Throughout human history, there have been several moral codes laid down for people to follow. All religions have some sort of moral guideline that it requires its believes to adhere to. Jesus famously laid down the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." He was referencing an earlier scripture from Leviticus 19:18, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."
Christianity is not alone in setting this ethic of reciprocity. From Confucius we get, "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself."
Hinduism: "That man who regards all creatures as his own self, and behaves towards them as towards his own self, laying aside the rod of chastisement and completely subjugating his wrath, succeeds in attaining to happiness."
The Muslim Qur'an commends, "...those who show their affection to such as came to them for refuge and entertain no desire in their hearts for things given to the (latter), but give them preference over themselves"
From Taoism, "The sage has no interest of his own, but takes the interests of the people as his own. He is kind to the kind; he is also kind to the unkind: for Virtue is kind. He is faithful to the faithful; he is also faithful to the unfaithful: for Virtue is faithful."
Ok, so all religions have a general rule for being good, or virtuous, or righteous. But that doesn't answer the question at hand, just why is that right? For Christians, Jews, and Muslims, the answer is as simple as , "Because God said so." On the other hand, Eastern faiths, such as Taoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, do not have same centralized authority figure, yet they have the same rule. So we still don't have an answer.
Instead of trying to decide why some things are right, maybe we should look at the problem from another point of view. What makes something wrong? For Christians, this might be asked as, what makes something a sin?
God is the ultimate Good in the Universe. God is Love. Being close to God is being connected with Him, with the Universe, with everyone else. When you feel love, you feel close, connected.
God wants us to Love Him. Because one cannot truly love anything unless they have a choice, God has granted us Free Will. Therefore, we have a choice; we can choose Love by choosing God, or we can choose to not accept God.
Therein lies a problem. When we decide to choose against God, we lose the power of that connection, the power of the Love that He is. We replace Him with our own desire. Our desires are inherently selfish. When we make a decision with only ourselves in mind, we are wrong. We sin. We do not only commit a wrong against the victim of our selfishness, but also against all people, and God.
When we disconnect from God, it leaves a hole in our lives. How do we fill that hole? We try to fill it with our desires. Food. Sex. Sports. Gadgets. Hobbies.
But where does that leave us? Do we still feel empty and unfulfilled? Yes. Only God's Love can make us feel complete.
So, how does this come back to "doing unto others?" When we start to frame our decisions, our lives even, in the context of serving others, we connect with them, and we connect with God. It leads to a higher plane, and a higher path. When we connect with that Love, suddenly we can find ourselves not being concerned if things are right or wrong, because by doing unto others, and therefore doing unto God, we will be doing the right thing.
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