"Cheesus"

People are so desperate to find meaning in their lives that they even seek it in their snack foods. Every few months, a news story appears about some yokel seeing the face of Christ in a slice of French toast, or image of the Virgin Mary in a tortilla. Most recently, the son of God's divine image has graced a Missouri woman's Cheeto.

Fox News: "Cheesus?": Woman Finds Jesus In Bag of Cheetos

"I looked at that and I thought, oh my, that looks like Jesus on the cross, it was just like wow," she says.

The pastor of Kirkwood United Methodist Church does not see anything theologically special about the Cheeto but thinks some good could come from it. Pastor David Bennett says "If people can find Jesus, somehow, in each of us like she's found in this object,that would be a wonderful thing."

Kelly doesn't plan to sell the Cheeto and will keep it in a safe deposit box.

"It was just like wow." We're clearly dealing with a woman of exceptional intelligence. At least the pastor does "not see anything theologically special" about the malformed cheese curl, but he does think that genuine meaning can be extracted from it. I, too, would like to discover my Lord and Savior; where should I begin my spiritual search? The Bible? The Frito-Lay line of snack foods? The #4 meal at my local Taco Bell?

If God, Jesus, or the Virgin Mary wanted to appear to you, why would they choose junk food as their vehicle of manifestation? Wouldn't a cloud, a mighty wave, or a burning bush be a tad more awe-inspiring? Or is the Holy Trinity operating on a low budget these days?

More importantly, the people who "find" divine images in their food don't seem to be concerned about what message their deity is sending. It seems enough for them that the image is there. But in the Bible, God doesn't appear to people without having something he needs to communicate. So what's the message here? It's ambiguous at best - it could be anything from "I am the Lord thy God" to "Cheetos: Endorsed Commercially by Chester Cheetah, and Spiritually by Jesus Christ."

Interesting, isn't it, that harebrained delusions are so similar to religious revelations that people mistake the former for the latter?