an article on sexuality where a person in favor of abandoning the historic Christian wisdom on this quotes the Golden Rule, urging the readers to allow others to follow a different path rooted in a permissiveness based on how they would like to be treated themselves. If you enjoy marriage how can you follow the Golden Rule and deny others the right to the same?
Well, as it turns out if I get caught up in some form of darkness I hope people, inspired by love and in a firm but caring manner, come to my rescue. I hope they would do this for me not because they are malicious but because they care. Yes, it would be hard to hear. Yes, it may not be received by me at the moment as words I wish to hear. Yet I would wish to have that done to me, to have someone say “John, have you considered the path you are taking can be laden with trouble?” “Have you considered that where you are at might not be the healthiest place?”
At its heart the Golden Rule is not about “Live and let live” so much as it is a call to remind those who are helping the other, who are encountering the other, to do so in a manner reflecting not harsh judgment or exalting oneself in the face of another’s sins and struggle but rather to be both truthful and merciful, to approach the wounded, the other, the lost, the struggling, as you would like to be approached if the positions were reversed. It reminds us of our mutuality as sinners with each other and also of the grace that is available to all as well.
Yes, Virginia, there is right and wrong and a right and a wrong way to proclaim and live it as well. Thus the Golden Rule.
The Beautiful Path 