Everyone knows Jesus’ teaching, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” This teaching is so famous that it has its own title – the Golden Rule.
While is is widely acknowledge that Jesus taught it, some believe that this is not unique to him. In fact, critics claim that Jesus actually plagiarized the Golden Rule from those who taught before him. They point out that other religious teachers and philosophers had been teaching the rule to their students long before Jesus ever delivered his famous Sermon on the Mount.
One such critic, the popular blogger Friendly Atheist, posted a cartoon poking fun at the fact that Jesus did not come up with the Golden Rule. Rather, it was around long before Jesus (although the cartoon mistakenly references the Hadiths, which came hundreds of years after Jesus.)
The conclusion? Jesus plagiarized from other religious teachers and did not do unto others has he would not have done unto himself.
But therein lies the key to whether or not Jesus actually plagiarized. Do not against do. Negative versus positive. Keep reading
2 comments:
This apologetic notion has become popular: that Jesus originated the positive rendering of the Golden Rule.
Unfortunately it is a false notion, and the most basic research demonstrates this. Those, like Kyle Beshear, who still promote the notion, are not only damaging their own credibility, but also the credibility of those who repeat the idea.
For the record ...
"A monk should treat all beings as he himself would be treated." (Jaina Sutras, Sutrakritanga, bk. 1, 10:1-3 – c. 500 BC)
"Regard your neighbor's gain as your gain and your neighbor's loss as your loss." (T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien - 12th century BC)
"Universal love is to regard another's state as one's own. A person of universal love will take care of his friend as he does of himself, and take care of his friend's parents as his own. So when he finds his friend hungry he will feed him, and when he finds him cold he will clothe him." (Book of Mozi, ch. 4 - writings collected between 8th and 3rd century BC)
"One who regards all creatures as his own self, and behaves towards them as towards his own self attains happiness. One should never do to another what one regards as hurtful to one's own self. This, in brief, is the rule of righteousness. In happiness and misery, in the agreeable and the disagreeable, one should judge effects as if they came to one's own self." (Mahabharata bk. 13: Anusasana Parva, §113 - 400 BC or earlier)
"As the virtuous man is to himself, he is to his friend also, for his friend is another self" (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 9:9 - 350 BC)
"Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." (Mencius, Works bk. 7, A:4 - between 319 and 312 BC)
This list is not exhaustive. It is simply untrue to state that Jesus originated the positive statement of the Golden Rule.
Here is why you're wrong. The Golden rule is always the same, just worded differently. What makes this the one true "Golden Rule" is because it cannot be complete without "Loving your God with all your heart." Jesus is our Savior.
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