Why does Power Corrupt?

It's a familiar phrase: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

Katczinsky's character in All Quiet on the Western Front comments about the effects of power on men in the army

"but the root of the matter lies elsewhere. For instance, if you train a dog to eat potatoes and then afterwards put a piece of meat in front of him, he'll snap at it, it's his nature. And if you give a man a little bit of authority he behaves just the same way, he snaps at it too. The things are precisely the same. In himself man is essentially a beast, only he butters it over like a slice of bread with a little decorum. The army is based on that; one man must always have power over the other. The mischief is merely that each one has much too much power."

By why is this generally true?

We like to think that mankind is basically good. But this observation of human nature strikes at the very heart of this notion. If man was basically good then power wouldn't corrupt: it would embellish generosity, provide the means for great benevolence, it would produce love not dread.

Instead I think that man is full of self love. We (I included) crave the adulation of others and that they would do our bidding. We want to be great. So when a person receives power they enjoy it and they wish to prove to themselves that they have it. But how can one do this? By showing that no one can prevent you doing what you want.

So let's pretend that you've been granted absolute power. You begin with reasonable requests. This gives a buzz for a bit – but aren't people just obeying you because what you're asking makes sense? So then come the unreasonable orders – and what a high. People abjectly humiliating themselves to please your every whim. Yes, truly none can prevent your will.

But then the nagging doubts. You can't really do anything, there are moral taboos; don't they represent the rules of some higher power?

Next the subtle whispering begins.

Why should you obey some ancient moral scruples? Who's to say you can't do these things?

Then your conscience fights back screaming – “It's wrong!”

The silky voice replies “Says who? You decide what's right and wrong.”

“God says” your conscience answers.

“Does he really?” scoffs the voice, “Like He'd strike you down?”

“Yes, you'll have to answer,” your conscience musters.

“No you won't. You're the highest power,” the voice encourages. “Now prove it. Violate these superstitions. Show the world you're just like God.”

So that's my theory. When people are given power they need to demonstrate  to themselves that they truly have it. The ultimate way to accomplish this is to do something that you know to be morally wrong - even reprehensible – and show that nothing can stop you. To prove that you are answerable to no one. This is our great desire that power unveils: to be like God.

So the fact that power corrupts people is evidence that man is fallen. That the Bible's view of man fits with reality. That we are not naturally good, but rather, selfish, consumed with ourselves and rebels against God. We have all followed after the lie of the serpent in the garden.

“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Genesis 3:4-5.

When are You Most Happy?

 

When are you most happy?  What are occasions when you're most contented?  What do they all have in common?

I might be happy running in the woods, staring at a sunset or listening to choral masterpiece.  Sometimes it might be basking in the glow of some accomplishment: but that doesn't last. There's greater pleasure in performing some task well. Reveling in the mastery of some human faculty.  Or more simply: in making someone else's day.

Mostly I think I'm happiest, when I'm most self forgetful.  When I just enjoy being, without introspection.  When my focus is external to myself.

Is this just me?

What about you?

And what does this tell us about humanity?

The Important Things in Life

How can you know what's important in life?
How can you tell what really matters?

It's easy really.

Remember you're going to die.

Then ask yourself: what would I regret if I died tomorrow?

So what comes to mind?  Money, job, career, holiday, qualifications, car, education, sporting achievements?

For me it's none of these.  What matters are people. It's the friends I've lost contact with, the relationships that have broken down and  the people I haven't told how much they mean to me.  I don't think this is just me. I'd guess most people will say others are the most important things in life.  But why is this?  Is it just because I want to be remembered as a nice bloke or is there some deeper reason? Why are humans so important?

If there is no God, then this life is it. There's nothing else. When I die, what's in my bank account won't matter, but then neither will my relationships.  The best I can hope for is that people remember me as someone who was great – but that won't bother me either, if all I am is worm food.  Moreover, unless I'm someone like Alexander the Great, in a hundred years I'll be forgotten.  It will be as if I'd never existed.  So why is it that my heart tells me that relationships are more important than all else?  Maybe it's because this life isn't all there is, that when I die it's not all over, and that how I relate to people has eternal consequences.

The Bible teaches that people are made in God's image.  That death is not the end.  Therefore relationships matter.  Money, career etc. don't matter – they won't enter eternity - but people do.  And people matter.  God cares about how we treat those who bear His image.  He made us for relationships – with each other, but most importantly with Him.  And this is the relationship we tend to forget most about.  But it's the one that matters the most. It's the one that determines our eternal fate. And if I'm reconciled to my creator then I'll start to put my other relationships right.

So in light of your mortality: how will you live tomorrow?

The Image of God

 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

 27 So God created mankind in his own image,
   in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them.

 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:27-28

Humans are made in God's image; but what does this mean?

In some way we are meant to be a reflection of what God is like. The question is in what way?

I think we display God's image in those moments when we see something in us that is truly noble.

Those moments when we admire something in another human.

The bravery of a soldier who risks all to fulfil his duty.

The creativity of an artist who dazzles us with beauty.

The loving care of a mother with her new born baby.

The sacrifice of an aid worker to help the poor and needy.

The ingenuity of an engineer to build a stunning structure.

The married couple living for the sake of each other.

The whistle-blower defying all for the sake of truth.

The righteous verdict that brings forth justice.

The patience of a teacher with an unruly pupil.

The act of mercy that brings forth peace.

The problem is these are only glimpses. We're all sinful. Broken. Not as we were meant to be. The image is tarnished. So where does the image of God truly lie?

In Christ.

He is the perfect Man. He is the second Adam. Through Him we see what God is truly like.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Hebrews 1:3.

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? John 14:9-10.

Yes, Jesus displays God's power and knowledge because He is truly God. But He's also truly man. Through Jesus we see God's character. We see his compassion, his love, his mercy, his determination, his sacrifice, his love of truth and justice. These are all things that humans are capable of, however imperfectly, and they reflect what God is like. When we see these things in humans, however sinful, however broken, whether atheist or Christian, we catch a shadow of what we were meant to be.

But this is not all. Christ didn't come just to show us what God is like. He came to save us. And if we trust in Him then God restores His image in us. As we love and follow Christ He transforms us to be like Him:

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18.

And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 1 Corinthians 15:49.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29.

God's goal is to make us like His Son. So we might display His glory to all creation.