THE POLITICS OF HEAVEN
None of them will have to teach his fellow citizen or tell his fellow countryman, "Know the Lord." For they will all know me, from the least of the greatest. Heb. 8:11, T.E.V.
The assignment was to decide on the most ideal form of government. Our college history professor, with a faint twinkle in his eyes, was arguing for a benevolent dictatorship. "After all," he said, "you don't have to wait for the people to go through that cumbersome process of deciding what to do. You trust the good intentions of your leader and do what he says."
Several students, however, were stoutly affirming that the best form of government was a theocracy. "This was the form God chose for Israel," they argued, "and this is how it will be when we get to heaven. God will be the unquestioned leader, and the redeemed will simply do what He says." There was no twinkle in their eyes.
Before you cast a vote, may I raise a few questions? Why would God go to such lengths to teach His people how to make moral decisions here on earth if in the new earth we won't need to make decisions any longer? Is the most important type of decision the Christian can make one of simply saying Yes to God's power? Does a decision to submit to authority represent the highest expression of Christian maturity?
Or is God seeking to get His people intelligently to align their minds with the great principles of His universe? Does He not wish for us to become mature? Paul says that the mature are those who "have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil" (Heb. 5:14. R.S.V.). To become mature, then, means that people must have opportunity to struggle with important moral choices and to bear accountability for their own acts.
A democracy is a slow, cumbersome, and inefficient form of government. It's not the recommended approach if people want to get a project done in a hurry. But Christians have cherished democracy because they realize that getting a task done isn't as important as what happens to the personhood of the citizens in the process of doing the task.
Since a democracy assumes the right of all people to be involved in making moral choices, to accept accountability for those choices, and to defer to the needs of the larger group, it often prepares people well for the loving, responsible freedom of heaven.
None of them will have to teach his fellow citizen or tell his fellow countryman, "Know the Lord." For they will all know me, from the least of the greatest. Heb. 8:11, T.E.V.
The assignment was to decide on the most ideal form of government. Our college history professor, with a faint twinkle in his eyes, was arguing for a benevolent dictatorship. "After all," he said, "you don't have to wait for the people to go through that cumbersome process of deciding what to do. You trust the good intentions of your leader and do what he says."
Several students, however, were stoutly affirming that the best form of government was a theocracy. "This was the form God chose for Israel," they argued, "and this is how it will be when we get to heaven. God will be the unquestioned leader, and the redeemed will simply do what He says." There was no twinkle in their eyes.
Before you cast a vote, may I raise a few questions? Why would God go to such lengths to teach His people how to make moral decisions here on earth if in the new earth we won't need to make decisions any longer? Is the most important type of decision the Christian can make one of simply saying Yes to God's power? Does a decision to submit to authority represent the highest expression of Christian maturity?
Or is God seeking to get His people intelligently to align their minds with the great principles of His universe? Does He not wish for us to become mature? Paul says that the mature are those who "have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil" (Heb. 5:14. R.S.V.). To become mature, then, means that people must have opportunity to struggle with important moral choices and to bear accountability for their own acts.
A democracy is a slow, cumbersome, and inefficient form of government. It's not the recommended approach if people want to get a project done in a hurry. But Christians have cherished democracy because they realize that getting a task done isn't as important as what happens to the personhood of the citizens in the process of doing the task.
Since a democracy assumes the right of all people to be involved in making moral choices, to accept accountability for those choices, and to defer to the needs of the larger group, it often prepares people well for the loving, responsible freedom of heaven.
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