The Golden Rule, proof that a higher intelligence did NOT write the Bible

by jws 21 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  jws

  The Golden Rule, Matthew 7:12:

  So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

  A whle back I had a management course. It talked about the different personality types and everybody got categorized into one of 4 quadrants. The instructor explained that people interacted differently. If you want to communicate with somebody, you don't want to necessarily treat them how YOU want to be treated. You want to treat them how THEY want to be treated. The way you interact and think may be different than somebody else.

  For example, we probably know people who don't want small talk, just get to the point. And other people who like a lot of small talk. If the "just the facts" person talks that way to the talkative person, the talkative one is going to feel the "just the facts" person is rude. When the talkative person goes on and on about other things, the "just the facts" person is going to get frustrated.

  Therefore, a better way to state a "golden rule" would be to "do to others as they would have done to themselves". Or treat somebody how THEY want to be treated (not necessarily how YOU want to be treated).

  When I first heard this, it was "Aha! That makes so much more sense"!

  If a highly intelligent being with greater wisdom than man wrote the Bible, why did he write an inferior "golden rule"?
• 

  sparrowdown

  But how do you find out how someone would like to treated. What would be the baseline for people you don't know.

  For eg you might decide to start from" most people respond to kindness" and go from there.

  Sometimes it is not how we like to be treated that we respond to, but rather what's familiar-even if that would be considered dysfunctional to someone else.

  Like you compared people who like small talk and people who prefer getting to the point quickly. How do you know which type they are before speaking to them. There has to some assumptions made at first. Could that be where "golden rules" come into play?

  As far as disproving the divinity of the bible I'm not sure. Maybe yes, maybe no.
• 

  A.proclaimer

  The Bible isn't the only place you'll find this rule. It's in Confusionism, Hinudism, Buddhism, etc.
• 

  jws

  Observations can be key. How a person dresses, what their house or office space looks like. In the office setting, if you go into somebody's cubicle and it's filled with pictures, you probably want to start off asking about their family and chatting a bit. If their office is devoid of photos, neat and clean, sparse, they are probably the "just the facts" type. Get to the point with them.

  Sometimes you can't tell right away and kindness would be a good default starting point.

  But that's not what Matthew says. It doesn't say treat people with kindness. It says treat people how you want to be treated. Suppose I'm one of these people who likes to be dominated and treated poorly by people. Maybe I even hire a dominatrix to beat me and whip me and treat me like garbage. And for whatever reason, I enjoy this. According to Matthew, that is how I should treat other people as well.

  A "creator" should know this and wouldn't have written the "golden rule" we are all familiar with.
• 

  darth frosty

  Trainer Jerry clark has what he calls the rainbow rule:

  "do unto others as they would like to be done unto"

  He has an audio series of the rainbow rule in action, here is the PDF transcript

  http://www.speakingandlistening.com/pdf/magicofcolors.pdf
• 

  Island Man

  jws, I actually made that same point on a post some months back. I used the example of hot pepper. I love hot pepper. I would love it if anyone who hosts me were to put hot pepper in the food they serve me. So should I in my capacity as a host put hot pepper in the food I give to guests because I would want others do that to me?

  The golden rule isn't even uique or original to the bible. The bible is a very human work. There is nothing in it that stands out as wisdom that is beyond human origination. I remember a poster a few months back issuing the challenge for anyone to point out anything Jesus said that revealed he had unique or unprecedented wisdom, or something to that effect.
• 

  truthsetsonefree

  Absolutely excellent line of reasoning, and one that works so much better in real life. I call it "taking the temperature of a room or a relationship" and then matching it. Others have referred to this idea as "seek first to understand." It is superior.

  Isaac
• 

  jhine

  I think that this rule applies to the bigger things in life . In a time when life was cheap , children were sacrificed , killing people was used as entertainment (not so different from now ) this rule said "if you would not want to be killed , if you would not want to be bullied , if you would not want to be cheated , do not do it to others .

  Also, what about people with low self esteem , who only feel worthy to be treated badly , is that how we should treat them ?

  Thinking about what the instructor explained , isn't that exactly how we all like to be treated , that someone takes the time and effort to find out about US and who we are , if we like small talk or not ? So that is how we should treat others ,as individuals, each one special , just how we like to be treated , in fact .

  Jan
• 

  cantleave

  There is nothing original in the bible. It is a very flawed book written by by very flawed ignorant men.
• 

  Xanthippe

  Very true about Confucius, Plato, Buddha all saying similar things to the golden rule, plus they said it earlier.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule

  The big change that this way of thinking brought in, in about 500 BC was empathy, particularly for people who are not of your family, tribe, town. Enlightened self interest starting, the beginning of civilisation as we know it.

  Now however we are moving on as your training course highlights, treat people as they want to be treated. The rise of individualism and how we now value it.

  Did you know the word individual didn't come into the English language until the 1830s?

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism