Golden Rule

Often the best way to know how best to treat another person is to ask them. As a friend recently observed, the first step to acting on the mitzvah of loving our neighbor is to be open to learning and understanding their own individual needs.33 To put the matter differently, the commandment is not to treat others as we would wish to be treated but a

A man went looking for Rabbi Hillel and said to him, “I want to become a Jew. But only on the condition that you teach me the Torah, all of it, while I stand on one foot.” Hillel looked at this smart-aleck and said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man. That is the entire Torah—all of it. The rest is commentary. Go and study.”

Jesus showed us how this law works in our relationships with others: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you.”14 Simply stated, “If you smile at someone, he most likely will smile back. If you strike someone, the chances are he

GUIDELINES, NOT RULEBOOKS Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political programme for applying “Do as you would be done by” to a particular society at a particular moment. It could not have. It is meant for all men at all times and the particular programme which suited one place or time would not suit another. And, anyhow