Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!porthos.rutgers.edu!christian From: alfalfa!fullmer@dover.sps.mot.com (Glen Fullmer) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Trouble passages in the SOM Message-ID: Date: 15 Sep 89 09:03:33 GMT Sender: hedrick@porthos.rutgers.edu Organization: Motorola, Inc., Semiconductor Products Sector Lines: 33 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) writes: I believe Jesus is trying to point out the seriousness of sin here. You'd be better off blind and lame if you could avoid Hell. He is not saying that this is what you should do. No he is not saying that this is what you *should* do, he is commanding you to do it! "If your right eye offend thee, pluck it out". No. C. S. Lewis said it better than I can (quoting from _Mere Christianity_): It is, therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian judge to sentence a man to death or a Christian soldier to kill an enemy. ... When soldiers came to John the Baptist asking what to do, he never remotely suggested that they ought to leave the army: nor did Christ when He met a Roman seargent-major -- what they called a centurion. ... We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy hating. We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it." Everybody knows that John the Baptist was not a Christian but a Baptist! C. S. Lewis's opinion is just that! The "resist not evil" passage seem clear to me. Geoff Allen {uunet,bigtex}!pmafire!geoff ucdavis!egg-id!pmafire!geoff -- ___ _ "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence" {__/ // "over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." \ // _ ___ Dick Feynman, Appendix F of Shuttle Disaster Report {__/