In case you were raised by wolves, this is the “Golden Rule”.
Treat other people the way you want them to treat you.
Jesus was a big proponent of this rule.
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:34 –
Whenever I come across a piece of pithy prose, I give it an “acid test”.
The “acid test” helps me discard pithy pieces of poo in favor of trustworthy truths.
This is the acid test:
Would it be good if everybody did this everywhere?
The acid test is why I don’t litter.
The acid test is why I don’t drive drunk.
The acid test is why I don’t punch people who make me angry.
I have dipped the Golden Rule in acid many, many, many, many, many, many, times.
Pardon the pun – it’s “golden”.
If you profess to be a Christian, you’re stuck with it.
Christ said the “whole law and the Prophets” depend on the Golden Rule.
So…
Imagine walking into a public restroom and discovering a swastika drawn in feces on the wall.
You choke back the puke and hastily retreat from the room.
The next day, your picture is all over the news.
You were seen coming out of the restroom and CNN has dubbed you, “The Poop Picasso”.
As the headlines spread across the internet – how do you want me to treat you?
You don’t have to answer because I already know.
The Golden Rule applies.
You want me to believe you’re innocent until proven guilty.
Would you do the same for me?
Of course you would!
But you won’t do it for Brett Kavanaugh.
Let me humbly suggest you spend the day thinking about your justification for breaking the Golden Rule.
You’ll learn something important about yourself.
You’re a despicable person.
16 Responses
Most people give the golden rule lip service but they actually hate the idea by their actions. They want grace for themselves and unmitigated judgment for everyone they disagree with or who has thwarted their will (maybe can can call this the “poop rule.”) I agree with Nietzsche on this point. Most people are unthinking cattle. The popularity of soundbite 24-hour news proves it. Of course, I must have grace for them, too. LOL!
Context matters.
True.
John, you haven’t got word yet the “golden rule” is outdated. It has been replaced with the “platinum rule”. Look it up. I would be interested to hear you and the Peaches discuss it.
Had to look it up.
The moment the Platinum Rule fully replaces the Golden Rule, civilization will end.
We definitely DO need to podcast about this, then… Because I can argue that–when applied–the “two” rules are actually the same…
Yep.
The Platinum Rule is essentially, “The customer is always right.” It’s a much better rule to follow if you’re wanting to fill a building with baby Christians on Sunday morning.
Babies are a great example of customers who don’t know what they need/want, so they send conflicting messages…
Right.
So apply the Platinum Rule to a baby’s wishes and what do you get?
My point is going to be: everyone applies the golden and Platinum rules the same way. They have to!
You can’t literally become another person, so you have to just do your best to put yourself in another person’s perspective and THEN determine which action to take.
I don’t think it matters what precious metal you call it. 🙂
PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!!!
I’m on John’s side. I don’t think I could muster the will it would take to treat Robert Maplethorpe the way he wanted to be treated. 😏
I usually agree with the platinum rule, which I consider to be a deeper understanding of what the golden rule really means. One person in particular sometimes treated me all wrong – it was the way she would have wanted to be treated, but entirely wrong for me. It led to some very negative outcomes.
But some people want to be treated inappropriately, and we should not accommodate them. Some want to be worshiped. Some want the whole world to excuse their heinous behavior and impose no consequences whatsoever. Yes, Christian individuals are called upon to forgive (setting aside the debate of whether this is contingent upon repentance.) But the magistrate still has the duty to remove the evil from among us.
To be slightly more accurate, the metaphor should be that some accused you of thinking about drawing poop swastikas, and then changing your mind before you actually reached into a toilet.
No one actually SAW the bathroom walls vandalized, except one person who claims she was there when it happened, although she can’t remember when or where it happened, and she says three other people knew about it, all three of which deny having actually seen poop nor swastikas.
But, the swastica is a Nazi symbol, and Nazis were white, and YOU are white, so even if you didn’t paint those particular swastikas, you certainly have at some point in the past, so CNN may as well assume you are guilty.
You sick racist.
Also, “Poop Picasso” would be a terrible name for a band.
We’ll just have to agree to disagree this time, Bryan.
Poop Picasso is an AWESOME name for a grunge band!
(Side note: the security symbol I have to use in order to prove I’m not a robot includes the letters “BM”. Haha! It’s the little things that make my day…)
Ok, a grunge band, but they have to Suck. And they have to Know they suck.
So they just play louder.