A quick check of the internet throws up the interesting (startling) fact that of the approximately 200 countries in the world, over 25% or one quarter of them are ruled by autocrats or dictators. Some are so well known and obvious that we could rattle of their names without much hesitation.
There are some who think that the God whose nature and character are revealed in the Scriptures is of the same ilk – an autocrat.
You get the picture early on in the book of Exodus, for example, when the Almighty gave the 10 commandments to Moses. The first commandment reads ‘You shall have no other gods before me’ and continues in the same vein ‘You shall not worship them [the idols] or serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…’.
The picture is clear enough; God alone is to be held in awe, to be obeyed and worshipped.
Is not Richard Dawkins right when he writes ‘The god of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant, character in all fiction; jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak…’ and so on (The God Delusion, p. 31)?
Even allowing for the somewhat hysterical outburst, is Richard Dawkins’ description valid or entirely, or even partially, offbeat?
Can you see any significant difference between the earthly autocrats and the Judeo-Christian Supreme Being?