The Golden Rule Bent Just a Bit
Some good old-fashioned common sense helps too
If there was one thing I thought I could always count on every time, it was the Golden Rule.
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That seemed to be the pinnacle of Christian wisdom. Something we could all agree on, regardless of doctrinal disagreements.
The principle of the Golden Rule is stated twice in the King James Version of the New Testament, although not exactly in the same words. In Matthew 7:12 Jesus is recorded as saying: Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
That’s heavy-duty stuff. There was no New Testament and no Christian religion when Jesus uttered those words. Jesus was a Jew who faithfully followed Jewish law. He said everything in Torah — the canon of the Jewish religion — could be summed up in the principle of what we call the Golden Rule.
The Golden Rule is also stated in Luke 6:31: And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Not only that, but the very concept of the Golden Rule transcends religious traditions. Various faiths far from Christianity have their own versions:
