Platinum Or Gold - Frank Heinsohn
It was around 2003 when I was in graduate school for engineering, I had a professor who introduced me to the concept of the Platinum Rulewhich he appeared to hold in higher esteem than the Golden Rule. From a price perspective in 2003 and 2004, platinum was trading for about twice the price of gold per ounce. I had not heard the terminology of the Platinum Rule prior to this class though I had heard of the Golden Rule.
In my mind a sad indictment on our society, at least as represented in that college class, is that no one else seemed to have knowledge of either the Golden Rule or the Platinum Rule. Of course, this was engineering graduate class at Lehigh University and not a seminary or theology class. This lack of knowledge was brought home to me recently when a controversy arose from a Jeopardy episode. None of the contestants could fill in the blank as to a portion of the Lord’s Prayer. That may be an indicator of a lack of biblical literacy that proliferates the world today. But I digress.
Hopefully you are familiar with the Golden Rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Golden Rule seems to be based on Jesus being asked what is the greatest commandment and Jesus responding with the Shema from Deuteronomy Chapter Six and then adding the second commandment to “Love you neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, ESV).
Even if the Golden Rule is not explicitly given in the Shema, it is given in the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments deal more specifically with our interactions and relationship with God. The last six deal more specifically with our interactions and relationships with other people.
Maybe like me prior to my introduction in graduate school, you have never heard of the Platinum rule. The Platinum Rule is to “do unto another as that other person would have done to themself.” The implication of the Golden Rule is that it is given within the perspective of the Covenant Community of God or from a Christian worldview as Jesus is providing the second commandment on which, in conjunction with the greatest commandment, all the Law and Prophets depend.
Instead of finding a scriptural basis for the Platinum Rule, we find Scripture that suggests that doing unto others as they would have done to themselves is in fact counter to what Scripture tells us about ourselves especially prior to conversion. “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). Or in the events leading up to the flood, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Finally, from Romans we read, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (Romans 1:28-31).
In our natural, unregenerate state (as described in Romans above), our choices of having done to ourselves that which we would like to have done to ourselves (the Platinum Rule) are not healthy or wise. They are the opposite of God’s will. We need an intervention to make a change in what we would want done to ourselves. And until that intervention is accomplished, that which we would want done to ourselves is not healthy or wise. I can’t help but think of the younger son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Of course, the good news is that this intervention did happen for those who trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior some 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross at Calvary, three days later was raised from the dead and, through this sacrificial act, paid the price for all the wrongs that we have done both to God and to our neighbors or all other people and even to ourselves. And even better news is that Jesus did not have any of His own price or penalty to pay because He had lived a perfect life without ever wronging or sinning against God or any person. This means His paying the penalty, serving the sentence for our wrongs, is 100% attributed to you and me if we trust in Him. Later in Romans it says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” and “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9,13).
If you are one who is in union with Christ (part of the Covenant Community of God) and may occasionally be attacked by people outside of that community for trying to live the Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have done unto yourselfwithin a Christian worldview, be of good cheer. You are doing the very right thing. The thing that Jesus commanded of us in His response to the lawyer of what is the greatest commandment.
This is right and good even if the world, external to the Covenant Community of God, might suggest to leave them alone and only do to them that which they would like done to themselves (the Platinum Rule). The implications of the Platinum Rule would be to give an addict more of the drug that is actually killing them. Or it might be to support someone in self-mutilation or assisted suicide.
When I began to write this post, I had no idea of what the price of platinum versus gold was and assumed that platinum was still the highest priced of the traditional precious metals by a large margin. I was surprised to find that in reality the opposite is the case. Platinum is trading for slightly less than half the price of gold. Isn’t it so typical for people like you and me to go after the shiny object at that moment instead of the timeless truths that are brought out in Scripture? I know it is for me!