And on this day, Chuck Norris loses all my respect...

OK, so I knew Chuck was a right-winger. I had no problem with this, opposing political views and the discussion that comes from them is how we progress as a species, right?

Well, here's a Christmas Message from Chuck himself!

Quote :

I wonder: What would have happened if Mother Mary had been covered by Obamacare? What if that young, poor and uninsured teenage woman had been provided the federal funds (via Obamacare) and facilities (via Planned Parenthood, etc.) to avoid the ridicule, ostracizing, persecution and possible stoning because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy? Imagine all the great souls who could have been erased from history and the influence of mankind if their parents had been as progressive as Washington's wise men and women! Will Obamacare morph into Herodcare for the unborn?

I...wat.

He's not even trying to criticize the system! Where's the claims of death panels deciding which elderly patients live and die? Where's the assurance that private insurance is totally better because for-profit businesses never make decisions based on whether or not a course of action will lose money or not?

Just..."we can't have this system because if we had it before it existed, abortions would've killed important figures in history and my absolutely correct religion. And too bad if you get ridiculed, ostracized and persecuted, you wouldn't want to suffer less than Mary, would you?"

Jesus fucking christ.

Wat.

No, seriously, this is a joke, right?

I...I wanted to believe he was awesome....

Abort Jesus? Bah, that baby is made of god and sunbeams. You couldn't drag him out with a tow-truck.

This comment is beautiful:

rbeats wrote:

Hey then we would have all been saved 33 years earlier!

To be somewhat fair to the old boy he did say this last year. The article tagline even says "December 17, 2009".

Now, I'm sure he's said some other really whacked-out nonsense lately. I just don't have the inclination to find it at the moment.

I think I lost all the respect I had for Chuck Norris during the last presidential election. I've converted to Toph Bei Fong facts.

If it makes people shut up with the fucking Chuck Norris jokes, bloke can say whatever he wants, in my opinion.

Tut. What a bellend.

If I call Chuck Norris a bellend, he won't come through my monitor and kick me in the face, will he?

ZoZo wrote:

If I call Chuck Norris a bellend, he won't come through my monitor and kick me in the face, will he?

Nah. He'll just roundhouse kick the internet in general.

So if the whole thing goes down, it's your fault.

Spotts1701 wrote:

To be somewhat fair to the old boy he did say this last year. The article tagline even says "December 17, 2009".

I was gonna say I was pretty sure I'd read it before and now it's all about Samuel L. Jackson for me. He kicks ass and is a pretty big geek. It's awesome.

Zoey wrote:

If I call Chuck Norris a bellend, he won't come through my monitor and kick me in the face, will he?

Chuck Norris will destroy all of England because he's sick of you fools making up words.

Okay, but what about the time Al Gore and Hillary Clinton said that Mary and Joseph were homeless? They weren't homeless. They were traveling for the census and the inn was full.
See, both parties say stupid stuff in reference to religion.

I think ol Chuck forgot the part about Mary choosing to be pregnant. At least that's how I read it. It's amazing how fundies think that God's plan can be foiled by universal healthcare(which is far from what we ended up getting anyway) and reproductive freedom.

Selenite wrote:

I think ol Chuck forgot the part about Mary choosing to be pregnant. At least that's how I read it. It's amazing how fundies think that God's plan can be foiled by universal healthcare(which is far from what we ended up getting anyway) and reproductive freedom.

And the part about how abortion exists whether it's legal and easily accessible or not. Desperate women find a way, no matter how illegal or dangerous it is.

Selenite wrote:

I think ol Chuck forgot the part about Mary choosing to be pregnant. At least that's how I read it.

That's pretty much what they told us in Sunday School: Mary chose to do this, and that's a big part of the significance of the event. Her act of obedience, servitude, and sacrifice set the wheels in motion.

(Kinda makes me wonder about the textual aspects--was the idea of Mary voluntarily choosing so important because this had to be a willing sacrifice, or was it important because it stands in contrast to the religion of the Roman empire, where gods seemed to do as they pleased, without seeking approval, or maybe a mix of both? Perhaps something to take back to our textual studies folks in the department.)

caffeine addict wrote:

And the part about how abortion exists whether it's legal and easily accessible or not. Desperate women find a way, no matter how illegal or dangerous it is.

Yeah, and abortive methods based in plants and other things have been around for centuries; I can't find it at the moment, but I think there are some obscure or heavily veiled references to it somewhere in Scripture. But Bible Gateway isn't finding it right now, and my pounding headache isn't helping. But if Mary wanted methods, they existed.

karmyn: Political people saying stupid things about religion keeps students like me in business. As long as there are politicians in the US, there will be plenty of dumb statements for us to study and parse. Keep 'em coming, folks, I have conferences to go to and papers to publish!

lemmingwriter wrote:

Selenite wrote:

I think ol Chuck forgot the part about Mary choosing to be pregnant. At least that's how I read it.

That's pretty much what they told us in Sunday School: Mary chose to do this, and that's a big part of the significance of the event. Her act of obedience, servitude, and sacrifice set the wheels in motion.

He's also ignoring Jewish Law at the time and the part Joseph played. He and Mary were betrothed, which I was told was essentially considered the same as being married, except you weren't allowed to have sex because the ceremony hadn't been conducted yet. When the Angel appeared to him and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, the reason he WOULD have been afraid was because if he went ahead and married her, he'd basically be admitting that the child she was carrying was his and they'd had sex prior to marriage, which could have gotten both of them stoned. Apparently, it did cross his mind to 'put her away privately' (which I always figured was the Biblical version of sending a pregnant girl out of town to stay with relatives till the baby was born).

He could've also chosen to accuse her of adultery and said the child wasn't his, which would have gotten HER stoned.

Instead, he chose to believe the Angel and married her, which probably resulted in them being ostracized by the community and disowned by their respective families.

So Mary choosing to accept carrying the future Messiah, and Joseph believing the Angel when he told him to go ahead and marry her, were both an instrumental factor in Christ's birth. I think a lot of people forget that Joseph showed a great deal of faith in both God AND Mary by accepting what the Angel told him as the truth.

Rabid Badger wrote:

So Mary choosing to accept carrying the future Messiah, and Joseph believing the Angel when he told him to go ahead and marry her, were both an instrumental factor in Christ's birth. I think a lot of people forget that Joseph showed a great deal of faith in both God AND Mary by accepting what the Angel told him as the truth.

It's harder, for some reason, to teach Joseph in Sunday School. Little kids have trouble wrapping their heads around theology OR reproduction, and here we're trying to get them to deal with both, then throwing Joseph in on top of that ("So Joseph was married to Mary... doesn't that mean he's Jesus' daddy?" "Well, no..." "Why not?") doesn't help the situation any.

You're absolutely right: Joseph does tend to fall by the wayside, and he's just as important a figure as Mary in a lot of ways.

How many people here actually "respected" Chuck Norris before he was the subject of over-the-top jokes about how awesome he is?

...you mean the over the top jokes and the Walker Lever aren't plays on how comically absurd everything the man does actually is?

Selenite wrote:

I think ol Chuck forgot the part about Mary choosing to be pregnant. At least that's how I read it. It's amazing how fundies think that God's plan can be foiled by universal healthcare(which is far from what we ended up getting anyway) and reproductive freedom.

If you think too much about that kind of thing you end up in trouble with the idea of God's supposed omnipotence. If God is omnipotent then anything that happens must be at his pleasure since he could stop it.

tim gueguen wrote:

Selenite wrote:

I think ol Chuck forgot the part about Mary choosing to be pregnant. At least that's how I read it. It's amazing how fundies think that God's plan can be foiled by universal healthcare(which is far from what we ended up getting anyway) and reproductive freedom.

If you think too much about that kind of thing you end up in trouble with the idea of God's supposed omnipotence. If God is omnipotent then anything that happens must be at his pleasure since he could stop it.

Question: How does: "Letting shit happen", disprove God's omnipotence?

You people are really surprised about Chuck Norris being a moron? It's no secret.

Selenite wrote:

I think ol Chuck forgot the part about Mary choosing to be pregnant. At least that's how I read it. It's amazing how fundies think that God's plan can be foiled by universal healthcare(which is far from what we ended up getting anyway) and reproductive freedom.

And the fact that the new healthcare plan doesn't cover abortion.

Nihilist wrote:

People say dumb shit, last I recalled

True. But people who are in the public eye and followed by the media really need to watch what sort of dumb shit they say. The rest of us can say dumb shit and likely nobody's going to call us on it but our family and friends.

Someone who's famous says dumb shit, and the entire world will know about it 15 seconds after it leaves their mouth. If you're important enough for the media to pay attention to you, you'd do well to keep your 'personal opinions' to yourself. Because otherwise, they're going to end up all over the internet, the TV and twitter.

Quote :

to avoid the ridicule, ostracizing, persecution and possible stoning because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy?

Wait, so Chuck Norris is upset that teenage girls aren't suffering or getting killed?

Christian charity, indeed.