your thoughts on the golden rule?

Question

would you say the golden rule (do unto others as you would have others do unto you) would be sufficient as the only ethical guideline? would you say there are any situations where the golden rule simply would not work? thanks for any answers =)

Answer 1

it wouldnt work in the senario that someone did something to someone else that they wouldnt mind having done to themselves that the other person wouldnt like. example: say you wish to kiss someone who doesnt want it, you are doing unto them as you would want them to do back to you, but what if they just dont want it? you dont break the golden rule, but this situation simply would not work. so there ya go. =)

Answer 2

There are some interesting aspects of this rule. The Golden Rule as you state it is an guideline for those who already want to do the right thing. There is no moral authority behind it. The GR doesn't "work" without moral authority.

However, Jesus gave the Golden Rule as a command and tells his audience that it is part of the Law: "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12). So, for Christians, the Golden Rule is not optional and God's authority is behind it.

The trickiest part is dealing with people who want to do evil. For example, does the GR ask you to help a murderer escape or help someone cover a lie, etc.? The answer is that we ought to wish for our own capture if we murdered someone and discovery of the truth if we tell a lie. That's hard, but that is what Jesus asks of us.

Answer 3

If we all lived by the golden rule the world would be a much better place.

Answer 4

I agree that if more people would follow the Golden Rule the world would be a much better place to live. Unfortunately it seems that it has been replaced with the "everything for me and screw you" attitude that is epidemic.

Answer 5

I like the sound of the "Golden Rule"! I think it should be the one and only rule!

If people want to be treated with kindness, consideration, respect, compassion, love, etc..then they should treat others with that type of mannerism.

Why can't we all do this? I'll never understand.

Cheers and *hugs*

Answer 6

it's a pretty straightforward rule. however, it only applies to the general accepted norm on the society. extreme behaviours such as masochism and saddism may have some implications on this rule. nevertheless, it's a rule that makes a lot of sense. :)

Answer 7

of course its a way around every rule...but i think it's only sufficient as to the ethical guidelines because if someone shot your best friend, it wouldn't be ethical to shoot their best friend....it's just not right as a moral society.... :)bmoutlaw13

Answer 8

If only one and all on this earth respect this rule ... it will be a much better place to live in. We will be so cautious of how we deal with others, speak to others ... for fear that what we do undo others will happen to us.

Answer 9

i thought silence was golden hence that being the golden rule

Answer 10

The difference is whether you apply the "golden rule" or reciprocity in terms of "retributive justice" or "restorative justice."

As human beings, we can love one another as we love ourselves, but if we do not forgive ourselves first, but think in terms of deserving hurt or punishment, we can project this same "conditioned" love onto others. This causes mutual conflict and oppression based on clashing expectations.

That is why we are challenged to go beyond human conditional love, and to seek "unconditional" love which is divinely forgiving and seeks common truth, peace, justice and happiness for all. In this way, we can seek to correct past wrongs and to "restore" equity and loving peaceful relations in the future, instead of seeking only to reward or punish based on meeting expectations or conditions. So this is a different kind of love, that does not discriminate or judge solely based on past behavior but seeks the ideal, regardless of where someone is or has been in the past.

When we love one another as "God" loves us, with the greatest good and purpose in mind, there are no conditions attached, but trust that we will understand and choose right over wrong and choose the ideals that make everyone happiest as opposed to being selfish, which is limited, and leads to the above situation where everyone projects conditions that induce conflict and suffering. So unconditional love meets the human standard of loving others as ourselves, but not vice versa -- loving others as ourselves may or may not meet the higher standard of divine love that seeks beyond human conditions.

The idea of cause and effect, reciprocity, or reaping what we sow, is a "natural law" understood by all religions and also reflected in secular political laws as well. It should be noted that all religions contain a version of the golden rule of reciprocity, either doing or wanting for our neighbors what we wish for ourselves, or not doing or wishing onto others what we ourselves would not want:
http://www.worldreligionday.org/golden_rule.html

However, Christianity goes a step further when Jesus gave a New Commandment, that we love one another as He loves us; which joins the other two great commandments on the love of God and the love of man as one (given that Jesus represents God's divine will and love incarnated in man, or the embodiment of divine justice with mercy, or "restorative justice" in the New Testament (as opposed to "retributive justice" from the Old Testament which gave rise to the antichrist, or false oppressive government based on corruption of the law, instead of true government based on the spirit or love of truth).

So the point is not to love ourselves and neighbors with strings and expectations attached, which leads to disappointment, betrayal, and broken relationships; but to love one another unconditionally for the greater good of all, not based on human perceptions or desires which are limited, and can be selfish, wrong, or shortsighted and unfair.

Since we cannot know all the circumstances, past and present, that contribute to certain decisions or actions of others, our human judgment of what is just and deserved, what is loving and right, may not be just. That is why people say that only God can judge, that many events that occur are beyond our understanding of right and wrong, so that there are clearly other factors involved that we don't always know.
So we try to forgive or "let go" so greater forces of love, truth, and goodness on a divine level can intervene in our lives to correct and heal conflicts or problems that we cannot overcome on our own.

To love is to understand, and since our human hearts and minds can only understand so much before emotions get in the way, our love is limited without divine intervention to transcend where we may fall short.

Without harmony between natural laws of humanity and divine laws of spirituality, people can go to selfish individual extremes and impose their personal interpretations onto others, causing the disasters we still see today, until all that painful history and its physical effects are healed through unconditional love and divine forgiveness.