Holy Tree Stumps Batman
I rarely talk about religion, because frankly what you believe is your business and who am I to comment?
Every now an then though an item crops up and pokes me in the eye, leaving me with little choice.
You may remember some years ago the episode of Our Lady of the Tree Stump? Where someone cut down a tree and some wag said the stump looked like a person? And thousands turned up to adore the tree stump?
Well, it has happened again.
Someone cut down a tree in Belfast, and miracle of miracles, there is Jesus hanging out inside.
Now I do concede that the pattern does indeed resemble a bearded face but that is about it.
All the weirdos are claiming that it is the face of Jesus, but how do they know? What did Jesus look like? They didn’t have cameras a couple of thousand years ago, and they didn’t go in much for portrait painting so we really haven’t a fucking clue if he was tall, slim and bearded, or a dumpy little bald fatso. I could equally claim the stump is Osama bin Laden, or even myself in my better years.
What is it with religious figures that they have to reside in tree stumps anyway? Surely if Heaven wanted to send a sign it could be a little less circumspect?
The gold medal for hypocrisy has to go to Father Willie Russell of Rathkeale though.
“There’s nothing there… it’s just a tree…you can’t worship a tree,” he said.
And this from a bloke who expects people to turn up daily to worship a piece of bread?
Thats Che Guevara.
Or, if turned the correct way up, it’s Zoot from the Muppet Show.
He’s everywhere!! (mind you I remember the nuns telling me that half a century ago)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8978914/Woman-sees-face-of-Jesus-in-sock.html
This of course begs the question “Why would Jesus choose to reveal himself in a tree trunk?”
Or a slice of toast. Or a pancake. Or peeling plaster on the side of a suburban house. All of which I’ve seen reported in newspapers.
The mind boggles, really, at what some people will seize on as affirmation of their beliefs. I’m now waiting for the sacred dog turd to turn up…
“the sacred dog turd” Does a dog’s arsehole count?
pfft its obvious a picture of the farmer that first owned that land dunno what all this jesus talk is about
“The gold medal for hypocrisy has to go to Father Willie Russell of Rathkeale though.” Hypocrisy you say. Didn’t you post a link yesterday where you were in a church with a priest holding a MacDonald’s hash brown.? Or was it that piece of bread you mention?
Grandad, as a firm believer in the reincarnation of the second coming, I have to say I find ye of little faith to be very short sighted when it comes to these matters. If you look closely for long enough upon the tree stump – make sure to put on your spectacles now – you will become a believer if you squint hard enough.
I shall pray for you to see what is clearly in front of you.
Peace be with you. And also with the tree stump.
Have a nice weekend.
It’s Dave Lee Travis from BBC Radio 1.
I often wondered what had happened to him. There have been other similar sightings of him:
http://yetanotherbloomingblog.blogspot.ie/2008/09/hairy-cornflake-spotted-at-city-farm.html
Don’t sell the tree stump short. It is more intelligent then some people. I’m sure you can fill in the name of the people.
Cat – I did actually wonder if it was the resident of the plot in which the tree is growing, though on closer look apparently a woman is interred there.
tt – What is this obsession with hash browns? I don’t even know what a fucking hash brown looks like. Is it like a red book? And the only reason I was at that wedding was to give my daughter away – something I had been endeavouring to do for years,
Anne – I looked long and hard, and far from enlightenment, I have just ended up with double vision. Though I did discover on counting the tree rings that we are indeed experiencing Global Cooling.
Ian – Hah! It’s a ringer for him. I had wondered where he got to.
Jim – Don’t start me off or we’ll be here all night.
It’s the face of the man who planted the tree. He’s coming back to haunt whoever cut the tree down. As a famous poem goes:
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Full text of Joyce Kilmer’s poem (c. 1914) can be read here:
http://www.poetry-archive.com/k/trees.html
If you look closely at the video in the beginning where they zoom in on the “woodcut” you can clearly see the chisel indentations. Not fooled…
Ger – The version I found on a toilet wall once in Dublin……
Trees are made by fools like God
But only me can make a poem.
Welcome Ying! You would be surprised just how many will take that as some kind of Divine Intervention though. If the graveyard owners had any sense, they would chip up the original tree and sell the bits as Religious Relics. They’d make a fortune!