The Golden Rule

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The more I read on biblical history the more I get surprised. I was of the understanding that the Golden Rule ie Do unto others .......was a Teaching of Jesus. Then I find out that it has nothing to do with Jesus rather it comes from a Jewish Preacher Hillel the Elder. And here is me thinking the sermon on the mount or the plain (depends on the gospel) was Jesus' own words, tut tut big J plagiarism is naughty

The Golden Rule predates Hillel the Elder.

It is mentioned in both Exodus 23:9 and Leviticus 19:18 from the Torah, and they were likely written no later than the 5th century BC.

Furthermore, the Golden Rule has been developed independently in many of the religions of the world prior to Hillel the Elder, including confucianism, jainism, hinduism, zoroastrianism and daoism.

It's earliest written representation (though disputed) could be from an Ancient Egyptian text known as "The Eloquent Peasant" around 1970-1640 BC.

Sources:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se ... rsion=NKJV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se ... ersion=KJV
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Golden_Rule
http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc2.htm

Anyway, it is entirely probable that the Golden Rule has been devised in some form even earlier, where it either wasn't written down or the written record has been lost.

It is also worth mentioning that in Wicca it forms part of the Rede:



The 'Golden Rule' is as old as humanity itself, using the human trait of empathy to influence religious and social justice systems eg:

"How would you like it if so and so did that to YOU?.....feel that remorse....relish it....are we guilty yet?...and no, I won't accept psychopathy as any excuse...."

If you don't make amends this lifetime, next life you'll get the chance......over and over until you do (like Groundhog Day).

So "Do unto others' became standard cause and effect....Karma.

Or, perhaps, it's just a universal truth...regardless of who espouses it.

Agreed. There's really very little original about Jesus' teachings. The only question relevant to Jesus is whether He is the Messiah, and Jesus never even comes out exactly explicitly saying that. That's for us to decide.

Ok so for all this time Christians have rolled out the Golden Rule as evidence of Jesus deity or at least an objective moral truth suggesting this as evidence of a creator. Yet here we have it this 'rule' has stuff all to do with an abrahamic god, it is simply a rule of reciprocity that culture after culture has formulated not form some deistic edict rather because it makes sense.

Angel Rho your statement is one of the most honest I have heard from a Christian

Allowing each person to decide for himself or herself as to belief is the practice of the principle in question: "Love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself."


The fact that any given culture might promote it neither proves nor disproves its origin.

It's origin does not come from Jesus. It predates Jesus by millennia and the reason why it has appeared independently in a number of different cultures is that it's really just a principle that uses our natural ability of empathy as a basis for morality. It's based on altruism and reciprocity that we even see in animals.

I've never felt that Jews or Christians held any kind of monopoly on wisdom. I'd say if it's evidence of something, it's evidence of a common tradition that links us all to an ancient pre-Abrahamic religion devoted to Yahweh worship (from Melchizedek all the way back to Adam). I myself wouldn't rule it out as evidence of objective moral truth and even evidence of a creator, though I hardly think that's really the point. Why automatically rule out that it could be a deistic edict to that effect? Of course, it could also be said that reciprocity is built into design?

As for being honest goes?I think a lot of Christians might tend to jump to conclusions too soon, as though shared wisdom somehow contraindicates our faith. Even if you meant for us to take it personally, I still wouldn't. Being "right" all the time was never what Christianity was supposed to be all about. There's only one question that ultimately matters, which I believe makes Christianity simultaneously the easiest and most difficult religion in the world.

The Golden Rule doesn't work for people who don't have good Theory of Mind. How the heck do you know what the other person wants done unto them? I leave others alone, because that's what I want them to do to me.

Hillel's formulation of the rule is actually somewhat better phrased: "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man." It does not call on you to do things you would enjoy to other people, only to refrain from doing those you wouldn't.

I don't believe the Golden Rule to be proof of Christ's divinity, and hadn't heard of anyone saying so before either. If anything, it's just intuitive morality put into verbal format.

How so? Christ didn't invent the Golden Rule, it existed before.

My version of the Golden Rule is "if you don't protect what you have, then someone will take it from you".

If asked, "Don't you trust me?" Then I can cite my golden rule without directly offending the person.

Do unto others before they do unto you.

Typical Republican response.