The Big Picture: Is Christianity a Dictatorship?

As I have pointed out many times in the past, there are a huge number of problems with the theology and logic of Christianity. The theology I focus on is the particulars of the bible and the logic is the practice of Christianity. My blog is dedicated to these things.

But today I have to approach a question that is so central to the idea of Christianity that it is not even considered by Christians, just openly accepted. That is, Is Christianity a dictatorship? I ask this because of an essay that Joseph Chambers wrote over at Rapture Ready. In it he was disparaging Catholicism, but he added this statement:

The Catholic view of both the political world and the church is that of a dictatorship rather than a democracy. They brag about their One World views and international monopoly of their contingencies, but their dictatorial and dogmatic approach has always squashed any private views or open debate. [emphasis mine]

Now I have to wonder, is Christianity (or Catholicism, for that matter) really a dictatorship or a democracy? For all I can see, if Christianity were a democracy, then it would be a majority rules situation. And since the majority of Christians happen to be human, then it would be entirely in the hands of humans to decide. Thus if a majority of human Christians decided that abortion and birth control were ok, then the Christian religion would thusly say it is ok. We know, however, that this is not the case. The last word does not come from human majority (i.e. democracy) but from on-high. That is Christianity is a pure dictatorship. Now what if that godly dictator set up a human surrogate (let us call this person, "the pope"), would not this person also have dictatoral powers? If God commanded His own authority within one person, the pope, then would that not constitute a dictatorship?

Then who is Joseph Chambers to argue against God Himself?

That is what I want to know. I say this because the pope has just as much biblical mandate as does Joseph to claim dictatorship. But what is really interesting is that somehow, in some biblical re-interpretation, Christians are magically transformed into a democracy, when every last word of God and law of God claims the exact opposite. God is the ruler, and God rules with an iron fist; so strong, in fact, that if one violates His laws here on earth, that person is eternally punished without any possibility of redemption. That is dictatorship at its extreme.

But just what does this say about our human endeavors into democracy and dictatorship? Shouldn't we all follow in God's model, if we are a God-fearing peoples?

Maybe I should turn this question over to the good folks of Christian Exodus....

Meanwhile, here is the return of the south's version of John Lennon..