Ten Commandments sculptor killed in tractor accident

[shain from kane]

AURORA, Mo. --A southwest Missouri man known for his giant stone sculpture of the Ten Commandments is dead after falling under his tractor.

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Luce drew national news coverage last year for carving the biblical commandments on giant limestone blocks on his property. The blocks weighed over 11 tons.

Luce said he sculpted the commandments as a way to thank God for sparing his family members' lives in a 2003 tornado that destroyed their house.

http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/142803.html


Thou shalt not kill, tractor. Or tornado.
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[SoCalDem]

1. Ah... the old Tractor-Rapture trick.. n/t

[liberaldemocrat7]

57. I'm sorry that the man died.

I'm sorry that the man died. If a person wants to create the largest TEN COMMANDMENTS then that appears fine.

It depends where he wants to place it. If he places it on his own property he can do that.

May he rest in peace.

[Hoof Hearted]

70. Yes. He didn't insist on a new construction in a courtroom or

similar intusion.

He does not deserve any ridicule.

May he rest in peace.

[Greyskye]

2. Guess God didn't like the sculpture.

Sheesh. Everyone's a critic. :eyes:

[demigoddess]

Do you think maybe he pissed of the deity?

Something to consider.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Undoubtedly he was being punished.

That's how the fundies say it all works, so it must be so. :)

[rucky]

40. He did break a commandment by turning the commandments into an idol.

and everybody knows that the punishment for breaking a commandment is death by bizarre gardening accident.

that includes adultery, and coveting thy neighbor's ass.

[Bucky]

46. I knew there was irony in there waiting to be found...

Actually coveting your neighbor's ass isn't nearly as dangerous as acting on your desires for his pack animals.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Thou shalt have no other farm equipment on top of thee.

[dkofos]

4. God works in mysterious ways!!

[malaise]

5. I guess no one read those commandments to the tractor

What ever happened to thou shalt not kill.
From now on Fundies must only use creationist tractors.

[cboy4]

7. "I guess no one read those commandments to the tractor"

:spray:

[malaise]

23. LOL

:hi:

[originalpckelly]

6. I guess that old catchphrase "Watch out for that tractor..." would be useful, wouldn't it?

Too bad Rose Nylund wasn't around at the time.

[Warpy]

9. Guess his god still doesn't care much for idolatry

[shain from kane]

10. Does this mean God is Dead? He was the original sculptor. But that 11-ton monstrosity. His God is a

jealous God. Dare we to challenge God? A lightning bolt wasn't available. If God had used 11 tons, Moses couldn't have carried them. (I know, I know, there were originally 15, and Moses dropped one tablet. Too heavy to carry.)

[NV Whino]

11. Do I detect a bit of irony here?

[AlCzervik]

12. i would say "Divine intervention?" but that would be distasteful.

[lazer47]

13. More like "John Deere" intervention

[Whisp]

16. tractor beam to heaven.

but aside, I'm sure he has family that mourns and what all. It's difficult not to comment on stuff like this tho. Like I want to know if that guy actually held those commandents or just used them.

[Mrs. Overall]

17. delete

[Mrs. Overall]

19. delete

[Breeze54]

14. Well, that clears up that myth!

Praying won't save you.

[shain from kane]

15. Was is there left to do? Plow ahead? n/t

[renie408]

18. There is a terrible flaw in me. I find this funny. n/t

[hogwyld]

42. I'm sure that the farmer's family appreciates that n/t

[RufusEarl]

20. Some great one liners here !

[petronius]

21. Poor guy - that's probably a pretty rough way to go

Sounds like he had it tough for a while (3 heart attacks plus a tornado) - I hope he's in a better place and that his family can find some peace...

[MissMarple]

26. I agree, what a sad thing to happen.

I'm sure most rural people here will concur. Farm accidents happen a lot and can really have an impact on the family.

[spoony]

28. You mean farm accidents aren't solely for the entertainment

of bitter, nasty internet ogres? This is going to come as quite a shock to some.

[hogwyld]

31. Remind me again who are the compassionate ones?

Some of the people's comments here are just unreal... I don't care if it's a Dem or a republican, a family has lost a loved one. I'm not too sure the snarky ones would like it if they were the butt of jokes during their demise.

[GreenPartyVoter]

51. Indeed :^(

[Xithras]

34. Very sad

We had a nearly 90 year old farmer die down the river from me recently when his tractor went over the side of a levy. Crushed him as it rolled over. It's not a pretty way to go.

I don't understand the disdain so many people here have for the guy anyway. He expressed his own religious beliefs on his own land, and wasn't trying to impose it on anyone. I may not agree with his beliefs or his method, but I can respect his right to think and act the way he wants on his own property. I see no humor in what he did or how he died.

[valerief]

22. Thou shalt not try to bribe thy God. nt

[kwolf68]

24. It was his "time to go"

The Lawd wanted him to come home. So instead of him dying peacefully in his sleep he gets run over by his own tractor. If God exists he is either incredibly lazy or has one sick sense of humor.

[The Wielding Truth]

25. He was an artist who died. Shame on you guys for acting

like pukes.He made this for his own property. That his his right!

Now he has died. He did nothing to harm anyone.

"Luce drew national news coverage last year for carving the biblical commandments on giant limestone blocks on his rural property. "

[hogwyld]

29. His great sin against the DU elites

was that he put something religious on HIS property. Now if he were to be run over and killed by a horse drawn plough, while farming environmentally friendly and organic crops, there would be such an outpouring of compassion and sorrow for his family. Sometimes, I really have to do a double take to make sure I'm not on that other website with some of the cruel remarks I see here. A man lost his life, and his family is in pain, and some of you make a bunch of cheap shot snarky comments.

[Mrs. Overall]

30. Sorry, it's called gallows humour--been around since the beginning of time, appears in great

literature. Don't police people's humour, no matter how dark it is.

[spoony]

33. What an absurdly stupid comment, trying to elevate the nasty

mocking of a hated stranger's death to the level of art?

Oh, and traditionally gallows humour is used by the person affected, not by some twit behind a monitor who hated them because of their religion.

[Mrs. Overall]

37. I have absolutely no hate at all for this man. The circumstances are ironic

and this is obviously not personal.

You need to go to YouTube and watch the Chuckles the Clown episode of The Mary Tyler Moore. It's explained well there and in about a thousand other movies/TV shows, which aren't necessarily "elevated art" like Shakespeare or Chaucer.

[spoony]

43. I wasn't talking about you

But again I want to point out that gallows humour is clasically used by the person(s) enduring the hardship, not by comfortable outsiders. That, when done well is black comedy. When done poorly, and with malice, it is...this thread.

[The Wielding Truth]

39. It feels so icky for us to be so callous. I know that humor, but

are we kinder than that. Aren't we? If we would visit freeperland or listen to Rush wouldn't we want to express our dismay at their dark humor?

I'm not putting you in jail tasing or fining you. I'm just saying, it's not kind.

[Mrs. Overall]

45. Do you have close personal relatives who are doctors or nurses? I do, and they are the ones

who set the fine example of dark humour for me. They are the kindest, most compassionate people I know and yet they have an incredible sense of humour about death.

[The Wielding Truth]

59. I do and some are callous. They have to be. They are kind, but

detached enough to get through. When they know the patient the humor stops. I'm just thinking that this is an open forum and we are not hard hearted. What if his family would be reading this. What if his parents were dems and here?

There is plenty of space here and plenty of great humor. I hold no malice and can see that some need comic relief. It's cool but this man is newly gone and it seems insensitive. I'm not a doctor so I'm probably too sensitive.. It just didn't feel like DU.

[Mrs. Overall]

64. I think your response is fair and thoughtful. I am just not in favor

of "policing" humour. A poster above talked about DU elitists and my pet peeve is "progressives" and humour. So much is off limits because of a heightened sensitivity. I once saw a thread on DU in which a poster was attacked for using the term "train wreck" because people die in train wrecks, so how dare we throw that term around lightly.

There are stupid witless remarks on this particular thread and some that are well crafted puns that are in no way personal and in no way denigrate this man's life. We're all going to buy the farm at some point, and most cultures outside of our own deal with it with more deft and levity.

[The Wielding Truth]

67. That was not me, and we are Dems.We have to be

kind to this guy. He just had a fatal accident. We are free to be silly clever and even sarcastic but not with this guy,not in this instance, not so soon, not in this forum.

All are heard in the Democratic Party, and all are respected.. I can see that you are just trying to keep this forum free. I just want to keep it responsible.

We Cool?

[Mrs. Overall]

68. You bet. There is a fine line between humour and disrespect.

Thanks for your insight!

[Dave From Canada]

44. That's how Rush Limbaugh defends his "humor" too.

[Mrs. Overall]

47. I have no right to police Rush's humour. This thread is about

puns/death--I don't see anything racial or anything that crosses the FCC lines here.

[petronius]

49. I'm not going to criticize anyone for joking; I've certainly made jokes that others found

inappropriate. However, it seems to me that a prerequisite for black comedy about someone else's death is that there be some element of genuine irony or just-desserts about it. In this case, all I see is a man who died too young, in a manner that was likely painful, leaving behind a family, after a series of other troubles, and who (as far as we know) didn't harm anyone. It seems the only source of 'funny' here is that he overtly practiced his religion. I'm just not getting the joke...

[piedmont]

54. As spoony said, this is not gallows humor. This is just nastiness. nt

[Bluebear]

32. "The DU elites"!?!?

[spoony]

35. It's true, hogwyld, you've overestimated their status.

:)

[hogwyld]

38. You know to whom I'm referring to

If you don't either walk or bike to work, use mass transit, or have the latest Prius, buy your food at the local Whole Earth, drink organic, fair trade coffee, and buy anything at a large chain store, you're not a real progressive Dem.

[Bucky]

48. Just when I was afraid we were running out of new fronts to open up in class warfare

DU elites. If I ever get out of my momma's basement, I'll give them hi falutin' DU elites a piece of my mind! You know the ones. Those stuck up bastards who live in their momma's garage apartments and think they're better than us. Grrrr, they get my goat.

[Duncan Grant]

60. Isn't that the campaign they used against Howard Dean in Iowa?

Elites? :wtf:

[Dave From Canada]

41. You're so right! Or if he was Muslim, and had created an Islamic statue, then that would be fine,

but gasp, he's Christian!

[Fridays Child]

36. I have to agree.

To the thoughtless commenters here: may those who disagree with you leave you in peace when someone you love passes away.

[budibudinski]

27. ***What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor***

Where's my tractor?




Ok my daughter used to tell that joke and thought it hysterically funny...never mind.
Just wanted to post something about a tractor.

[petronius]

53. There's a lot of 'not funny' on this thread,

but your joke is pretty funny (in an off-topic way). :)

[BlooInBloo]

50. Israelites! I bring you these 15....

... (crash) Erm... 10 Commandments!

[piedmont]

52. A working-class man gets killed on the job and some of you laugh.

Jackasses.

[hogwyld]

55. Ahhh, but he was obviously

one of them evil Christians... with a gasp! Family! Oh, the horrors.

[dropkickpa]

56. I hope his family is able to keep their farm

Far too often, the early death of a farmer signals the selling off of the family farm and great hardship for the family. Damn, they'd only just finished rebuiling after the tornado in 2005. My condolences go out to his family and friends.

[David Zephyr]

58. 2nd Commandment: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" Exodus 20

Hmmmm....

[piedmont]

61. Well he didn't make an image, did he?

Got any other not really thought-provoking points?

[David Zephyr]

69. Actually, a "giant stone sculpture" would be a "graven image"

You need to lighten up. Didn't mean to offend your cherishing of the "ten commandments". Cherish away.

[Vinca]

62. Years ago the exact same thing happened to a man I knew who

called himself a Christian - he used the "N" word liberally, hated Jews and had shady business dealings. Sometimes God wins.

[shain from kane]

63. As the original poster of my first original post, I want to apologize for some of the controversy

that I may have caused. My first thought on reading the article, which was only about five sentences on the website, was that someone was declaring that God was Dead. Afterall, He was the original sculptor of the Ten Commandments. And all along I hadn't realized that He was farming somewhere in Missouri. As my grandpa said about Missouri farmland, at least where he was living, "It could have rained sh*t for a month, and you still couldn't grow anything there." Missouri just ain't God's Country.

[mitchum]

65. Wasn't that idolatry?

[cboy4]

66. Oh for crissakes people, don't you see the irony?

People are joking about the irony, not the accident.

Oye Vey.