What Is Tyranny?
It seems like lots of people have opinions about how to handle tyrants. But I’m not sure if those same people agree on what a tyrant is.
The 1828 Webster Dictionary defines tyranny as:
Arbitrary or despotic exercise of power; the exercise of power over subjects and others with a rigor not authorized by law or justice, or not requisite for the purposes of government. https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/tyranny
I paraphrase this definition as, “Tyranny is acting outside the authority one has been given.”
If you aren’t authorized to exercise the power that you’re trying to exercise, you are being a tyrant.
The state of Florida can’t make Texans pay taxes to Florida. They don’t have that authority. If they tried, that would be tyranny.
Your government would be tyrannical if it required you to eat fish on Tuesdays. God hasn’t given governments that level of authority.
A man is a tyrant who makes his wife always wear a dunce cap. That’s an arbitrary exercise of power. He isn’t authorized to do that.
A tyrant isn’t simply someone in authority who is asking you to sin. That’s something a tyrant might do, but tyranny includes much more than just that.
What do you think?
Joseph