power, figuratively speaking, smites the state, should the state turn the other cheek? Should the state bless the nation that curses it? Someone asked this question: Should the government be compassionate and forgive offenders 70 x 7 times? There are several references to government in the New Testament; perhaps the best known is Romans 13:1–4. Although most of us have read it many times, we should reread it with new eyes. Paul wrote this during the rule of the cruel and ungodly Emperor Nero: Let