’s tunes

Article Launched: 07/06/2006 01:00:00 AM MDT
By Felisa Cardona
Denver Post Staff Writer
.
Castle Rock – Jason Bunch was listening to Metallica on his iPod while mowing the lawn outside his Castle Rock home Sunday afternoon when lightning hit him.
…
Bunch’s mother recalled the death of a motorcyclist who was hit by lightning on U.S. 36 last month and expressed relief that her son’s life was spared.
.
“It’s a miracle,” she said. “He should not have lived through it.”
#4 Stephen Uitti
July 17, 2006

Uhm. Let’s see. You need rain and sun for a rainbow. For the retroreflectors to work, you need the sun to your back. A thunderstorm will work.

I’ve seen four rainbows this year. None have been during thunderstorms. That’s probably because i’m not usually outside during thunderstorms. Now that i have a cheap digital camera, i snap lots of pictures of rainbows. Often, they’re shot from inside the car. I generally only actually see rainbows about half the time i notice both rain and Sun.

This is a really cool photo.
#5 Chad
July 17, 2006

Here are some other idiotic comments:

Incidents like this make we wonder how some people say there is no God.

Awesome pictures, looks like a cross in one of the photos. He is coming!

My children and I were leaving our Bible study last night as the light show you reported was taking place over our heads. We were completely amazed, having never seen such a sight. We actually saw the most vibrant rainbow, its mirror image, and a very faint partial rainbow near the first. We just knew that God was rewarding us with that beautiful sight and we knew we might never see anything like it again. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Yeah, that’s pure creationist thinking. “OH, it so beautiful, complex, I can’t understand how natural forces could have produced this! Therefore, (the triune) GOD must have done it!” I guess in Arkansas’ schools, basic physics courses don’t involve a discussion of electricity. They must do bible study when they get to anything complicated.
#6 twinklelove
October 28, 2006

Can anybody explain how that happened without using God/Lord to me. (I mean phyics)
#7 Steven
March 14, 2007

Hm… this proves my theroy to be true. Sorry but most of today’s scientist’s won’t talk a lot about God, and I finaly understand why. Most people won’t talk about anything that they can’t see with there eyes or touch with there hands. Many people won’t talk about God either because they’re scared to, or they just can’t explain him. It takes a real scientist to ask about God, and that’s alright, but in this day God is put down and not talked about as if he doesn’t exist!! If this is true then there is no meaning in life whatsoever. To come out with the truth, I don’t believe that. I’m a Christian interested in learning about the World and how it works based on the way that God created it to work. It’s really interesting when we understand the world through the eyes of the creator. Sure there are many different religions out there, and I have studied most all of them, but the only one that has evidence to support it is Christianity. I don’t mean to offend any of you who are reading this. I am merely practicing my freedom of speech and stating what I believe. You say the Big Bang denies God. I say it proves the Bible right. God said let there be light and it was so! Do you see what I’m saying? Also, I am not saying that you have to change your beliefs. That’s why God gave us all free will. Well anyway, I’m ready for your insults, as I know they’re coming. That will prove my theory even more. A scientist is someone who asks a question and then tries to answer it. As for the lightning and the rainbow, truly a remarkable sight! How awsome our God is!
#8 Beckaa
March 30, 2007

Datz WIkid…:D… I Love Dat Pic
#9 Mauricio
March 30, 2007

not to insult anyone, but “oh god!”

If there’s no god, there’s no meaning to life? … well, obviously you can back this up with evidence so how can I dispute?

I’m not here to insult you, and I have no interest to make fun … I just can’t believe that you are telling me here, on this blog, the meaning to life – and I almost missed it.

To be fair, I thought the answer was 42. Of course God gave us free will, except that if we don’t do what he wants he damns us to hell forever(did you know, they BURN you down there?!? WTF?) … sounds more than a bit faschist to me … but then again I’m obviously quite ignorant.

for now I will leave it at, “that is one hell of an image of the 7 colours of white light separated by rain drops creating a prism filter, framing a static electrical charge signifying several clouds moving close enough to trigger said electrical charge.”

PEACE!
M