The Church Should Never Be Democratic

System Degeneration: Lessons from the Past

One of the secrets that age reveals is that there's really nothing substantively 'new' in this world; at least not in the social or relational aspect of our human lives; the light bulb and the internet are new discoveries yes, but human behavior has been recorded for no less than six millennia; it's unlikely that you are going to have fresh and unique experiences. In your early thirties, you start to have a new respect towards your old folks and their generation as it dawns on you the knowing patience with which they watched the rashness of your youth.  When I was in my second year in high school, I felt that I was experiencing the world like no one had ever before. I discovered alcohol and had my ears pierced. Well, guess what, ear piercing for men in Africa is as old as Africa itself. Some teens think getting a tattoo is a fresh new experience, well you better run to your grandma and ask. It's all been tried and done before; the afro, the mini skirt, Eve probably wore a thong made of leaves and a vine in Eden.

Somebody needs to tell the world and indeed America to 'Chill Out'; it's all been done before, don't get ahead of yourselves; this earth has seen mightier things. The United States, the bearer of the democratic ideal, is certainly the world's most powerful nation ever, militarily speaking, but can it be judged as the mightiest ever? Of all the empires that arose and thrived on the face of this earth, would we term America as the most powerful? And how is it even possible to select the mightiest empire from among the hundreds that have flourished over the past five thousand years? Is it by military or financial might, or by land mass, or by population governed, or is it by longevity?

Well, in many of these aspects America does emerge tops, and we really cannot tell just how deep American tentacles penetrate. We know certainly that American military is within few minutes of action in any spot of the globe. They have submarines, destroyers and aircraft carriers patrolling international waters and can launch an aerial and amphibian strike on any spot in the world. With satellites orbiting in space and unmanned aerial drones they are able to visually, audibly and electronically monitor any person. They have spies entrenched deep within governments and as evidenced by the recent Wiki leaks threads, they at any single moment know what each of the world's presidents, and their close associates had for supper last night, which one is on Viagra, and who has an insatiable appetite for women. Their currency is recognized as an international benchmark and many countries have forfeited their own and adopted the dollar. Each dollar is said to be backed by a gold reserve of equal value. It is hard to estimate just how powerful America is.

Yet, America has vital lessons to learn from history. Financially and militarily America is definitely scaling new heights. On the scope of its geographical influence, well that's really debatable; whereas at the height of its might the British Empire exerted direct influence on a third of the world, it is hard to tell how many nations dance when America hums. In terms of longevity, America is two and half centuries old, it has a lot to learn from other empires. But most importantly, America needs to be aware of the inevitable; the eventual degeneration of everything human. We are temporal, and everything by us for us is thus transient too. Nothing that's human is enduring. A wise and wealthy King once said:

I hated all things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labour under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. Ecc 2: 18-20

Despite its overwhelmingly strong military, Rome fell as a result of internal squabbling. Weak Leadership failed the Persians. The Mongols could win wars, but they could not win peace and thus never could establish themselves. The Arabs spawned a successful civilization that attracted newcomers who relegated them to subservience. And the British burnt themselves out trying to do too many things at once -uphold their interests, those of their colonies, global order, and a European system. What will be America's, and indeed democracy's stumbling block – Ethical relativism or existentialism?

Let's delve briefly into each of these historical behemoths; in the triumphs and faults of these previous empires there are lessons for America today.

The Persian Empire – 550 B.C – 330 B.C - Monarchy

The Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great and came to an inglorious end at the hands of Alexander the Great. It was the first true empire and set the standard of what it meant to be an empire. The Persian Empire existed at a unique time in history, when most of the civilized and settled world was concentrated in or near the Middle East. As a result, the Persian Empire, which dominated most of the Middle East, ruled over a greater percentage of the world's population than any other empire in history. Indeed, in 480 B.C. the empire had a population of approximately 49.4 million people, which was 44 percent of the global population at that time. It connected multiple world regions, including the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, India, Europe, and the Mediterranean world.

Such a large empire could only have been put together by military might, and the Persian Empire's military achievements were significant. Various Persian campaigns succeeded at subjugating most of the world's advanced civilizations at the time including the Babylonians, Lydians, Egyptians, and the northwestern Hindu region of Gandhara, in today's Pakistan. But its sudden demise at the hands of Alexander the Great obscures these military achievements. One of its most significant legacies is that the Persian Empire ushered in a period of harmony and peace in the Middle East for two hundred years, a feat that has seldom been replicated. Other legacies to the world in terms of imperial ideas include the use of a network of roads, a postal system, a single language for administration (Imperial Aramaic), autonomy for various ethnicities, and a bureaucracy.

The Roman Empire 27B.C – 1453 A.D–Mixed Government but mainly Aristocracy

This one should be obvious. This is the empire par excellence and truly one of history's greatest empires. It started as the Roman Republic which climaxed with the majesty of Caesar, his unparalleled inspiration for future rulers and his eventual assassination in 44 B.C. In 31B.C. Octavian, Caesars adopted son was victorious over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium that saw the annexation of Egypt. In 27B.C. the Roman Senate formally granted Octavian overarching power and the title Augustus marking the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire and a political history that lasted a whopping two millennia if we put into account the Eastern Empire (Byzantine Empire) which lasted until 1453.

The Romans displayed awesome ability to conquer and hold large swathes of territory for hundreds and sometimes even thousands of years. They were a tenacious people; their legions were militarily dominant for centuries, enabling Rome to rule over nearly all other civilized peoples in the Mediterranean and Near East except the Persians for hundreds of years and facing only minor raids by disorganized tribes. When the empire did collapse, it was due more to continued crisis and civil war rather than its invasion by Germanic tribes. Their only real challenge was from the infamous Carthaginian general Hannibal who almost destroyed the Romans after the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C. The Romans were however able to land an army at Carthage to defeat it a mere fourteen years later.

But the empire was not held together by brute force alone; once conquered, people aspired to become Roman, which meant participating in a sophisticated, urbane, classical culture. The Romans bequeathed to the world a whole lifestyle. Roman law for instance influenced all subsequent legal systems in the West and indeed helped inspire the governance systems of democracies. Whereas Greece is undoubtedly considered the "birthplace of democracy," the American Founding Fathers were primarily influenced by British and Roman practices. In fact, many of them frequently spoke of their distaste for the Athenian experiment in democracy and their admiration for the Roman form of mixed government, where monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic elements shared power. The American political system— with its separate branches of government— approximates this Roman institutional division.

Several important features of the modern world are the result of the Roman Empire. The Romans took over and expanded upon the Hellenistic (Greek) culture, passing down Greek architecture, philosophy and science to future generations. For us Christians, we need to appreciate the special place that the Romans occupied in God's ultimate plan to evangelize the world. Next to the Jews, through whom we got the Patriarchs, the Law and the Messiah, and to whom the Word of God was entrusted and availed to us, and after their rejection of the Messiah, the Romans emerge as the subsequent people who lay at the very center of Gods plan. The Greatest Legacy for the Roman Empire will always remain etched in Christian History – The Spread of the Roman Catholic Church.

Looking back in retrospect, we realize that the timing of the start, the extent and duration of the Roman Empire was no coincidence at all. They established their dominion just about in readiness for the coming of the Messiah and until about the period of the great exploratory and shipping routes of The Age of Discovery – the time when the great missionary commission into the new lands and colonies started. God did indeed use the Romans in a very special way. While the Jews persistently rejected and eventually crucified Jesus,  the Roman leadership was not so convinced of his guilt and indeed Pilate tried to avert and later absolved himself from the grievous mistake that the Jews were about to commit in killing him. We learn of the humility and astounding faith of early Roman converts. According to the Gospels of Mathew and Luke, a Roman centurion asked Jesus for help because his boy servant was ill. Jesus offered to go to the centurion's house to perform the healing, but the centurion suggested that Jesus perform the healing at a distance. When Jesus heard this, he had this to say about gentile believers:

"Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would. And the boy was healed at that very hour." Matt 8: 5-13

Another Roman Centurion, Cornelius is considered to be the first Gentile to convert to the faith and in his house the Non Jewish church begun with the first gentile congregation as related in the 10^th Chapter of The Acts of the Apostles.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, "Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. Acts 10: 44-48

The Romans were right at the center of Gods plan right from the onset. In his letter to Rome, Paul the apostle to the gentiles writes:

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. Romans 1: 7-13

History shall bear witness that the Roman's embrace of Christianity helped elevate it from a small bunch of scattered Jews fleeing and hiding from constant persecution to the world's greatest religion. When Christ was born, he had to flee to Africa to survive, when he had ascended into heaven totally rejected by his own, he had to rely on the might of the Roman Empire to reach hearts of all men to the ends of the world.

The Caliphate 623-900

The Arab Empire, also known as the Caliphate, was a political identity initiated by the Muslim founder Muhammad that encompassed most of Arabia by the time of his death in 632.Muhammad was succeeded by the four 'Rightly Guided Caliphs' ("successors") who were selected by consensus and acclimation (though not undisputed) until 661. The hereditary Umayyad Caliphate then ruled until 750, followed by the Abbasid Caliphate. The Arab Empire effectively ended around 900, although the Abbasids maintained their religious role as figurehead Caliphs in Baghdad until the destruction of that city by the Mongols in 1258. After 900, the empire began to crumble politically with the rise of rival dynasties, many of them Turkic and Persian in origin, as well as rival Caliphates in Spain and Egypt.

Nonetheless, in its own time the Arab Empire was extraordinary, both because of its military successes, and because of its legacy. It is amazing that a loosely organized, tribal people on the fringes of world civilization defeated the Byzantine Empire and overthrew the Sassanid Persian Empire, both of whose populations and resource bases dwarfed the Arabian Desert. The reasons for the Muslim success are hard to reconstruct: most historians agree that the Sassanid Persian and Byzantine Roman empires were militarily and economically exhausted from decades of fighting one another. Others argue that Some Jews and Christians in the Sassanid Empire and Jews and Monophysites in Syria were dissatisfied and welcomed the Muslim forces, largely because of religious conflict in both empires.

One thing that's evident is that the Arab conquests are a good example of how ideological zeal can sometimes make up for technological and organizational deficiencies, and Arab generals from this period deserve to be ranked among the world's greatest military geniuses, especially the third Caliph Omar, who conquered the region from Egypt to Persia in ten years. In a hundred years, the Arab Empire grew to be several times larger than the Roman Empire at its height.

Because of its location, the Arab Empire, like the Persian Empire before it, connected the other centers of world civilization in Africa, Europe, Central Asia, India and China. As a result, goods and knowledge from all these regions were able to mix for the first time, giving rise to new concepts like algebra. The ultimate legacy of the Arab Empire, of course, is the religion of Islam, followed by more than a billion people today.

The Mongol Empire 1206-1368 – Elective Monarchy

The Mongol Empire was another empire that originated on the periphery, and against all odds, defeated enemies much more powerful and populous than it. It was the world's largest contiguous land empire, one that struck terror into all its enemies. Founded by the Mongol warlord Temujin, who assumed the title of Genghis Khan in 1206, the Mongol Empire first grew by picking off parts of China, as many previous steppe tribes had done.

The defining moment of the Mongol Empire was when its ambassadors were killed by leaders of the neighboring Khwarazmian Empire, which included Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. This was perceived as a grievous affront to the Great Khan and the subsequent Mongol revenge completely wrecked Central Asia and ended the golden age of the caliphates. Combined with the subsequent establishment of European sea routes that bypassed the Silk Road, the Mongol Invasions spelled the doom of Central Asia as an important region.

Although there were only about two million Mongols in the whole world, they subsequently conquered most of the Middle East, Russia, and China under Genghis Khan's descendants. During their heyday, they suffered few setbacks except for their failed invasion of Japan and the 1260 Battle of AinJalut against the Egyptian Mamluks. How were the Mongols able to accomplish these feats? Despite their small population, the Mongols were able to field large and mobile armies against their enemies because they carried their herds with them and could sustain themselves off of horse blood. In an era before refrigeration, it was logistically difficult for Chinese rulers to field a comparable army.

The Mongol conquests killed millions of people but afterwards established a brief era of peace and prosperity as trade spread across their large expanse. In the long run, however, the Mongols proved inefficient at administering their empire, which eventually split into four khanates before each one eventually fell apart or further split.

The British Empire

The British Empire originated with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries.  These acquisitions were more reactionary than planned; The British were envious of the achievements made by Spain and Portugal after acquisition of territories during the discovery Age. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time. The empire covered almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. At the peak of its power, the phrase "The Empire on which the sun never sets" was often used to describe the British Empire, because its expanse around the globe meant that the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

This feat was made possible more because of England's organizational feats and financial prowess rather than through a huge army. For example, the British conquest of India was mostly undertaken by Indian troops in British pay who choose to serve the British because of the regular salaries and benefits offered by them. London also demonstrated a remarkable ability to handle multiple wars at once. And while they sometimes lost battles the British rarely lost wars.

The decline of the empire markedly started with the independence of India- Britain's most valuable and populous possession. This marked the start of a decolonization movement in which Britain also granted independence to most of the territories of the British Empire. The political transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire.

The British essentially made the modern world. British institutions of representative democracy inspired French Enlightenment philosophers such as Montesquieu to devise theories of modern government that influenced other modern European states. The main characteristics of the United States— a commitment to liberalism, the rule of law, civil rights, and trade— were inherited from the British and spread throughout the world. Most of these characteristics evolved organically throughout the long history of England, rather than being the result of some master plan. These characteristics were also instrumental in helping the British Empire grow, thrive and hold whatever territory it controlled. Moreover, its example was widely emulated, whether for its financial prowess or its naval strength.

Further Reading …..

The 20th Century - The Anxiety Age: Rome fell, the sun did set on the British Empire. Democracy and indeed American supremacy shall definitely come to an end someday. That's the general flow of life; Human things degenerate and have to usher in new beginnings. That which has a beginning must have an end. Transition is inevitable. The sad fact is that sometimes systems degenerate into very atrocious regimes. From Pol Pot, to Stalin, Hitler, Saddam, Mussolini, Mao, to Kim Jong - the 20th century is rife with such dictators. It is termed as the Age of Anxiety   Read More…

The Vatican: from an Infantile Democracy, Yes! The Vatican has a democratic History, but 'Rome was not built in a day" The Catholic Church does not pretend to be a debating society; the Pope does not count votes on matters of doctrine and faith. The bottom line remains essentially the same for the largest Christian Denomination: according to canon law, final decision-making authority still rests exclusively with the pope and his administrative bureaucracy  Read More