The Register – 10th September 2009:
A devout Catholic who popped into church to thank God for a his rescue from a lift was crushed to death by a 860lb stone altar, the Telegraph reports.
Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger explained that Gunther Link, 45, was “a very religious man and had been scared when he was trapped in the lift and had prayed for release”.
He continued: “A short while later he was pulled out of the elevator and he went straight to the church to thank God.”
Does that qualify as irony?
Obviously the church was closed that day.
So… was that an Altar-nate ending?
:-}
3. Jim Said: “So… was that an Altar-nate ending?”
Worst pun evar!
Times up.
Well, he wanted to go to heaven….
Doh!
i say god missed the first time around…
god is getting old and his aim isnt what it used to be!
When he was trapped in the elevator, he prayed to God to get him out, and God saved him.
But, when he was in the Church, he forgot to ask God not to crush him to death with the altar.
D’oh!
You have to be careful when you pray: start with something general like: please God don’t kill me. Then follow it up with “and make me win the lottery.”
Died as he lived. On his knees.
“Well, we all have to die sometime.” — Joycelyn Elders former Surgeon General
My best friend in high school was a vocal and self-superior atheist who used to mock my faith relentlessly
Until we got hit by a helluva storm in my little small runabout.
He was praying like the pope and Mother Teresa combined!!
I never, ever made fun of him for that.
Why? Because these kinds of things are funny but ultimately meaningless — including the story in this blog.
I’m glad my atheist friend found some spiritual strength during the storm and I’m glad Gunther Link felt some gratitude, even if was very very short lived. But, it’s no more than that.
#12–greggy-poo==your spiritual strength is scientific ignorance.
Once again: kinda obvious.
12. Greg Allen said, “Because these kinds of things are funny but ultimately meaningless — including the story in this blog”
Meaningless because there really is not a God? Meaningless because there is a God but he has no grand plan so everything we do is without any purpose or meaning?
You honestly believe there is an omnipotent and omniscient God. Accordingly, you believe that God both saved him from the elevator and killed him by the alter. Yet you also claim it is meaningless. To say I’m confused is an understatement.
God made a mistake and was able to make up for it more quickly than he expected.
Maybe it’s just the details, but why would anyone describe the altar as 860lb, rather than 390 “kilograms”, which actually means something in the EU? If it’s true, I’m glad he wasn’t driving the bus when God asked that he join the party.
I’m just amazed how in a world with more than 6 billion people doing stuff… stories like that one don’t happen more often. Just statistically…
Sounds like a Final Destination movie.
Reminds me of the opening of “Saving Private Ryan”, where the young kid (being dragged up the beach by Tom Hanks) is so thankful he made it, yells “Jesus, thank you!” and is promptly shot in the chest.
I love the irony.
Fishy tale. Yet still funny.
# 1 JMRouse said, “Does that qualify as irony?”
With an 860 pound slab of granite, more like “ironing.”
Props to Jim #3: “Altar-nate ending” is superb!
It is appointed to man once to die.
“When God hath ordained a creature to die in a particular place, He causeth that creature’s wants to direct him to that place.”
-Liet-Kynes, quoting the Orange Catholic Bible
Bi-la kaifa!
An Altar-cation with a 860lb lump of stone would be depressing.
It had his name on it?
#3 OK, I confess. I found that funny.
I think its obvious God trapped him in the elevator to prevent the death by statue, but relented when the man prayed to be released from the elevator.
You got to be careful what you ask for, you just may get it.
Where’s the B.S meter on this story?
How did this man pull the block of stone down upon himself? Did he have long hair like Samson? Isn’t that a miracle that he was able to do that? Atheists couldn’t do that.
Why didn’t he tear the elevator apart and free himself?
Sure this isn’t from The Enquirer or Weekly World News?
The elevator could have killed him. But why save him to kill him?