Springfield News Leader Article
Faith guides his chisel
Aurora artist erects a colossal monument of Ten Commandments in an inspired mission.
Ryan Slight
News-Leader
AURORA Jim Luce isn't demanding you turn from your wicked ways. The retired Aurora artist just hopes motorists driving on Lawrence County K are inspired by the massive Ten Commandments sculpture under construction on his property, one he hopes is the world's largest.
Luce was compelled to erect the monument two stones more than 15 feet tall and weighing more than 11 tons after surviving a May 2003 tornado that destroyed his property. Two stone tablets grace the 16-acre property where horses grazed before the storm.
Guinness World Records is researching to determine whether any known Ten Commandments sculptures are larger, Luce said. While public displays of the religious laws have prompted controversies across the Ozarks and the nation in recent years, Luce doesn't want to make a political statement.
"If anyone goes by and it makes them feel good, or maybe they think twice about doing something they shouldn't do, I just think it's a good thing that needs to be done," he said.
Luce paused, running a hand over his beard in the dining room of his rebuilt home.
"Well, I have to do it, whether I want to or not," he added with a chuckle, referring to a perceived heavenly request.
So far, the 47-year-old builder said passersby have offered only support for the markers, which dot the horizon about 60 feet from the roadway as drivers head south into Aurora.
Luce said his intense desire to construct the tablets began six months ago while cutting wood outside. He hopes to finish later this year.
The retiree had many reasons to ignore the compulsion. He's had three strokes. With two children in college and his schoolteacher wife pursuing a master's degree, there was little money to splurge on gigantic monuments.
"It may sound goofy, but it was like talking to the Lord in my head or something. It may sound corny, but it just wouldn't let me go till I finally said 'OK,'" Luce said.
The Aurora man responded by selling his golf clubs and several pieces of a gun collection. He also cut back on expenses such as trash collection and satellite service to help fund an estimated $9,000 in tools and materials.
Luce already had the hefty stones on his property. He created a concrete and steel base in November, and his sons helped him put up the limestone blocks the day after Christmas.
He works alone on the project daily, sometimes for several hours depending on the weather or his stamina. He ascends a ladder to chisel the surface, moving carefully to avoid cracks. Several commandments in two-inch letters are already visible in an outline for Luce to carve.
The translation was the oldest he could find, Luce said. It predates the King James version, but uses similar language.
"I've had a couple of friends ask me about Hebrew or Aramaic," he said.
Luce, who has years of experience with stone work, rejected more contemporary techniques such as lasers, sandblasting or water jet cutting.
"That goes against my grain, because I'm an old-stuff guy," he said.
Neighbor Roxanne Owens recalled seeing Luce covered with dust from hammering when she walked over to check on the sculpture's progress.
A supporter of the project, Owens said the result of Luce's talent and vision would make drivers take a second look. It was remarkable considering the difficulties Luce has endured, she said.
"When the tornado damaged his home and blew everything away, it was amazing to watch him rebuild," Owens said.
After Luce saw a funnel approach his home on May 4, 2003, he and his family dashed into the hallway and said their goodbyes. The twister flattened the house and destroyed a horse barn. Several horses and a baby buffalo died.
Nearly three years later, a few fallen trees still line his property. But Luce says he's convinced God spared his life in the storm.
COMMANDMENTS IN COURT
The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, is a list of religious rules that God gave the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two stone tablets, according to the Bible.
The laws, which forbid actions such as killing, lying, theft and adultery, are featured prominently in Judaism and Christianity.
Luce was inspired by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended in 2003 for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse rotunda.
"I'd like to meet that guy someday, (who) actually took his faith and stepped out from his job. How many people would have the courage to do such a thing? That's the kind of guy I think I would like to be," said Luce, who was raised Pentecostal but later converted to Catholicism.
Moore's stance was one of several debates to occur over Ten Commandments displays.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last year in a Texas case that a granite monument on the Capitol grounds in Austin was an appropriate show of historical significance.
However, the Supreme Court also ruled 5-4 that a Kentucky Ten Commandments display on the walls of two courthouses weren't meant as a tribute to the nation's legal history.
Missouri state officials think the Texas case ruling protects a monument on the Missouri Capitol grounds between the domed building and the Missouri River.
In the Ozarks, former Humansville Superintendent Greg Thompson left the school district in 2004 after he refused to sign an agreement that he would not display any religious objects, including the 11-inch by 14-inch Ten Commandments plaque he hung in the school cafeteria.
The school district reached a $45,000 settlement with the student's mother, who had sued over the display. Thompson was later elected to the Humansville school board, receiving the most votes among 10 candidates.
He has also founded America Asleep Know More, a religious group that supports public Ten Commandments displays.
The group backs a proposed bill that would protect public entities in Missouri displaying the Ten Commandments, the Bible and "founding documents with religious content" in public institutions, buildings and grounds.
Thompson said personal displays such a Luce's show more people are seeking a biblical perspective that he thought would make the United States a more moral nation.
Far from just a listing of rules, he described the Ten Commandments as an acknowledgement of a higher authority.
"Why atheists don't like it is that it is a conviction of what is wrong in God's eyes," Thompson said.
Luce did not expect any objection to his sculpture, which in on his land, surrounded by a fence. The monument does not directly face any home or business in the rural area.
His efforts even received praise from Bobbie Kirkhart of Los Angeles, the president of Atheist Alliance International. Though she had not seen the monument, Kirkhart called it "heartening" that Luce chose the practice his freedom of expression in an appropriate location.
"I don't want my government paying for it," she said of public Ten Commandments displays. "It's a statement that he should make on his own personal property."
Though she questioned whether biblical law was best to follow, Kirkhart said she didn't think a legitimate atheist leader would object to such a monument.
Springfield attorney Dee Wampler, who has represented Thompson, said displaying the Ten Commandments on private property was a Constitutional right Christians could enjoy in a country where he said freedoms were eroding.
However, "I wouldn't be surprised 50 years from now if the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) files a suit challenging what is on your private property". Arguing it is offensive to others, he said.
The attorney lauded Luce for his mission, noting he had considered placing a granite Ten Commandments display at his Battlefield Road law office.
"It's certainly not a bad thing to be constantly reminded of God's word." Wampler said.
Chasing the World Record
Whether there is anything larger reminding one of the Ten Commandments may be determined by Guinness World Records, a global authority of the largest and smallest items on record. One of Luce's children contacted Guinness in hopes of getting the tablets recognized.
The Montgomery monument that Moore defended in Alabama was 5,200 pounds- a weight less than a fourth of Luce's 22,600-pound project.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources said the state capital display stood about four feet tall- less than a third the size of Luce's.
The 2005 edition of the Guinness World Records book has no specific mention of largest Ten Commandments sculptures. However, only a portion of more than 30,000 record categories are listed in the book or on the Guinness' Web site.
Repeated efforts to reach a Guinness official for comment last week were unsuccessful.
According to the Guinness Web site, people wanting to set or break a record must submit a form to Guinness. If the attempt has never been made before, the suggestion is passed on to a research department, which decides if it wants the feat established as a new record category.
Luce said Guinness gave him a "conformation ID" on his sculpture, and a person was assigned to check dimensions and weight. He said he must submit descriptions and photos.
The Aurora man said he may allow the public to get close to the display if it does not present a legal problem.
Before the sculpture is complete, Luce planned to top it with stone crosses- designed in Gothic style with a circle- and add marble and granite in certain spots.
Luce will place more carvings on the side and the back, such as praying hands. Those include a Christian fish symbol as a nod to Republic, which featured it in its city logo before a federal judge found it unconstitutional.
Luce may also erect a walnut cross nearby from a log left on his property after the sever storm.
While he hopes his health remains strong during his work, neighbor Owens thought it would.
"If God wants it done, he will make sure he gets it done." she said.
Found at: http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060115/NEWS01/601150370
Email Jim at: lucejim@gmail.com
Ten Commandments
The ten commandments are important to life today. |
