Queen of Australia

Message / Question

Dr Dave, you say the best option is a "benevolent dictator". In the Bible, there are so many references to a Kingdom too. Without a Monarchy, will Christians forget what all these things mean? Do you think we should make Elizabeth Queen of Australia?

Response

A kingdom can take many forms – some in kingdoms, the King (i.e. the monarch) has absolute power, whereas in some kingdoms the King is little more than a figurehead. If you look at the United Kingdom, you will see that the Queen has certain apparent powers, however many of the “powers” she can only exercise if requested to do so by the head of the elected government (i.e. the Prime Minister). A king, in a kingdom where he has absolute authority, could be a benevolent dictator – i.e. he rules with absolute authority, his word is law and he is subject to no-one else, and could exercise this “dictatorial” reign with absolute benevolence. So the biblical concept of the eternal Kingdom, is essentially an example of a benevolent dictatorship. The problem is that when we use the word “dictator” we imagine some form of negative connotation, but that should not be the case. In theory, a person ruling dictatorially (whether as a King or under some other title, could be a benevolent dictator. The problem is, man’s humanity gets in the way and benevolence fails. God is the only possible benevolent dictator.

It seems as though it may come a surprise to you to know that Elizabeth IS Queen of Australia (as per legislation of 19 October 1973).

Message / Question As someone who works in Parliament, I know for a fact that voting #1 for a Christian Party in the lower house is the best option, because the big 2 negotiate hard to get the "preference", and gives power to the Christian party, who will say "we'll preference you if you do this". It DEFINITELY works, and probably one of the reasons why gay marriage isn't law yet...

Response

I have no issue with your claim that voting 1 for a Christian Party in a lower house election is a good thing PROVIDED the person voting that way understands that their vote will cause a small Christian Party to be elected to government (unfortunately) so they must ensure that they distribute preferences wisely, remembering that the major party that receives their highest preference (remembering that the lower the number the higher the preference – so 2 is a higher preference than 4) is the one who will actually end up as their cast vote.