What if God invoked this rule for politicians, how would it change our government?

[Berzerker]

Paul was sitting in a Roman jail kissing Roman arse

 

[Commodore]

Paul was sitting in a Roman jail kissing Roman arse

Sure, but in the context of this thread we are operating under the assumption that God is real. If we are going to operate under that assumption, then we must also operate under the assumption that the Bible is the Word of God. And the Bible says things are the way they are because that's how God wants it.

So if things are the way they are because that's how God wants it, that means God has no motivation or reason to stop corrupt politicians from being corrupt.

 

[Archbob]

But you forget, God has used various means and other people to depose many rulers that oppose his will and roundhouse kicks to the face are very effective deterrent.

 

[Commodore]

But you forget, God has used various means and other people to depose many rulers that oppose his will and roundhouse kicks to the face are very effective deterrent.

Those were rulers who openly rejected his will though. You'd be hard-pressed to find a politician now that openly rejects God's will in a similar manner to the pharaohs of Egypt or the Romans.

 

[timtofly]

If God wanted everything, then there would be no choice in the matter. Those who want to do it for personal gain would get their way most of the time. No one would care one way or the other. Punishment or so called justice, would not be a factor.

Is life even supposed to be fair? We can blame unfairness on God. What we cannot do is blame perfection on human behavoir. If we punish people for their acts, are we not trying to make things perfect? Perfection is an impossibility, and even more so when we punish people for being imperfect. We cannot demand from others, even rights, what we are not willing to give up ourselves.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Sure, but in the context of this thread we are operating under the assumption that God is real.

Yes, true.

If we are going to operate under that assumption, then we must also operate under the assumption that the Bible is the Word of God.

No. That does not follow logically at all. We can easily play the game of the OP without any need to reference the Bible at all. In the context of this thread, all we need "God" for in this context is so that the feasibility of enforcement is taken out of the equation. In other words the politicians are subjected to unavoidable harm as punishment for their misdeeds.

The purpose of god in this exercise is to establish that there is no way for the politicians to weasel out of the "Bruce Lee kicks" or "lightning" or whatever the punishment is. Trying to shoehorn the Bible into this is an unnecessary tangent.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Sure, but in the context of this thread we are operating under the assumption that God is real.

I don't see anything in the OP that says that.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Why would God do this though? According to the Bible (which is supposedly the Word of God), every government that is in power, and by extension its politicians, are in power specifically because God wants them to be. The relevant Bible verse:

That verse is just, like, Paul's opinion, man. If you want a verse on government that the the bible presents as a verbatim utterance from God Himself, check Hosea 8:4:

They made kings, but not through me.
They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction.

 

[Dachs]

Fun fact, since I'm writing my thesis right now - Bamberg's regulations for the carriage of justice from 1507

is the thesis just on Bamberg or are you including a certain other nearby archepiscopal see with a fortress and a cathedral and a very old bridge

not that that narrows it down much in Franconia lololol

 

[Archbob]

God in this case is a just a divine entity that deals with enforcement.

 

[sophie]

is the thesis just on Bamberg or are you including a certain other nearby archepiscopal see with a fortress and a cathedral and a very old bridge

not that that narrows it down much in Franconia lololol

I'm writing on the Unehrliche Berufe in Schwaben/Franconia/Bayern in the 16th century. Focusing specifically on: Henker, Müller/Schäfer/Leineweber/Bader, and Fahrendes Volk, (e.g. Spielleute, Bettler, etc.)

 

[Sommerswerd]

That verse is just, like, Paul's opinion, man. If you want a verse on government that the the bible presents as a verbatim utterance from God Himself, check Hosea 8:4:

They made kings, but not through me.
They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction.

Well to be fair, this verse is God chastising Israel specifically for breaking their covenant with him, rather than him making a blanket condemnation of the governments of man in general,but it does, at a minimum, contradict the notion that all governments would be of God's making, since God is specifically condemning Israel for making a government without his consent.

However, again, the Bible isn't relevant to the topic, because as I've said, and the OP has confirmed:

God in this case is a just a divine entity that deals with enforcement.

 

[timtofly]

I guess it depends on how well the proclamation is enforced then. If no divine personage can enforce it, what good is the proclamation?

Even if said divinity was originally behind the governmental authority, or in most cases this divinity has left the building, so to speak, there is no longer any divine authority except what human ruler can effectively muster.

Which begs the question how beneficial is any authority if never enforced?

 

[Archbob]

God enforces it without fail. May people will feel powerful roundhouse kicks to the face.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I guess it depends on how well the proclamation is enforced then. If no divine personage can enforce it, what good is the proclamation?

Even if said divinity was originally behind the governmental authority, or in most cases this divinity has left the building, so to speak, there is no longer any divine authority except what human ruler can effectively muster.

Which begs the question how beneficial is any authority if never enforced?

Again, to repeat, the whole point of referencing "God" in the OP was to precisely sidestep all of the questions you are asking. As the OP says:

God enforces it without fail. May people will feel powerful roundhouse kicks to the face.

There is no question of enforcement. The rule is enforced, period. The question of the thread is what effect the unavoidable, 100% reliable enforcement of this rule will have, if any, on politician's behavior.

 

[Tristan_C]

What if

God reveals his existence after all this time and starts microing his civ even harder than he ever did in the OT, and your focus would be on the politicians?

And why mention Scott Pruitt, is he the extent of your perspective on this topic?

Seriously there is a prudential middle ground between using government positions entirely for personal gain and using them entirely for who-knows-what fiendish purpose. Controlling people for their own good, I suppose, like the God in your example. Hot Eastern European garbage.

Working on the rather safe assumptions that your scenario won't come to pass, and people are greedy, the constitution pits factions in the government against each other. But since it is just a piece of paper, it also relies on people honoring it... honorably policing themselves, showing prudence, yada yada.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I predict this will go similarly as a thought experiment to how things go when you hand someone careless an outcome pump. Fortunately neither is real.

 

[timtofly]

Again, to repeat, the whole point of referencing "God" in the OP was to precisely sidestep all of the questions you are asking. As the OP says:There is no question of enforcement. The rule is enforced, period. The question of the thread is what effect the unavoidable, 100% reliable enforcement of this rule will have, if any, on politician's behavior.

Except that a supporter of the free market system, and government of the people, by the people and for the people, should know better than to ask for an external force to level the playing field. This force was decent enough to create people with free will and the ability to get along with each other. Otherwise free market and self governed people cannot exist by definition.

 

[Perfection]

Politicians are a bunch of masochistic crazies anyways so this will just egg them on