Applied Biblical Ethics: My First Action Assignment

This semester I am taking my first Religion course at SU, Applied Biblical Ethics with Dr. Karla Bohmbach.  I am very excited to see how this class goes because I am seriously considering adding a religion minor.  One aspect of this class, Action Assignments, has proved very interesting thus far.  These assignments take the ethics we discuss in class out of the theoretical realm and make the "applied" in the course title relevant. 

So far we’ve only done one Action Assignment, and it was this: for a 24-hour period, follow the commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” as closely as you can.  We then had to turn in reflections about our experience.

This is harder than it might seem.  First off, we were left to interpret what exactly it means to love someone in this context.  What does that entail?  Good feelings, friendliness, charity?  A way of thought?  A manner of acting?  And who is our neighbor?  Every person we encounter?  Simply every person? 

I hadn’t really taken time to consider what “as yourself” meant, so when it became a subject of class discussion, it greatly interested me.  Someone found that it was a bigger commitment to love when she focused less on "as yourself" and more on as God loves us.  Others questioned whether “as yourself” was even sound; one might not want to be loved in the way that another person loves their own self.  Dr. Bohmbach brought up that some scholars view loving your neighbor as yourself in this way: we love ourselves though there are things we don’t like about ourselves, and we must extend that love to others, though there may be aspects of them we don’t like. 

Beyond all this interpretation and definition is the matter of actually following through with the commandment.

And that’s hard. 

It’s hard not to slip into gossip or speaking poorly of someone behind their back.  It’s even harder when not doing harm, not hurting someone isn’t a big enough goal, but actively loving others is, even if those others are people you haven’t gotten along with in the past.  It’s even harder when love means stepping out of your comfort zone.   I believe in this commandment and Jesus and love, but I was not a success that day, except for in one respect.  I’ve always found humanity flawed, but I realized, then, the extent of that flaw within me. 

I hope that this course will continue to inspire serious reflection and assist me in enacting biblical ethics in my own life.  No matter one's views, this seems like a class that will challenge one's worldview and ethical guidelines.