In Reply to: Straining vs affording some refinement posted by Traveler on April 28, 2004 at 14:33:17:
In the "Golden Rule" it is not said that everyone is alike. It says in Mat 7:12 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.
It is not presuming at all that all people are the same. The presumption here is that you know how you would like to be treated, so do the same to others.
This covers cultures, differences in learning styles, different tastes.
You don't want to be treated as a robot, so don't treat others as if they were all the same. You want understanding, so you try to understand. You want to be loved, so be loving, you want help, so help someone.
It isn't saying that everyone is the same so treat everyone the same.
What you're saying is no different then what was simply said. You're just expounding it and trying to understand it.(which is a good thing)
But I guess what I have a problem with, is your critisim of "traditional" idea associated with it.
The following is a "Traditional" summery of the verse. I really can't see it as a problem.
"Golden Rule ( Mat 7:12 ).
12. Therefore--to say all in one word.
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them--the same thing and in the same way.
for this is the law and the prophets--"This is the substance of all relative duty; all Scripture in a nutshell." Incomparable summary! How well called "the royal law!" ( Jam 2:8 ; compare Rom 13:9 ). It is true that similar maxims are found floating in the writings of the cultivated Greeks and Romans, and naturally enough in the Rabbinical writings. But so expressed as it is here--in immediate connection with, and as the sum of such duties as has been just enjoined, and such principles as had been before taught--it is to be found nowhere else. And the best commentary upon this fact is, that never till our Lord came down thus to teach did men effectually and widely exemplify it in their practice. The precise sense of the maxim is best referred to common sense. It is not, of course, what--in our wayward, capricious, gasping moods--we should wish that men would do to us, that we are to hold ourselves bound to do to them; but only what--in the exercise of an impartial judgment, and putting ourselves in their place--we consider it reasonable that they should do to us, that we are to do to them."
Here is another, even older (1700)
1. The rule of justice laid down; Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them. Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; what we are to do, not only toward God, but toward men; not only towards our fellow-disciples, those of our party and persuasion, but towards men in general, all with whom we have to do. The golden rule of equity is, to do to others as we would they should do to us. Alexander Severus, a heathen emperor, was a great admirer of this rule, had it written upon the walls of his closet, often quoted it in giving judgment, honoured Christ, and favoured Christians for the sake of it. Quod tibi, hoc alteri—do to others as you would they should do to you. Take it negatively (Quod tibi fieri non vis, ne alteri feceris), or positively, it comes all to the same. We must not do to others the evil they have done us, nor the evil which they would do to us, if it were in their power; nor may we do that which we think, if it were done to us, we could bear contentedly, but what we desire should be done to us. This is grounded upon that great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. As we must bear the same affection to our neighbour that we would have borne to ourselves, so we must do the same good offices. The meaning of this rule lies in three things. (1.) We must do that to our neighbour which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable: the appeal is made to our own judgment, and the discovery of our judgment is referred to that which is our own will and expectation, when it is our own case. (2.) We must put other people upon the level with ourselves, and reckon we are as much obliged to them, as they to us. We are as much bound to the duty of justice as they, and they as much entitled to the benefit of it as we. (3.) We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in the same particular case and circumstances with those we have to do with, and deal accordingly. If I were making such a one’s bargain, labouring under such a one’s infirmity and affliction, how should I desire and expect to be treated? And this is a just supposition, because we know not how soon their case may really be ours: at least we may fear, lest God by his judgments should do to us as we have done to others, if we have not done as we would be done by.