Resurrecting the Golden Rule: Love, Justice, and Encouragement in a Discouraged World
Show Notes
In this uplifting episode of the To Be Encouraged podcast, Rev. Dr. Brad Miller welcomes Bishop Julius C. Trimble for a reflective and timely conversation about resurrecting the Golden Rule in a divided and often discouraged world. Their discussion centers around how faith, justice, and love can lead us forward in challenging times, with practical encouragement for listeners to become positive catalysts in their communities and beyond.
Three Key Takeaways:
1. Resurrecting the Golden Rule Is Essential Now Bishop Trimble urges listeners to revive the Golden Rule—"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"—in both personal relationships and at a societal level. Amid rising rhetoric of retribution, violence, and division, he reminds us that this foundational teaching of Jesus found in Matthew and Luke is not merely a nice idea, but a mandate for how we build justice and peace in our communities. Applying the Golden Rule means advocating for policies and behaviors that lift up the most vulnerable and ensure dignity for all, not just those who look or think like us.
2. Love and Justice Go Hand in Hand The episode draws from the teachings of Jesus, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and even the Methodist tradition's early social creed—highlighting that true Christian love is active, disciplined, and rooted in justice. Bishop Trimble emphasizes that being loving doesn’t mean being passive; rather, it’s a call to action—standing up for the oppressed, speaking out against injustice, and practicing nonviolence. This love is not conditional or sentimental, but a force for transformation and accountability.
3. Take Initiative—Find Your Circle and Act A practical tip from Bishop Trimble is to find three friends you can talk and pray with about hard issues—to process what troubles you and what brings you joy, and to support one another toward compassionate action. He encourages listeners to not just worship together, but to also pray, serve, and advocate for justice as a community. Moreover, he challenges the church to not be a private club but a force for public good—inviting both conversation and courageous action in addressing issues like healthcare, education, and care for the marginalized.
Final Encouragement:
Both Rev. Dr. Brad Miller and Bishop Trimble remind us that there’s never a wrong time to do the right thing. Let’s be people who shine the light of the Golden Rule in our daily actions and boldly encourage others to do the same, uplifting our neighbors—and our world—with justice, compassion, and hope.
Listen and share to help inspire a resurgence of kindness and justice!
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:00:01]:
Hello good people, and welcome to the To Be Encouraged podcast with the Bishop Julius C. Trimble. I am your co host, Reverend Dr. Brad Miller, and this is the podcast where we look to offer an encouraging word to an often discouraged world. And unfortunately, we've had a fair amount of things going on in our world to be discouraged about. But I always can count on Bishop Tremble to give us an encouraging word, especially relates to scripture and applying it to our lives. So Bishop Trimble, welcome to our conversation here today.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:00:34]:
Thank you, Dr. Brad. My friend, it's good to be in conversation with you. I've really been wrestling with and praying over the resurrection, if you will, of the Golden Rule. Somehow it seems in our society and in the worldwide politics of recent weeks that we have lost sight of that. And I want to encourage those who are followers of Christ and people of faith all across the world to embrace the Golden Rule. And that simply is that, you know, in everything due to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the law and the prophets.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:01:15]:
These are the words described from the New Testament, both in Matthew and Luke of Jesus. But in essence, ought we not care enough about others in the way we would want them to care and treat us and our loved ones? We often talk about the sacredness of all human life. And I think in recent weeks there seems to be almost promulgation and promotion of retribution and violence when we know that an eye for an eye just leaves us all blind.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:01:52]:
Oh, well said. I know that it just seems like this Golden Rule, you know, doing it others as you'd have done to yourself is really pretty basic to Christian thinking and theology. I mean, it's not all that hard to get a hold of even for people who may have a tendency to think about, you know, their own selfish needs and whatever they would would be, they think, you know, I would rather be treated the way be be treated well in, in this kind of thing. And yet we have a world where a lot of people are leaning on words like retribution and violence and things of that nature. And we got to turn this around. We got to get back, as you say, a resurrection of the golden rule. So Mr. Tribble, what, what's your thinking on this? How, what are some of the ways that we can be a part of a resurrection process for the Golden Rule?
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:02:44]:
I think we ought to realize that much of Jesus teaching, many would say today many might accuse Jesus Christ of being woke or upside down, thinking when the last shall be first, you know, and to not just love your neighbors. We often say that Jesus says you love your neighbors and shall. But you know, Jesus also said love your enemies. Now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Said that. He said, you know, he said we are not out to hate people. We hate evil policies, we hate the evil that happens to people.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:03:19]:
We hate the evil that oppresses people. We're not out to hate other human beings. And he's famous for quoting that is Dr. King Brad for saying that hate cannot drive out hatred, only love can do that. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. And I just want to be an ambassador, unapologetic promoter of love and justice.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:03:50]:
Yes, love.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:03:51]:
Not, not, not a, not a jellyfish love if you will, of where, where we just, you know, every, everything is okay and everybody's okay and no matter what you say is okay. But the kind of love that holds us accountable for the Golden Rule, I think, I think the golden rule requires a certain amount of discipline.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:04:11]:
Yes. Well I think also what you're sharing here about Martin Luther King Jr. We could go back to Gandhi and Jesus of course himself about non violence and about approaching things from a perspective of trying to be blessed of the peacemakers and so on. That does not mean being passive. It does not. You know, the whole area of nonviolence with Martin Luther King Jr. Others was extremely engaging, extremely active, assertive and so on. And so we I think need to have a resurgence, revival, as you say, of ways to be nonviolent, lift up nonviolence and you know, not.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:04:50]:
We're the whole turning the other cheeks. Sometimes people took it as being, you know, passive or weak and that kind of thing. I don't think it is, but I think a lot of people do, so help us gain some. This whole thing about being love and justice. So let's just take those one at a time. So how can we show love for people who have been pretty daggone unlovable?
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:05:12]:
Well, I think one of the things we can do is to not only say we will pray for you, but we will engage you and respect your right to disagree. But you're right not to disturb my peace or my sanctity or my right to be respected. So I think the notion that we, I think we've long passed the point where we can say, well, we just have a simple disagreement. It's not a disagreement if you embrace a notion of that you are superior to me or to others based on your race or based on your economic class. That's to me a violation of the notion of the golden rule. In fact, the recent budget that has been driven solely by the president and the Republican motion majority in the House is a reflection, in my opinion, of a violation of the Golden Rule. Because again, remember, the Golden Rule says in everything, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So I don't think that those of us who have access to health care would want, by the stroke of a pen or the vote of a legislative body to all of a sudden have 600% increase in our insurance premiums, which many people will experience later this fall.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:06:55]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:06:56]:
Just really tragic stays as is.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:06:59]:
Yeah.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:07:00]:
And those, those subsidies that were provided by the Affordable Care act go away. Medicaid support for rural hospitals will go. Will go away. And we'll see the closing of rural hospitals. And the people who can least afford not having some support from the government will be placed in a position of extreme vulnerability. 15 million people, according to some reports, will be cut off from health care. 800,000 caregivers, people who are caring for the elderly, are caring for a loved one or caring for a child with disability. People will lose some or part of their benefits.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:07:43]:
There's so many things that are happening to me that really violate the notion of what does it mean for us to really embrace that all of us are valuable and that the government and the private sector and the faith community should all be concerned about the most vulnerable of our citizens as well as what can we promote for the common good? Yeah, making making America healthy as possible. What about those kinds of things?
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:08:23]:
Yeah, because you're leaning now into the part of our discussion regarding justice and so on, and yet it's hard to get to the justice unless we have some sense of the same. Speaking the same language. We, we talk about loving and caring for others and loving for them as we would have them treat us. And yet sometimes there's a lot of mistreatment going on. And, and there's a lot of conversations that go right past each other and they never, they don't intersect. It's really hard to listen sometimes when you're being abused. You know, that's what's happened. A lot of abuse is going on verbally and of course, health system, systematically, economically, health systems, you know, all the things regarding immigration and so on.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:09:03]:
There's a lot of abuse going on here. So we need to get some language around this. I'm reminded of a interesting conflict I had with a parishioner at a certain time. I don't, I don't think you ever had any of those. Did you never had any conflicts with Parishioners and in your life. But this person was very dogmatic in their thinking and also was very rigid in their arguments. And he would say to me over and over again when we were having a little conversation about some things he didn't agree with, he says, am I right or am I right? Am I right or am I right? And of course, he was used to people in his life saying, well, you're right, you're right. But I said to him on several occasions, no, you're not right.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:09:43]:
So let's talk about it. You said, and that threw him off. When I pushed back against this, tried overwhelming pressure, you know, the bully ism that was going on, no, you're not right. And in order for you to not be right, then I have to say my piece and we have to come to some understanding or go our separate ways. So.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:10:03]:
Well, I had some people who said to me, you know, and sometimes it was try to catch you and catch you in a scriptural debate around the question of the inerrancy of Scripture or a particular point of view or how theology shapes politics. And, you know, sometimes you say, well, Bishop, you know. Well, you know, I like to play the devil's advocate when I'm in a discussion. And you know what I would say, Brad? I would say, the devil doesn't need an advocate. If you want to be an advocate, be a child advocate, be a peace advocate, be a reconciliation advocate, Be an advocate for feeding the hungry. I said, the devil doesn't need an advocate. Yeah, we need to embrace as best we can, you know, And Brad, it really troubles me. I'm glad we're talking and I hope our listeners.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:10:58]:
I'm not the only one. It troubles me. The Jesus that's being promoted often it doesn't seem like the Jesus that we know.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:11:07]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, my goodness.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:11:09]:
If you need to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and be saved, that you might go to heaven. I'm not arguing with you at that point, but what about the Jesus who says, you know, that we ought not that we would. That the freedom should come to the. We should feed the hungry, we should clothe the naked. The. Matthew 25. Jesus. Matthew of the Sermon on the Mount.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:11:33]:
Jesus, blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus, blessed are those who. John Wesley said the Sermon on the Mount was the backdrop for the social ethic of the new creation and indeed the church. And in fact, Wesley, in our Wesleyan Methodist tradition, was, you know, there is no church or witness apart from the love of God, the love of neighbor, and the embracing of social what we call today social justice, and you can call it acts of mercy and equality if somehow you oppose. Did you know in 1908, really the first social creed came into being, which became the foundation for what was later in the Methodist Church, the social principles. Let me. Let me share an excerpt from that, Brad, please do. You know, you can tell it's 1908 because of the language.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:29]:
Yes.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:30]:
The Methodist Episcopal Church advocates for. This is 1908. Equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:43]:
Okay, now, you know, no mention of women there at all. Right?
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:48]:
No mention of women. The protection of workers from dangerous machinery, diseases and injuries. The abolition of child labor. Some people forget. Brad, you're a historian.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:13:02]:
Sure.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:13:02]:
You know, child labor was part, very much part, not only of, of, of.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:13:07]:
Of.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:13:08]:
In other countries, but here in the.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:13:10]:
United States, of course. Yes. Yeah, yeah.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:13:12]:
And that garment industry. The garment industry, cotton. When. When, you know, not only slavery, people associated. Well, maybe that you mean just. No, this is not slavery. It was not against the law for children, you know, to be. To be.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:13:29]:
To work and to be forced to work. At least this is what the social creed of 1908. At least one day off a week from work. Now we just assume that, you know, boy, everybody has a day off or two. That was not always the law of the land.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:13:46]:
They were not the given. And of course that led to, you know, labor reforms that had to do with safety and all kinds of other things and fair wages and. And things of that nature all went to play because that was what's going on historically. Now we have a new set of injustices. Maybe not new, but they are been magnified the injustices of our day. And so. And they are played out, as you said, in things like insurance, like healthcare systems being diminished, Medicare and Medicaid being assaulted and. And the poor being over assaulted.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:14:22]:
So I.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:14:23]:
And the final piece of that Golden Rule. Here's the catch, Brad. The final line on that original social creed was recognition of the Golden Rule.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:14:37]:
Oh, okay.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:14:38]:
Early Methodists embraced as part of our understanding of what would be so later call it the work of church and society social principles was there must be a Theo. And this is theological and biblical.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:14:53]:
Absolutely.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:14:54]:
There must be a recognition of the Golden Rule. They meant that in the. In the understanding of the fabric of relationships in community. Not just. Not just a line in the Bible, but. But that was. That was to be the monarch the way in which the plumb line for our. Relating to one another people this and this applied.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:15:17]:
And we've later applied that in our understanding of immigrants. The United Nations. Early on in the establishment of the United nations, one of those things that was established was that people who were fleeing war would have the right to travel to other countries to find safety and sanctuary. So we often think of this as something people are just trying to come through borders. And so our president recently spoke to the United nations and said to 193 countries, you need to all down your borders, you need to all turn your back away from the hoax that is known as climate, climate, creation care.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:16:06]:
Some ridiculous statements.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:16:07]:
I'm not turning my back on the understanding that this, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. You know, climate, creation, care is something that I think we have been mandated to care about as followers of the living Lord Jesus Christ.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:16:26]:
Well, I would like to, you know, I love what you're sharing there, and I would like to kind of lean in for a second to what you shared, that, you know, what are the theological biblical foundations of all this? And you've mentioned the Golden Rule several times in our conversation thus far. So what does Jesus say about that? What's the biblical foundation of the Golden Rule? And let's just kind of unpack that. Let's execute the text just a little bit here.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:16:51]:
Well, let's see, Luke 6. 31, the other text, I think what I like about Paul following up on Jesus in Romans, it says, you know, we don't overcome. We do not overcome evil by doing evil, we overcome evil by doing good.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:13]:
Yes.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:14]:
Which is a follow up on.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:24]:
Matthew 7:12, I believe is another place that we can discuss, perhaps.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:37]:
Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do that. But love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great and you will be called children of the Most High. For the one is kind to the ungrateful and even the wicked. Be merciful, just as God has been merciful to you. So these are the teachings of Jesus that you know, God so loved the world.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:18:22]:
And we pray the Lord's Prayer. You know, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Jesus commands his followers to love all persons, even those who actually seek their detriment. But the love is not a sentimental abstraction, but the giving and supporting of one another in times of need. And to practice this love, this love is never. I'm reading the commentary from the Wesley by Wesley studies that love is never conditioned upon other person's behavior. It's motivated by its giver, not its receiver.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:19:05]:
We must be motivated by the one whom we follow. That's what I meant about the Jesus that I know and the Jesus that we know. Brad is not a Jesus who is saying that violence must be embraced or that our language should be driven by words of retribution or payback.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:19:29]:
Words of retribution and payback, they just don't jive with the message of Jesus. They just don't. And I, I love the Eugene Peterson's in the message version of the Bible in the Matthews 712 and what you just read from another version there, he, he calls it, it's a simple rule of thumb guide for behavior. And I like the rule of thumb that he uses there. Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative. He goes on to say, I love that word, taking the initiative and do it for them. And I love that it's about taking the initiative. So what are some ways that we can be initiative takers and apply the rule of thumb to what's going on in the world right now? How can we be that encourager in times of discouragement when there are so many people who are just leaning into retribution and hatred and hate speech and all the other rest of it in and acts of violence which is happening all the time?
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:20:30]:
Well, I think, I think one thing we can do is we can acknowledge when all is not well.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:20:35]:
Yes. Call it out. Call it out. All is not well. Call it out. Yeah.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:20:40]:
Because some people are feeling like, well, is there something wrong with me where this just doesn't feel right. You know, children are still dying in Gaza. It just doesn't feel right. Children are still dying in Ukraine, just as the children are still dying in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yes, children now are going to school recognizing that things benefits that they previously had will no longer exist. So it just doesn't seem right that, you know, even our tax dollars can go towards private education that allows for schools to actually to discriminate and not accept all, all students. But my mother who recently passed away, was a retired public school teacher. And one of the things the school teachers used to say in the public school teachers is that we accept all of the students who come to us when the communities where we serve, regardless of their race, regardless of their ability to speak English, that They have a right and access to public education.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:21:51]:
So I think one of the things we can do is I call it the Find three Friends strategy.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:21:55]:
Brad, I love it.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:21:57]:
What's the Find three Friends? Find three friends that you can talk about these issues with, that you can pray about these. The things that trouble you and the things that excite you. For me, it's finding joy in persons who have found their foundation, found their calling, whatever their calling might be. If your calling is music, there's a quote I think is from Leonard Bernstein who after the killing of John Kennedy, the assassination of John Kennedy, said, we must make more beautiful music.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:34]:
Yes.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:35]:
And I know that may be a paraphrase, but I believe in this time, Brad, we need to make more beautiful music.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:40]:
It's about responding to what's. Responding to hatred with love, responding with other ugliness with beauty, responding to screaming, with singing, all this type of thing. I love that. And I think these are kind of things that as we think about love and justice and resurrecting the Golden Rule. I love that imagery that you're coming up with here today. These are things that we need to encourage our local churches, our pastors, our laypeople, people who are engaged on the front lines of this battle between those who would advocate the Golden Rule and those who would diminish it. There are some encouraging words we need to offer those folks and just support them. And so what do you have to.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:23:26]:
What kind of things would you want to share with those folks who are on the front lines of this battle?
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:23:30]:
I would say, listen, invite the church not just to come to join you for worship, invite them to join you for prayer and study, invite them to join you for, for public acts of mercy and charity and for public acts of justice. I don't feel, I don't apologize at all for asking people that have been elected, who have been elected to serve me and all of the citizens of whatever jurisdiction that you might be living in and say, listen, these are things that are important to us. Are you standing for the well being of children as a person of faith? I'd like to know that. I'd like to support you if you are, and I'd like to call you out if you're not sure.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:24:18]:
Absolutely.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:24:21]:
For access to due process so that people should not just be arrested and disappeared in our country like our. Are you standing for the Constitution or for sound bites and social media posts where you're directed to do harm to others? We have to not just invite people to worship a God where we sing Jesus and me. And we forget that the church is an organization, institution that really exists for others.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:24:57]:
Yes.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:24:58]:
We also often treated it, my wife often says, like, like a private social club. But the church really exists for others.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:06]:
Yes. Well, that's what the golden rules about. Treat others as you want to be treated, treat others that way. And I think a part of that process. Then you mentioned here a practical step is to find three people that you can have conversation with and be supportive. But maybe we also need to find maybe three others maybe we don't always agree with. And some find some way to listen, to learn to hear in order to be heard, these type of things. And that may not be as comfortable.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:35]:
That may be those forms that you're talking about here that can be a part of the process. But any rate, we need resurrection of the Golden Rule. I love that. And so any thoughts that you have to kind of conclude our conversation here today, Bishop Trimble, about the Golden Rule or Wesley or the biblical record, Jesus. Anything else? Love and justice. You've mentioned several things here today. Excellent content here today. Well, what would you want to share as kind of a closing thought here?
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:26:04]:
I mean, this is a Wesley thought, but not just a Wesley thought. You know, I think caring for neighbor goes hand in hand with loving God. You know, the scripture says you cannot say that you love God whom you have not seen. And I've said this before on our podcast. But we can't declare publicly in our worship, in our song, in our praise and our call to worships, a love for God whom we have not seen in the flesh. And yet we see and then find reason not to embrace and share the Golden Rule in an honest, responsible, radical way with neighbors that we see every day or people that we see across the globe.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:26:47]:
Yeah.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:26:47]:
Particularly who are the most vulnerable and often those who are overlooked by many of us who may find ourselves in a more fortunate position.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:26:58]:
Yes, oppression.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:27:00]:
Oppression is never acceptable. And as has been said by many others before me, it's always the right time to do the right thing. And I think the right thing is rooted in this Golden Rule notion.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:27:15]:
Awesome. Never the wrong time to do the right thing. And as you said, rooted in the Golden Rule, which has been diminished a little bit, but it's our opportunity, and you give us a word of encouragement here to brighten the Golden Rule, to lift it up high and as you say, to resurrect it and make it right front and center of what we're about as Christian folk, as pastors, as leaders in churches, and as leaders in our communities and to treat others as we would want to be treated. The Golden Rule. What a great, great word of encouragement. And that's what we're all about here on the To Be Encouraged podcast. And we thank our listeners for tuning into our podcast here today. Here on the podcast, where we look to offer an encouraging word to an often discouraged world.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:27:59]:
My name is Reverend Dr. Brad Miller, here with our with our host and our leader, Bishop Julius C. Tribal. Thank you for joining us today on the To Be Encouraged Podcast.