The Golden Rule is great for a personal guide in some cases, but sucks as a universal rule which is not coincidentally why it is actually of relatively minor importance in Christian scripture. The reason is that it just cannot answer the moral of question "why is X wrong" in a way that is satisfactory. If you say "I don't murder because I don't want to be murdered," you are not saying why murder is wrong. You cannot come to a point where this becomes a moral attack on murder unless you think your opinion carries the weight of a deity's. All you have done is said why you choose to not become a murderer, which is hardly a way of declaring why murder itself is inherently wrong.
Morality is not a matter of what choices we do make, and why we make them, it is a matter of saying what actions are good or bad to take. It does not concern itself with why you don't choose to hurt others, but rather why the very idea of hurting others should be considered wrong.
Perhaps this level of abstraction is beyond the ability of a lot of people to grasp, but it is an important philosophical one.
I think it's meant as a code for personal conduct, for those who already embrace a larger Christian worldview. At least, I'm sure that was Jesus' intention. As an outlook, in & of itself, it's inadequate. But as a rule of thumb w/in the Christian context, it's great.
The problem with most people programmed with government education software is that getting them even abstract the notion of someone else not liking what you wouldn't like done to yourself is a profound leap in analytic processing.
Morality is beyond the capacity of the state to teach, despite the blank check we cut them to do it.
Morality is a priori parameters of behavior, the golden rule is a posteori inferrential speculation. It fits better into their scientismic epistemology.
You're a brave man for wanting to engage people.
I view the "Golden Rule" as the universal standard for civility of all mankind; past, present and future. If not for the Rule and its' fundamental equalivants in other religions and cultures, mankind would have destroyed himself long-ago.
The following Wikipedia link puts the Rule in context for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule_(ethics)
Wes, you are right that Jesus clearly meant it to be part of a greater Christian approach to the world. By itself it has little practical value as a way to live your life because there are so many different ways people would like to be treated that it cannot say "this is how you ought to live" which is what morality ultimately on a basic level is supposed to answer firmly. And yes, abe, I think that it is beyond the ability of a lot of people to understand, but it must be said anyway.
And Dad, I think divine intervention plays more into that. The "Golden Rule" has never really been accepted by most civilizations except on some generic level that rejects hypocrisy. The more I have I studied history, the more I have come to realize that there is nothing human that keeps us from killing each other off. What was it, for example, that stopped the Romans from exterminating the germanic tribes once and for all? I do know it wasn't anything resembling the golden rule, and they certainly had the ability to do so. There are many more examples along those lines as well that beg the question of how much such a rule has ever limited human depravity.
I would not say you are wrong because we are heavily impacted by our individual experiences.
This makes the issue somewhat subjective for me. Sadly everyone does not believe in God. So...I am still thankful that there is something out there, religin or one's culture, which brings a fundamental standard for civility. Be it our Golden Rule or its' fundamental equalivent.
Golden rule, right there along side the ever popular golden shower...
Or is it ;)
Oh God! Why the hell did you have to go there, Wonder Woman?!
Go where no man has gone before, alas I am a WOMAN!
I'm with Wes. The Golden Rule is a good generality, but it needs the Ten Commandments to flesh it out and provide something concrete.