“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7.12 ESV
The Golden Rule doesn’t require that we live in a homogenous society of cloned beliefs. Far from it. It requires we do unto others as you would have them do unto us. (paraphrase)
How different our world would be if we operated by that standard. A civil standard which requires us to respect each other, including those with which we have deep rooted differences: Even when those differences by definition are irreconcilable.
Enemies of our freedom are everywhere. It is not natural to live by the Golden Rule. When a society is able to extend this courtesey to each other it is evidence of this basic ingredient of healthy human relationships. When the Golden Rule anchors our own values it produces life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are the “unalienable” rights which form the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
We do well as individuals and as a people to acknowledge natures laws and God’s laws are based on absolute truth. Those immutable laws which are always true. When we live our lives within these parameters we experience peace. When they are violated we will suffer.
Each evidence of violence, stealing, looting, destruction of property, are evidence that threats to our “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” exist. God commissions government to restrain these destructive human impulses of greed and actions to achieve personal advantage at the expense of others. When we support those efforts by government, we align ourselves with God’s purpose. When governments preserve individual liberty, they are fulfilling their purpose.
