This will be the place where John's occasional theological musings may be found. For John, theology is a broad topic so don't be suprised to read about politics, art, science, and philosophy as well as religion on this page.

August 19, 2007

Good day my friends, it is a lovely rainy Sunday afternoon as I sit here at my computer. As you may have gleaned from reading any of my takes on the Bible, I am not very religious in a conventional sense. Nevertheless, I am extremely interested in ethics and morality. What does it mean to be a "Good Person"?

This to me is the single most important question that any human being should ask himself or herself. In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the "Golden Rule" is stated: "Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12). This wisdom is not unique to Christianity; versions of this appear in Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Stoicism, and many other religions.

So for all my problems with religion, Let me be the first to praise them when they come up with something as absolutely essential as this. We don't always live by the Golden Rule, but if we aspire to live by it, we will begin to lead a better life.

Of course from another perspective this is just platitudinous crap. There are other rules, the Rule of the Jungle: "Eat or be Eaten", and of course, "Only the good die young". When the Stoics like Epictetus or Jesus advise us to act in a selfless way, don't they say that we should do this "because it's the law" or "because it's according to God's Will"? Is there any justification for the Golden Rule if God doesn't exist? The Existentialsts as well as the Stoics might suggest that you can make your own code and abide by it as if it were law. And that, my friends, is the angle I take on this. Or rather, the angle I CHOOSE to take on this.

But why? I am not really sure. Perhaps it's as simple as this: the times when I have gotten close to living by the Golden Rule, things have always seemed to have worked out pretty well for me.