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The Golden Rule

Question: (From a 10^th grader) I have a research paper on the subject of the "Golden Rule" Can you tell me about it?

Answer: The golden rule is found in Matthew 7:12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

The apostle Paul spells it out in more detail in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Read it and see what you can glean from it for you paper.

How do you want other people to treat you? Then that is the way you should treat them. Do you want people to yell at you and say you're a lazy, no-good punk? No. So you should never call anyone else a lazy, no-good punk. Do you like to hear people say good things about you? Then say good things about other people. It's just as simple as that.

People often want some special person to love them. But we get other people to love us by acting lovingly toward them. And guess what. When we act lovingly toward someone, it builds up our love for them more than it was in the first place. Love—that's what the golden rule is all about—is more than a physical or emotional feeling. Love is a principle of life that calls us to treat someone else as good as or better than we want them to treat us. Yes, love will bring physical and emotional feelings. But never let these physical and emotional feelings to blind you to real love.

The world would be a wonderful place if everyone practiced the golden rule. We can't make everyone practice it, but we can practice it ourselves. And when other people see how good and kind we are, they just might begin practicing the golden rule too. This thing can snowball in ways you never imagined.