Is God a Dictator ...

Since the beginning of the conflict between good and evil, Satan has alleged that God is a dictator. Satan told anyone that would listen that God has His ways, and any other competing ideas are met with death. In effect, Satan alleges that it is God’s way or Non-existence – therefore He cannot be a loving God as He does not tolerate dissent. Atheists are quick to jump on this bandwagon posing the simple question – why do I have to love and worship God or find myself going to hell, is there no third alternative? Christians have often cited the Old Testament as examples of God’s justice and judgment against evil, coincidentally branding all those who refuse to accept Christian ideology as “evil” by default. The result of this conglomeration is a perception that God is a dictator, even if a benevolent one, and must be feared even if He cannot be loved. But is this correct?

Some Christians attempt to divide the Bible into the Old Testament (which becomes referred to as the old covenant), and the New Testament (which becomes the new covenant). Into these two stereo-types they label the old covenant as based on following the law. The new covenant is based on grace alone, as now we are freed from the law. But no-one ever stops to consider what “freed” from the law might actually mean. Since most Christians do not want to destroy morality all together they decide that only the Mosaic laws are no longer applicable – therefore feasting, offerings, dietary laws, etc.. must be the things that disappeared with the crucifixion of Christ. It is those laws we are freed from. What to do about keeping the Sabbath; depends on the Christian you talk to.

Atheists point to the level of blood in the Old Testament and assume that since God cannot change, this is His true nature. The loving Christ of the New Testament is ignored in favor of the blood and guts described in the Old Testament. And when faced with this argument Christians grow strangely silent; or perhaps worse, they interpret the blood shed as justification to implement their own ideas forcibly on our neighbors. There certainly is quite a bit of blood shed laid at the feet of God in the Old Testament. A quick review produces the following … the Flood (as many as 4 billion die), Sodom & Gomorrah (entire cities destroyed), the Plagues of Egypt (untold thousands dead), The Red Sea collapse (entire Egyptian army remaining dies), Earthquakes in camp Israel (those who speak against Moses slaughtered), the Assyrian army (180,000 men die), and Nineveh (entire city wiped out). And these are only the incidents where God personally and miraculously intervened with men dying. There are many other incidents where man was the instrument of God’s directions most of which center around the taking of the Promised Land.

These deaths are facts. And God is directly responsible for them. Is our God then a mass murderer? In order to address these issues one must begin at the beginning. Evil is something that has consistently been demonstrated to self-destruct over time. Therefore as God is infinite we can deduce there is NO evil in Him, anywhere. It is not that He is incapable of evil, as evil is a mere choice. It is that He would never choose to participate in evil as evil hold nothing of value to Him. Everything that is good is God. God is love, life, joy, fulfillment, happiness, etc.. Everything you understand to be desired or good, is what God is like. Therefore to deviate away from God and his plans, government, ideals, and kingdom – is to embrace the alternatives to love, life, and joy. Deviating away from the source of life leads to death. Deviating away from the source of love leads to hate. Deviating away from the source of joy leads to pain. These are simple cause and effect based facts. There is no moral judgment implied in any of them, they just are.

So it was with Lucifer who became Satan. It was not God’s fault that Lucifer chose against Him. Lucifer was created, just like all sentient beings, with the ability to choose to love or not, to trust or not, to obey or not. Lucifer deviated away from God’s perfect plan of serving others, and began exploring what serving self would be like. I am certain God warned him of what would result. But Lucifer continued in stubborn pride imagining that God may not know “everything”. Lucifer thought that different is not necessarily “bad.” But he was wrong. Different from God is bad, by default. This was an unfortunate fact Lucifer could not escape from. Nor did he wish to. Instead he tried to take as many creations with him in his destiny of self-destruction as he could. One third of the angels listened to his idea that different is “better”. And Adam and Eve broke trust with God, and listened to his now refined lies. And so evil entered our world, and our consciousness.

Ironically, Satan’s mere existence PROVES that God is not as arbitrary as he alleged. No, rather God tolerated the existence of evil until all sentient beings had enough time to make the choice to continue trusting in Him, or embracing Satan’s alternatives. No-one knew at first just how bad evil could get until Calvary showed the entire universe, that if allowed, evil would kill the creator Himself. It is only man that remains largely undecided. Once enough time has been allotted, evil itself will meet its destruction in the fires of hell. Evil and death will be forever consumed by those flames, and then the earth will be made new once again, once the flames are no more. Those who remain alive then will know for certainty that God can and should be trusted, and that deviating away from Him is never a good idea. In short, there is no alternatives to good that are worth exploring – this is the lesson of Lucifer.

Satan continues to sell his lie to mankind. He tells Atheists that there is a third alternative where they are in control of their own lives and decisions. He tells men that he does not exist, nor does God, only them – evolved after millions of years. And men eager to gain control over their own fates, believe his lie. They embrace blindly the concept that deviating from good can somehow wind up with a positive result, when in fact it simply cannot. Evil is tolerated by God as an example of His patience, and how firmly He is committed to the concept of free-will. God allows mankind a certain amount of freedom to explore the limits of his wickedness. But at times, enough becomes enough, and as a forecast of the ultimate disposition of all evil in general – a specific example of evil is terminated from the world. The Flood was perhaps the biggest example of this.

One day evil will meet its fate, that is not a threat, but a promise. One day evil will exist no more anywhere, and remain gone by choice. But the entire point of the Bible was not to condemn us with what we deserved. It was to redeem us unto what only He truly deserves. Those who divide the Old Testament from the New Testament under the idea that violence only occurred in the former make a mistake. First take a close look at each example I sited as to God personally invoking destruction in our world. In each instance, BEFORE any destruction occurred, the first priority was the REDEMPTION of mankind. Noah was identified long before the flood occurred, not because he was special, but because he was the last follower of God. God waited 120 years from His initial decision to destroy the world in order to give it time to repent and be saved. But the world would not hear of it. They continued to distrust the word of God through Noah, and so met the fate of all evil.

Before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Christ himself came to see the city in person. He negotiated with Abraham to spare the city if only 10 righteous people could be found in it. And when only Lot and his family were found, they were saved BEFORE the city was destroyed. Even for the sake of Lot, for just one, God enacted a plan to save him from the destruction that would befall his neighbors – the same way He did for Noah. Lot’s wife and daughters were spared initially despite their apparent “lack of character”, another testament to the love of God for us. Egypt was warned repeatedly before the plagues. The Israelites had constant miraculous signs and the physical presence of God in the camp despite their choice to engage in wickedness. King Sennacherib of the Assyrians knew better than to attack Israel and had been warned. Jonah was sent to Nineveh and it was spared initially due to its repentance. In each account, REDEMPTION was sought FIRST. Only after being saved was no longer an option, came the inevitable destruction of evil – so it will be one more time.

Those who segregate the New Testament from the Old Testament based on violence, also forget the lessons of Ananias and Sapphira. In this case as in earlier times, both were given opportunities to repent of their evil before destruction ensued. God has not changed. He is the same in Old and New, He is completely focused on our redemption from evil. But He gives us the choice of this redemption or not. If we refuse it, we will suffer the fate of all evil, and be consumed with evil ourselves. It will not be because He did not warn us, love us, lure us, and invest great effort in our salvation – it will be because we simply kept on saying NO. This may sound like a hard truth, but it is a truth nonetheless. It does not mean God is a dictator, but rather means He will not suffer evil eternally, and will not allow evil to take all life with it, when it goes.

So then comes the question of obedience - Must we obey or die? Yes; but not because of the threat of the impending doom of evil, but because most of the natural consequences of evil itself are but pain and death. I can choose for example to obey the law and drive within the speed limits set by our government. Or I can choose to drive at twice the legal limit on the same roads. No-one can force me to do either, it is my choice to obey or drive as I choose. But when I drive 110mph in a 55mph zone and miss my left turn, rolling my vehicle into a nearby oak tree, making a pretzel out of my car and me in it – does this make it the governments fault for setting a speed limit in the first place? Or is it my fault for choosing to disobey and put myself at risk? Evil is consistently and inevitable linked with pain and death. They are one, as God is one. You cannot separate them from each other. Sometimes the pain of evil is delayed and when it is, it is usually far worse than immediate consequences. But delayed or not, they are sure to come.

There is another reason to obey besides just avoiding the natural consequences of embracing evil; it is because our God is one of infinite love, consumed with our redemption from evil. God wished only to spare us the pain and death associated with evil. He wants our happiness and hates anything that would harm us. As such, His council to us, ALL of His council to us, is designed to preserve us from evil and put us in a position to enjoy His happiness. God does not arbitrarily restrict us from things we would enjoy, but He does keep us away from things that may appear pleasing, but underneath would gladly see us hurt or killed. God is our shelter, and our protector. But He is less so, when we view His council as something we are to be made free from. We are not “freed” from good advice, and commandments, we are “freed” from the slavery of man to serve evil and himself. We are “freed” TO obey, not “freed” in order to run amuck in evil and pain.

The redemption of man from evil is the uniting principle of the God of BOTH the Old and New Testaments. The Bible is a love letter to man, and a warning cautionary certainty to evil and those that embrace it. The Bible speaks of Satan’s sure destruction as much as it does the certainty of our redemption should we choose to believe in the Savior sent to save us. The Bible judges evil and wickedness, yet does not condemn man, but rather extends to him hope no matter what level of depravity he may have sunken to. Christ is powerful enough to save anyone, anywhere, anytime. He did not design the plan of Salvation so that you could go on living a life of pain and dread, and on your death bed finally renounce the source of all your pain that plagued you every day of your life. Rather He enacted a plan to save you from evil right here and right now, so that every day of your life would be one without the pain of evil and sin. He can change you and free you from your slavery. He is the only Savior God who can.