On the golden rule

John Stackhouse digs into the presuppositions behind the world’s most famous moral command.

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Summary

John Stackhouse digs into the presuppositions behind the world’s most famous moral command.

Transcript

The teaching “do unto others as you’d have them do unto you” – the so-called golden rule – really presupposes some more fundamental ideas, doesn’t it? It presupposes that every human being is entitled to care – and my care. And that would only be true if God has made them worthy of my care, and your care, and everybody else’s. So there’s this more fundamental idea that God has made them worthy of my care; and that, also, God is so supervising human affairs that I will not finally lose out if I follow God’s rules. And that God will in fact bless me, and bless the world, even if I have to quite self-sacrificially care for my neighbour as I would care for myself.