Quote:Religion does not teach this. This is how god really is. Now, IF a ruler is like that, then he dictates in those terms. When the ruler is good and kind the people are safe. If he is loving and gentle, the people can rejoice and honor him, admire him.
I don't care about how you view the god you want to be real. You cherry pick to come to that conclusion. The totality from the beginning of that book to the end of that book DOES NOT paint such a character as being kind to dissent and goes out of his way to not only punish people but torture them on top of that. Your god is kind in your mind the same way two people can go to a bad movie and one of them thinks it is great.
There is no such thing as a kind dictator. Dictators being kind to those who obey does not constitute consent like the leaders we chose in the civil west.