From: dwomack@runner.jpl.utsa.edu (David L Womack) Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 12:16:44 -0500 (CDT) Even the religiously inclined don't advocate turning the other cheek ad inifinitum... Oh? Methinks you don't know the context of what Jesus said. At that time, only citizens hit each other with their fists. Slaves were hit with the back of the hand. The penalty for hitting someone with a fist was much greater than backhanding them. In a predominantly right-handed society, slaves got backhanded on the right cheek. Now how do you backhand someone after they've turned the other cheek? You can't -- you can only strike them like a citizen. And in the same context, Jesus told his followers to carry a soldier's pack for two miles if they were asked to carry it for one. The Roman soldiers were allowed to impress citizens to carry their packs for no more than a mile. Any more and they were fined. So Jesus was telling his followers to cause trouble for soldiers by making them beg for their packs back. And in the same context, poor people had no collateral to borrow money except the clothes on their back, that is, inner and outer robes. A person could borrow against the value of their outer robes. And of course, if they didn't pay back their debt, they had their outer robe taken from them. Now, the outer robe was necessary to keep from freezing at night, so this was a problem! So Jesus told his followers that, when someone sued them for their outer robe, to give them their inner robe as well. At the time, nudity was shameful to the *viewer*, so this caused great consternation. Jesus didn't expect his followers to suffer fools gladly, but neither did he ask them to use violence against them. -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | ask4 PGP key 11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX) | Quakers do it in the light Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.