A common question within conservative circles in the United States and Western society today is: “How has our country and culture fallen so far?” To be honest, one doesn’t even have to be conservative to look around and ask this question. There is a lot that has contributed to the downfall of our American culture and the culture of Western society. Something we would like to do here at The Minutemen of America is reintroduce and further discuss principles that can help our country reclaim its identity. These principles will not only help us regain our country, but they will also allow each person to apply them in their personal lives. The first principle we would like to discuss is the Golden Rule. We wanted to do this one first, because as The LORD Jesus says in Matthew 7:12, the entire law and prophets can be obeyed by just following this rule. The entire law and prophets is the law of nature that we discussed in Liberty Essay #2. In this essay, we will discuss what the Golden Rule means and how, in a practical sense, one can follow it.

One of the greatest blessings and things that an individual can do in this life is to be a giver. In everyone’s life, one gives and one receives (or some take…socialists). And everyone in their life experiences both of these. Everyone knows that the greater of the two is, of course, giving. There isn’t anything wrong with receiving, but it’s common knowledge that giving is preferred. If I asked the question: “which would you rather be, a giver or a taker?” Most would respond with wanting to be a giver because inherently everyone knows that being a giver is better and creates a higher sense of value. So, what does being a giver have to do with the Golden Rule? To answer this question, one must understand that, to follow the Golden Rule, one has to become a giver. You cannot follow the Golden Rule and be a taker or receiver your entire life. To follow the Golden Rule one has to give. For example, a common definition of the Golden Rule is to treat others how you wish to be treated. If you want to be a great giver and follow the Golden Rule, you have to give others the gift of the treatment in which you would like to be treated. It is for this reason that the Golden Rule can only be followed if one is a giver. But to continue further, what exactly does the Golden Rule mean?

At the basic level, the Golden Rule means to love your neighbor as yourself. The young person asks, “Well mom, dad, how do I love my neighbor as myself?” The answer is to treat others how you would want to be treated. The good Shepherd, Jesus, illustrates this in the parable of the good Samaritan from Luke 10:29-37. To summarize, a man is walking and is then robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the road. Two religious, or “holy,” folks walk by him and leave him. But a Samaritan, who is not regarded with such esteem as the two religious men, sees the man and helps him. He takes him to an inn and pays for the man to stay there and heal up. The LORD Jesus, then asks, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The answer, of course, is the Samaritan. The Samaritan loved the man (the neighbor) as himself. How? He treated the man how he wished to be treated. He did to the man what he would want others to do to him. This is what the Golden Rule means: it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

A fair follow-up question in response to the parable is: “How was the Samaritan able to love this random man as himself and treat him how he would have liked to be treated?” It is in my humble opinion that the Samaritan was able to do this because he put himself in the beaten man’s shoes, and this is part of the gift that we give with the Golden Rule. With the Golden Rule, we give others the gift of trying to put ourselves in their shoes and trying to give them the benefit of the doubt (check out Liberty Podcast #1 to hear more about this). And with this gift, we also give them great respect. The respect we offer them is the respect of their value and worth as a fellow human being. Let me be clear: you are not respecting their decisions or their way of life, but you are respecting their value and worth as a human being. We don’t know what went through the Samaritan’s head when he saw the beaten man left for dead because we aren’t told. But is it possible that the Samaritan man saw the injured man and maybe wanted to keep moving and then thought to himself, “If that were me, what would I want somebody walking by to do?” And this is very simply how we can begin to give others the benefit of the doubt. Just place yourself in their shoes for a second. This is how we can start to follow the Golden Rule, love our neighbor as our self, and also be able to forgive.

Now the question becomes: how can I follow this? Some people, myself included, immediately start to think that we have to go all the way and start picking up homeless people off the street, visiting the sick, etc. And if you can do those things, with prudence and wisdom, then maybe you should. But, following the Golden Rule doesn’t always have to be that extraordinary. Following this rule can be done today! For example, have you ever been out and about and you see a stranger who looks down? Like, you are able to just see this person, and you know that they are going through something really hard, and they are hurting, and when looking at them you accidentally make eye contact. What do you do? It’s awkward, and so many of us break eye contact and look the other way really quick (I’m guilty of this). But put yourself in their shoes and treat them the way you would like to be treated. I know this feeling, most of us probably do, but when I was feeling like this, I would have just appreciated if the person who made eye contact with me would have just smiled at me. Treating others the way you would like to be treated can sometimes be as simple as smiling at somebody, saying hello, and just acknowledging their existence.

Another example of how to follow the Golden Rule could be placing yourself in the shoes of your boss or parents. When your boss asks you to do something, think: “If I were them, how would I want my employee to respond?” Or ask yourself: “If I ever get to be a parent, how would I want my child to respond?” Another example: somebody tells you something about their past that was very wrong and sinful, or they tell you about something they did to you in the past without your knowing, and maybe they are asking for forgiveness, or just allowing you to see them in their vulnerability. What do you do? Do you judge them and condemn them right away? Or do you see them in that vulnerability and remember your own past mistakes and wrongs and place yourself in their shoes, forgive them, and treat that vulnerability they shared with you with great respect and gratitude? Perhaps it can become obvious that following this rule requires one to get outside of themselves. To follow the Golden Rule, you have to focus on another person, which is surprising because when you hear the rule it sounds like you have to focus on yourself. How do I want to be treated?! What do I want others to do to ME?! But in reality, you have to focus on the other person and place yourself in their shoes and think how you would like to be treated in their position. It’s truly beautiful, and it's beautiful because it’s real love.

One can see that following the Golden Rule is literally the best thing one can do to love others and to love your neighbor as yourself. Following the Golden Rule is truly one of the greatest gifts we can give to each other. Maybe that’s why it’s Golden? 😉

God Bless you all, and God Bless the United States of America.