Friday, July 27, 2012

The Golden Rule


Well it has been a long time since the Puma of Chocolate persuasion has graced your presence. No need to worry I am here and ready to give you the unsolicited opinion that you asked for! I’ve noticed some things recently that have troubled me. Granted it’s not a new phenomenon but it is something that just has gotten under my skin more than I am used to. This is a highly sensitive subject, but I feel like it has to be said.

This all started when my sister posted a quote from Cory Booker which in itself was not a bad quote. “Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people. Before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how much you love all his children.”  When I saw that quote it struck me as “hey don’t speak about it, be about it.” You know basically words are cheap, actions are everything. Not a bad sentiment? But like most things on facebook things appear to have been misunderstood and twisted. This quote was taken as an apparent attack on Christianity. 

Apparently because other people practice a different belief, they can’t be a child of God.  That’s fine if you believe that, but I think the point of the quote isn’t that everyone is a child of God; the point of the quote is to be a good person. Don’t talk a big game about what one should do, just go and do it. It also strikes me as kinda being intolerant.  I don’t claim to be a theological scholar, but just because someone has a different belief system than me I don’t think I am supposed to show them less respect than someone who shares my beliefs. 

Most times the people who argue this point claim to live exactly by the bible yet they have no beards (Leviticus 19:27), they don’t leave their wives or girlfriends when menstruating (Leviticus 15: 19) and many other things I could go into. The point of this is probably going to be missed, but it would be nice to just live by the golden rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

My grandmother always stressed to me that I am to love my fellow man regardless of their beliefs and leave the judging to the Almighty, or as she put it “if it doesn’t come out in the wash, it will definitely come out in the rinse.”  

So that’s my two cents.

1 comment:

Ahkenaten Kor said...

That's a good two cents. People tend to have a gang mentality where if you don't believe this then you're not with us or you're a bad person because you don't do that. They need to relax and remember that they're not alone on this earth and need to be respectful of others opinions and lives.

It's also important that people learn to "be about it." Too many times people will say one thing and do another. That's why I no longer listen to anyone... I just watch and see what they do. It's what a person does that defines them, not the words they say.