The man, identified by his family name Lin, claimed the Lotus Fairy, a Taoist deity, started coming to him in his sleep after he went to her temple to seek her blessing following a series of failed relationships, said CTS TV.

The goddess soon instructed Lin to marry her, and to comply the 40-year-old held a “wedding ceremony” in which a young woman holding a statue of the goddess stood in for the bride, the report said.

Lin signed a wedding certificate and presented a ring to the goddess in the ceremony at her temple, which was decorated with red banners, according to the report.

Since the wedding, Lin has moved the statue to his home in central Taiwan to worship her and claimed that his “wife” has protected him from both illnesses and accidents, it said.

By The Associated Press

MONROE, Ohio – A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

The “King of Kings” statue, one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

The sculpture, 62 feet (nearly 19 metres) tall and 40 feet (12 metres) wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way the arms were raised, similar to a referee signalling a touchdown in a game of football.

It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday.

The fire spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheatre but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured, police Chief Mark Neu said.

Travellers on Interstate 75 often were startled to come upon the huge statue by the roadside, but many said America needs more symbols like it. So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them.

The 4,000-member, nondenominational church was founded by former horse trader Lawrence Bishop and his wife. Bishop said in 2004 he was trying to help people, not impress them, with the statue. He said his wife proposed the Jesus figure as a beacon of hope and salvation and they spent about $250,000 to finance it.

Police say a Pittsfield woman has been cited for running down a man named Lord Jesus Christ as he crossed a street in Northampton on Tuesday.

The 50-year-old man is from Belchertown. Officers checked his ID and discovered that, indeed, his legal name is Lord Jesus Christ. He was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor facial injuries.

Police say 20-year-old Brittany Cantarella was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

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NORTHAMPTON – A 20-year-old Pittsfield driver was cited by police Tuesday after she ran down Lord Jesus Christ in a marked crosswalk at Main Street and Strong Avenue, police said.

Brittany E. Cantarella was cited for a crosswalk violation, said Northampton police Capt. Scott Savino.

Christ, 50, of Belchertown, was taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital for treatment of minor injuries following the 3:30 p.m. accident. He was treated at the hospital and then released.

Cantarella was making a left turn from Strong Avenue onto Main Street when her car, a 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, struck Christ.

Christ was in a marked crosswalk at the time of the accident, Savino said.

Savino said officers checked Christ’s identification at the scene and confirmed it was his legal name

Dust from the grave in the courtyard of the church in the village of Arodes in Paphos district has been used for centuries by the lovelorn, who are supposed to slip it into the drink of their objet d’amour.

But in recent years so many have been filching shards of stone that a quarter of the tomb has disappeared.

Mayor of Arodes Matthaios Stefanou is unclear whether Cypriots’ love lives are becoming more troubled.

“A lot of people have said it works,” he said. “In the last few years I don’t know what’s come over people, but they are flocking to the tomb for the stuff.

“Just the other day locals saw some people visiting the tomb, and they were there for a very long time, in the end they walked off with a huge chunk of stone, maybe even half a kilo of it!”

The island’s antiquities department has been called in to help. “The only thing we can do is examine the damage and try to prevent any further damage,” said Maria Hadjicosti, the acting director. Saint Agapitikos — whose name means “lover” — is believed to have served in the German army of the Crusaders before settling as a hermit in the area.

“You’re very welcome to come and see the tomb, but please don’t go taking any of it with you now,” Stefanou said.

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This sounds like a clear cut case for environmentalism. Our precious non-renewable resources are being slowly dimished and they need to be protected. One quarter of the tomb has been taken already. At this rate, there will be no dust left for future generations of lonely, loveless people.

How about the people who take a half-kilo of the tomb? How dysfunctional do you have to be in relationships that you would need to have that much tomb dust to save your love-life?

My advice. Return the chunk, then get some counselling, deal with your relationships issues, develop self esteem, find some groups or people to hang out with, meet a potential mate, go on a few dates, be yourself, laugh, have a good time, openly share, then get the prescribed amount of loving tomb dust and slip it into his or her drink.

The story is kind of vague in its reporting also, I mean, how much tomb dust is a person supposed to use in a drink for it to be effective? Can it be a non-alcholic drink or is it more potent in alcohol? Could I just get my love to lick the tomb, would that work?

So many questions, so little answers. Maybe I’m just lacking faith

Signature Styles
We asked, do you care if a girl styles her hair the same way every day? 71 percent said no. 29 percents said yes.

Boho Braids

Are boho braids cute or cuckoo? 83 percent of our guys said cute. 17 percent said cuckoo. 

Hair Up? Or Down?

Actually, it might be the action that matters just as much as the style! 43 percent of guys said they love watching a girl put up her hair, while 37 percent said they enjoy watching a girl let down her hair. 20 percent said both are equally hot.

Asymmetrical Haircuts

When we asked, what do you think of asymmetrical haircuts? 76 percent said they love them. 24 percent said they hate them.

Mega-Long Hair

Guys always say they like long hair best, but there has to be a cutoff point, right? When we polled our dudes, 55 percent of men found Lauren Conrad’s mid-length locks sexier than her mega-long mane.

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What does this have to do with religion?…. Well, nothing actually. But it quite possibly the most useless poll or news item I have ever read

What have we, especially the ladies, learned from this poll?

(1) Guys like a woman’s hair no matter the length or style

(2) So, don’t obsess over it so much

(3) Unless you are trying to impress women

Really, I mean really…. these are the uncensored opinions of 100 men. You expect me to believe that 100 men did not make some lewd and/or rude comment. Frankly, I am surprised also, guys tend to be a crude bunch on just about everything, so I am impressed and surprised also, that these 100 guys didn’t make any witty remarks or double entendres.

A Letter From SATAN, To Rev. Pat Robertson:

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle.

Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen “Crossroads”? Or “Damn Yankees”? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of Banks, Skyscrapers, SUVs, Exclusive Night Clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll. You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad.

Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best,
Satan

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Plenty of peculiarity to go around in this crazy email.

Part 1: Somebody is writing on behalf of Satan. Doesn’t that seem weird to you? Not only that, he or she is writing on behalf of Satan to correct a Reverend. Wouldn’t Satan just not give a rip one way or the other on the ignorance of a reverend?

Part 2: All of sudden Satan has a reputation to protect. Its like he’s the devil, but he has kind of a soft heart, some compassion, and only makes good deals 

Part 3. I don’t watch Pat Robertson, but I am sure he said some dumba** thing in the name of God, which prompted Satan’s scribe here to launch his or her ironic protest. Leave it to the conservative preacher, whose ratings and giving is probably going down,  to try and stir up some controversy, just so he can make a few more dollars, so he can keep his show on the air.

Part 4: Crossroads really, Damn Yankees really, these are the best examples you could come up with on Satan’s deals. These are movies, fictitious stories. I think Satan’s scribe is little bit out of the loop. He or she must be missing the important meetings at Devil HQ.

Wed Dec 9, 3:49 AM By The Associated Press STERLING, Conn.

A holy cow in Connecticut, perhaps?

Or maybe a divine bovine? A calf with a white marking on its forehead in the approximate shape of a cross was born last week at a dairy farm in Sterling, a small rustic town on the Rhode Island border. Owner Brad Davis tells WFSB-TV he thinks the marking may be a message from above, though he’s still trying to figure out what that message might be.

The mostly brown calf is half Jersey, half Holstein. Neighborhood children have named it Moses. The chairman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Dairy Science tells the Norwich Bulletin newspaper it’s not unusual for a Holstein cow to have a white marking on its head. But department chairman Ric Grummer says the cross shape is unique.

The terracotta dispenser, used in the northern town of Fornaci di Briosco, functions like an automatic soap dispenser in public washrooms — a churchgoer waves his or her hand under a sensor and the machine spurts out holy water.

“It has been a bit of a novelty. People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy. The members of this parish have got used to it,” said Father Pierangelo Motta.

Catholics entering and leaving churches usually dip their hands into fonts full of holy water — which has been blessed by a priest — and make the sign of the cross.

But fear of contracting the H1N1 virus has led many in Italy — where some 15 people have died of swine flu — not to dip their hands in the communal water font.

“It’s great,” said worshipper Marta Caimm as she entered the church. “Thanks to this we are not worried about catching swine flu. It is the right thing for the times,” she said.

Luciano Marabese, who invented the dispenser, said he did so out of concern that fear of swine flu was eroding traditions.

And he is now blessing himself all the way to the bank.

“After all the news that some churches, like Milan’s cathedral, were suspending the use of holy water fonts as a measure against swine flu, demands for my invention shot to the stars. I have received orders from all over the world,” he said.

(Reporting by Eleanor Biles; Writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Now what is the point of the holy water? The water can’t be all that holy, if people are afraid that is going to make them sick.  Holy by definition would indicate that it is pure and germ free.

He was worried that traditions were being eroded, so he invents a new tradition.

Not going to say where I found this story, but I found it to be kind of humorous.

I’m all for being protected from the H1N1 and the economic crisis. Yay!! But couldn’t a person say the same thing about the gov’t.  To paraphrase the above quote:

Great word from Prime Minister Harper or Obama. “Let me be clear, we will be protected from H1N1 and the economic crisis. Do not leave Canada or the USA” 

Have to love those pentecostal belivers though, they are always so jacked up and over the top about everything.

Speaking at the launch of his new book “Cain”, Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, said society would probably be better off without the Bible.

Roman Catholic Church leaders accused the 86-year-old of a publicity stunt.

The book is an ironic retelling of the Biblical story of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son who killed his younger brother Abel.

At the launch event in the northern Portuguese town of Penafiel on Sunday, Saramago said he did not think the book would offend Catholics “because they do not read the Bible”.

“The Bible is a manual of bad morals (which) has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different, and probably better people,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency Lusa.

Saramago attacked “a cruel, jealous and unbearable God (who) exists only in our heads” and said he did not think his book would cause problems for the Catholic Church “because Catholics do not read the Bible.

“It might offend Jews, but that doesn’t really matter to me,” he added.

Father Manuel Marujao, the spokesman for the Portuguese conference of bishops, said he thought the remarks were a publicity stunt.

“A writer of Jose Saramago’s standing can criticise, (but) insults do no-one any good, particularly a Nobel Prize winner,” the priest said.

Rabbi Elieze Martino, spokesman for the Jewish community in Lisbon, said the Jewish world would not be shocked by the writings of Saramago or anyone else.

“Saramago does not know the Bible,” the rabbi said, “he has only superficial understanding of it.”

The author caused a scandal in Portugal in 1992 with “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ.”

The book depicted Jesus losing his virginity to Mary Magdalene and being used by God to control the world.

Saramago quit Portugal at the time and moved to Lanzarote, in the Spanish Canary Islands.

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Some things I learned from this story. (1) The easiest way to earn a Nobel Prize is to write a book. (2) It’s okay to offend catholics. (3) A person can actually quit a country. Who knew? If I can quit a country, does that mean I can start a country?

Seems to be a lot of irony involved in this story. The guy has a hate for the bible, but yet he chooses to write books that have biblical themes. So does that make his books, which are inspired by a “manual of bad morals”, into books of even worse morals?

He’s just jealous because people are not reading his book, whereas at least people buy the Bible and not read it.

Remind me never to get into Saramago’s head. I would not want to meet the cruel, jealous, and unbearable god that lives there.