Sure, Jock, but biblical or no, it's a crock. The issue is not training a child in pain aversion, but in inculcating a sense of compassionate control. That does not require violence in any form. I am willing to bet there are hundreds of thousands of children who were spared physical punsihment int heir childhood and tuend out better for it, and comparable numbers who were bent for the worse by it. I wish I had statistics to support this certainty with, though! :>)

A