Dictatorships and totalitarian systems on the left and the right have been tried and failed. Lenin, Hitler, Diocletian, Haman, and many more.
Where they go wrong is not in thinking that one *person* can know what is best for everyone. They err in thinking that one *man* can know what is best for everyone.
Well, that's not quite true. There is one Man... but He has some advantages over the rest of us.
Or, more simply, God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. The first is confirmed by Creation itself. The second is evinced throughout Scripture. The third is confirmed by the Cross.
Therefore, God is a dictator, but He is one who genuinely knows what is best for everyone.
At the foundations of my worldview, I have a couple of ideas germane to this discussion. I am fully convinced of the truth of the statement made by Lord Acton a couple hundred years ago. He said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I have never seen a variation of this bedrock description of human nature. It does not matter who you are. It applies to you. That is because we are limited in our sight, scope of understanding, and awareness of the true needs of others. Another idea is my trust in the God of the Universe to be GOOD in everything He does. If He opposes something, it is because He has seen the end from the beginning and knows it is best for humanity that we don’t go there.
All this is subject to testing. It is not an empty faith, assumed by atheists and God-haters everywhere. It is the best inference to the evidence when it is accumulated and considered. No pretending away some evidence because it doesn’t fit your worldview. That’s cheating.
Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason calls God a benevolent dictator. It makes sense since everything depends on him to just exist.
Dictatorships and totalitarian systems on the left and the right have been tried and failed. Lenin, Hitler, Diocletian, Haman, and many more.
Where they go wrong is not in thinking that one *person* can know what is best for everyone. They err in thinking that one *man* can know what is best for everyone.
Well, that's not quite true. There is one Man... but He has some advantages over the rest of us.
Or, more simply, God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. The first is confirmed by Creation itself. The second is evinced throughout Scripture. The third is confirmed by the Cross.
Therefore, God is a dictator, but He is one who genuinely knows what is best for everyone.
At the foundations of my worldview, I have a couple of ideas germane to this discussion. I am fully convinced of the truth of the statement made by Lord Acton a couple hundred years ago. He said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I have never seen a variation of this bedrock description of human nature. It does not matter who you are. It applies to you. That is because we are limited in our sight, scope of understanding, and awareness of the true needs of others. Another idea is my trust in the God of the Universe to be GOOD in everything He does. If He opposes something, it is because He has seen the end from the beginning and knows it is best for humanity that we don’t go there.
All this is subject to testing. It is not an empty faith, assumed by atheists and God-haters everywhere. It is the best inference to the evidence when it is accumulated and considered. No pretending away some evidence because it doesn’t fit your worldview. That’s cheating.