The Church Should Never be Democratic

The Making of a King

^"Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having been taught?" John 7: 14-15

"Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers." Luke 2:47

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born among men that he may redeem men and make them one with God again. He was man without sin; the perfect example of what an enlightened life should be like. Flesh and Blood like you and me so that we would have no excuse; he experienced the frustrations we experience, more humiliation than we can face and worse pain than we can ever imagine. And all these that he may show us how to be a light unto the world. He had complete knowledge and unfaltering access to 'The Form of the Good' (wonder why it was so hard for Plato & Socrates to just make reference to God). There was a uniqueness about the way he spoke; when challenged by Satan and the Pharisees, he would say 'for it is written' - often quoting scriptures; He spoke in parables and analogies. His opinions have been acknowledged as universal truths even by non-Christians; they are at the center of many constitutions and bills of rights. His 'Sermon on the Mount' has been hailed as the very embodiment of human virtue. With his words he provoked even death, evoked fear even in demons, and charmed people that they would leave their daily chores and follow him even when he needed solitude. Masses lined up to great him, roofs were razed down to get close to Him, body garments were laid at the feet of his ride.

One particular aspect that stands out about Jesus as a man was his oratory and debating skills; when the Pharisees tried to trap him over payment of Roman taxes he said;^"Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?". ^"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."  When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. Mathew 22

And when they accused him of seeking to form a rival kingdom to Rome's rule:

"Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, You say it. Matthew 27:11

To proclaim that he was the son of God, knowing all too well that would eventually get him killed, he went into the synagogue one day and

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He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. Then he said to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4: 17-20

When his disciple Philip said to him,

"Lord, show us the father and that will be enough for us" Jesus responded, "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father Is in me? The words I say to you are not my own. Rather it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." John 14; 9-10

So powerful was his masterly at dialectic that it rubbed off on his disciples and empowered them even after he was gone:

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

He was a master debater and with remarks with hidden meanings he out maneuvered the most learned scribes who were out to intentionally make him stumble at his arguments. So when the question of what sort of education is necessary to make the philosopher king is asked, Plato's answer is not surprising at all.

They must study mathematics and philosophical dialectic. These are the two subjects that draw the soul from the realm of becoming—the visible realm—to the realm of what is—the intelligible realm. Of these two, mathematics is the preparation and dialectic the ultimate form of study.

Dialectic is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "The art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions". Dialectic leaves behind sense perceptions and uses only pure abstract reasoning to reach the Good itself. Dialectic eventually does away with hypotheses and proceeds to the first principle, which illuminates all knowledge. Plato puts little stock in human senses. The true philosopher must be trained to ignore his senses in his search for truth. He must rely on thought alone. The true philosopher probably makes no use of empirical investigation—that is, he does not observe the world in order to find truths. Plato is at odds with the typical scientific approach to knowledge, in which observation is the most important ingredient.

Though he is also enamored of dialectic, Socrates recognizes that there is a great danger in it. Dialectic should never be taught to the wrong sort of people or even to the right sort when they are too young. Someone who is not prepared for dialectic will "treat it as a game of contradiction." They will simply argue for the sake of arguing, and lose all sense of truth instead of proceeding toward it.

After discussing mathematics and dialectic Socrates launches into a detailed description of how to choose and train the philosopher-kings. The first step, of course, is to find the children with the right natures—those who are the most stable, courageous, and graceful, who are interested in the subjects and learn them easily, who have a good memory, love hard work, and generally display potential for virtue. From early childhood, the chosen children must be taught calculation, geometry, and all other mathematical subjects which will prepare them for dialectic. This learning should not be made compulsory but turned into play to ensure that the children learn their lessons better; one always applies oneself better to what is not compulsory. Second, it will allow those most suited to mathematical study to display their enjoyment, since only those who enjoy it will apply themselves when the work is presented as noncompulsory. Then, for two or three years, they must focus exclusively on compulsory physical training.

All along, whoever is performing best in these activities is inscribed on a list, and when physical training is over those on the list are chosen to proceed. The rest become auxiliaries. The children are now twenty, and those who have been chosen to go on with philosophical training now must integrate all of the knowledge of their early training into a coherent whole. Those who manage this task successfully have good dialectical natures and the others have weak dialectical natures. Those who are best at this task, therefore, and also at warfare and various other activities, are then chosen out from among the rest at their thirtieth year and tested again, this time to see who among them can give up their reliance on the senses and proceed to truth on thought alone. Those who do well in this test will study dialectic for five years; the others will become auxiliaries.

After five years of dialectic, the young philosophers must "go back into the cave" and be in charge of war and other offices suitable to young people to gain experience in political rule. Here too, they are tested to see which of them remains steadfast in his loyalty and wisdom. After fifteen years of this, at the age of 50, whoever performs well in these practical matters must lift up his soul and grasp the Form of the Good. Now philosopher-kings, they must model themselves, the other citizens, and the city on the Form of the Good that they have grasped. Though each of them will spend most of his time on philosophy, when his turn comes they must engage in politics and rule for the city's sake. The other important task they are charged with is mentorship; to educate the next generation of auxiliaries and guardians.

Many African countries consider themselves democratic by virtue of either pluralism or elective processes. Most of Africa's elective processes obviously miss the mark; be they secret ballot, acclamation or the famous queue system used in Kenya in the 1980's.Interestingly, Africa's founding fathers – the liberation and post-colonial leaders – came really close to Plato's mark. Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Abdel Nasser and others did a lot for their countries. Having been raised from the illiterate generations across Africa, these men underwent pretty much the exact process that Plato ascribes for the philosopher kings. They were sifted through the colonial education systems, most of them even did their graduate studies abroad, before grasping 'the realities of their lands and people' and choosing to go back to their caves and liberate their people.

Their contemporaries, mainly war and liberation veterans and other liberation heroes also fit Plato's clothe almost to the inch; Nelson Mandela, Rwanda's Paul Kagame, Kenya's Daniel Moi, Uganda's Museveni; a man who can stand his ground even when he stands alone. He recently outlawed homosexuality amid worldwide outcry – Africa needs more men like this. And I commend Mugabe, whose insistent on Neo-colonialism have finally landed on ears of the African union. Call him an old and frail despot or what other labels the west might pin on him; we Africans ought to hail the good fight that Mugabe has fought and continues to fight. Black Zimbabweans know it, and now Africa's leadership seems to have recognized it -  It's time that Africa realized that its future lies in autocracies led by such men of valor and vision and not in democratic principles advanced just for the sake of conformity, expediency and to please third parties.

There must be a reason as to why the Catholic Church's 'Theocracy' has lasted for two millennia and is still the world's single largest religious grouping despite numerous challenges and onslaughts.  Africa might be the dark continent, I have no qualms with that analogy, for after dark comes dawn, and the whole world knows now that dawn has arrived in Africa, This is the next frontier, no forgive me for a slip of the tongue, this is the last frontier – we have the opportunity to carry the whole world's dreams, we have the opportunity to right the world's wrongs, we have the privilege to be the last act after the rehearsals, everything's been tried and tested we only need  to pull off the finest and choicest – and I would rather think that its time someone with such a chance and opportunity gave a shot at Plato's 'Republic'.

 

 

Related Essays:

 

The Supremacy of Christ:  Colossians 1:15-20

To mistake any existing or proposed social order for the Kingdom of God is a great crime against humanity. We need to readily acknowledge that democratic governance is unsatisfactory, and so will be any other government instituted by men. Everything short of the consummation of the rule of Christ is unsatisfactory. The best that a human system can aim at is to remind us of this truth, for this incompleteness sustains the hope of God's redemption and restoration in an unsatisfactory world.   

 

Who really was Jesus of Nazareth?

Imagine if a friend suddenly started saying the things that Jesus started uttering? He would be walking down the road, seemingly like any other man, then turn and say something like, 'Before Abraham was, I am.' Or, 'If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.' Or, very calmly, after being accused of blasphemy, he would say, 'The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.' To the dead he might simply say, 'Come forth,' or, 'Rise up.' And they would obey. He would tell a lame man, "get up and walk, your sins are forgiven". To the storms on the sea he would say, 'Be still.' And to a loaf of bread he would say, 'Become a thousand meals. Wouldn't you be staggered? Was he just another man???????