Do No Harm – Understanding the Rule

Focus Question:

Most Christians do not intend to harm anyone; however, we sometimes are not aware of the harm we do. What does it mean to "do no harm"?

A Prayer

God of love, we know you want us to love your creation: neighbors, friends or enemies, strangers, the natural world, and ourselves. Yet we do harm, often unintentionally. Help us to be more aware of the harm we do. In Christ we pray. Amen.

WHAT DOES THE RULE SAY?

Unintended Harm

When we moved into our current house, we realized our basement stairs weren't build to present-day code. Most of the treads were shorter than the average adult foot; and in the turn of the stairway, the treads were even shorter. In addition, the risers weren't built in correct proportion to the treads; and halfway down, anyone over six feet tall had to duck to avoid the ceiling. When we had guests, I'd put a sign on the door that said, "Beware! Weird stairs!"

A look through a daily newspaper will reveal all kinds of unintended harm. A driver hasn't kept her car in good repair, the brakes fail, and a pedestrian is injured. A distracted nurse gives a patient medicine intended for another, and the patient's condition worsens. A pet owner tells the neighbors that his dog won't bite, but the dog attacks a child.

The first rule, "do no harm," is easy enough to understand; but following it can be challenging. The builder of the weird stairs didn't intend to hurt anyone, but the potential for harm was there. The driver, the nurse, and the dog owner didn't intend harm; but people were hurt. Most of us most of the time don't intend to harm anyone, but we are often unaware of the harm we do. What does it mean to do no harm?

Reflect on the Ride

How Aware Are You? Assess your awareness of what it means to do harm by writing responses to the following questions.

Where is harm being done? (Use an example from your household or circle of friends, your family, your congregation, your community, your city, your state, a group of people with whom you identify, your nation, or the world.)

Who is being harmed?

What harm is being done?

Who is doing it or causing it? (The "who" may be one or more people, groups, corporations, institutions, states, or nations.)

Why is it happening?

How is harm being done?

Rueben Job in Three Simple Rules tells us that these rules are simple but not easy. This first rule may seem the hardest of the three to follow; but it has clear benefits, not only to those we might harm but to ourselves. Job declares that in the middle of difficult situations "it often saved me from uttering a wrong word or considering a wrong response." This rule "can provide a safe place to stand while the hard and faithful work of discernment is done" (Three Simple Rules; p. 21). Job recommends this rule to groups engaged in conflict. Agreeing to this rule can change the climate of the conflict, keeping us from gossip, manipulation, and injury to the character of opponents. Following this rule can help us see our commonalities, reduce our fear of the other, and bring forth creativity and insight. However, following this rule can be quite challenging. It demands self-discipline and faith that God will lead us; and as Job writes, it demands "a radical trust in God's presence, power, wisdom, and guidance and a radical obedience to God's leadership" (p. 24). The rule makes further demands on us. It may take us places we'd rather not go, cause us to relinquish our power, and require us to entertain the thought that we may be wrong. Job assures us, "The good news is that we don't have to make this journey alone. There is always One who stands there with us" (p. 28).

Reflect

How do you respond to Job's understanding that the rule "do no harm" can provide a safe place to stand during the work of discernment? Why do you think the rule requires radical trust and obedience in God?

John Wesley's General Rules

When Wesley composed the General Rules for the societies, bands, and classes of the early Methodist movement, he listed some examples of harm to avoid. Job describes them as sounding "quaint and dated" to our ears (Three Simple Rules; p. 17). Twenty-first-century Christians may be surprised at how many of these ways of doing harm have an economic dimension—working on Sunday, buying and selling on Sunday, slaveholding, not paying sales taxes, participating in usury (lending money at unlawful or exorbitant rates), wearing expensive clothing or jewelry, buying or selling distilled alcohol. Some of these are about harm done to our relationship with God and with other people, and some are about both.

Wesley's list represents what he saw, and much of it was about harm to the poor. Using sources of knowledge available to him in the 18th century, Wesley looked for the root causes of poverty and saw that the shift from an agrarian economy to an industrial one was part of the problem. Britain had fenced off common land. Small farmers were getting poorer while the wealthy were getting richer from agriculture. Unskilled workers left the countryside in search of jobs in the city, sometimes to no avail. Households in the country suffered from lack of income while the increased number of unskilled workers in cities drove down wages. Some of these ways of doing harm were related to the indulgences and luxuries of the rich. Spending money on unnecessary items was a stewardship issue. Resources that could have helped the poor were often wasted by those who had money. The use of distilled alcohol and the number of horses owned by the wealthy were driving up the price of grain. Wesley saw these factors as robbing the poor.

Reflect

If you were writing John Wesley's General Rules for doing no harm today, what would you put on the list?

The Answers Depend on the Questions

When we look at John Wesley's rule to do no harm, we may ask: what harm am I doing? We examine ourselves for ways we might hurt other people—gossiping, taking revenge on our enemies, undercutting a co-worker's efforts, starting rumors about people we don't like, or making someone else look bad. Of course, it is important to discipline ourselves to avoid doing harm; but we can also prevent harm by looking at the bigger picture. Instead of asking only "What harm am I doing?" we could begin with a more comprehensive set of questions. Who or what is being harmed? What harm is being done to them? Who, collectively, is doing it? Am I one of them? If so, what can I do to stop the harm?

Reflect

How do the questions in this paragraph affect your awareness of harm caused by groups or institutions? How might you unwittingly be part of the group?

Of course, these questions work on the individual level. We may note that we are harming ourselves by not taking care of our health or not being good stewards of our resources. We may be harming our neighbors and coworkers by gossip and character defamation. We may be harming our families by neglect or poor communication. Once we identify the harm we do, we are empowered to be more vigilant not to do it.

If John Wesley were living in the 21st century, I believe he would be reading widely, seeking to understand not only religion but also economics, sociology, globalization, science, medicine, international relations, arts, and literature. He would constantly be looking for connections among all these subjects in order to make sense of culture and the human condition, especially human suffering. He would want to know where harm is being done and what he and "the people called Methodists" could be doing to stop it.

Wesley believed Christian discipleship was chiefly a matter of loving God and neighbor, a matter that could not be separated from seeing where and how the neighbor was being harmed. In Wesley's view, God is "the Proprietor" of creation and we human beings are stewards. Our bodies, our capacity to work, and indeed the created order belong to God; and God entrusted them to us. We may have used our energies and skills to buy property, but the property and the profit that comes from it belong to God. We are accountable to God for everything that is entrusted to us—talent, time, resources of nature, skills, and the tools of our trade.

A student once complained to me that she didn't like the written prayers in Sunday worship services. After all, they weren't about her. She didn't like the idea of confessing something that she didn't do. No one had ever taught her that the prayers of worship are the prayers of the Christian community or that the Lord's Prayer begins with "Our Father," not with "My Father," and that in it "we" pray for "our daily bread" and "we" ask that "our trespasses" be forgiven. We may have grown up in families or churches where sin was entirely individual. We were taught that as individuals we should not steal or lie or covet, but hardly anyone ever mentioned the sin of collections of people—corporations, institutions, and other groupings. That's why the questions about harm need to begin in a more comprehensive way that helps us to see the harm.

When we open our eyes to the harm done, we see much—the hungry, the exploited, the jobless, the people who work for much less than a living wage, the children who lack health care, the sexually abused, the forgotten, the lost, the last, and the least. We see environmental harm— endangered species, careless use of nonrenewable resources, pollution, and global warming. And then when we ask who is doing this, if not directly, at least indirectly, we also need to ask: Are we in any way a part of that collective group; and if so, how can we stop the harm? Are we invested, either monetarily or emotionally, in efforts that cause harm? These are hard questions to ask, but if we don't ask them, we are missing the point of Christian discipleship.

Reflect

If you see yourself as part of the group or institution that might be causing harm, what changes could you make? How might you influence change in the group or institution to make changes that would reduce the harm being done?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Do you remember preparing to get your driver's license? Maybe you had a little book to study to learn the rules of the road. Maybe you took a driving class in school. Either way, you learned a number of basic rules. When you first sat down behind the wheel of a car, you had to think about those rules; but after you gained some experience, they became "second nature" to you. Now you probably don't think about them much at all and if asked about their reason for being, you might look at the questioner in disbelief and say, "What do you think? They keep us from hurting and killing each other."

Reflect on the Bible

Read Exodus 20:1-17. What connections do you see between the Ten Commandments and the rule to do no harm?

Many of us learned the Ten Commandments years before we ever learned the rules for driving. Some of them we would never intentionally break—do not kill and do not steal. Others we break when it seems harmless to do so—remember the sabbath and do not covet, for example. One seems not to apply to us at all—do not make an idol. Most of us give little thought to the ethical principles behind them.

Why did the Israelites and their religious descendents, which include us, need the Ten Commandments? The simple answer is to keep us from hurting and killing each other. Although there are more complex answers than this one, answers explaining the history and self-understandings of the Hebrew people and their relationship to God, in this brief space, we'll consider a highly condensed answer. God, the Creator and Lover of creation, wants us to live in love, wholeness, and freedom. The specific example of God's love in the Exodus story is that God has delivered the people Israel from slavery in Egypt and has made covenant with them. The boundaries that protect and empower the Hebrew people, who were chosen to serve God and carry out God's dream for the beloved creation, are expressed in the Ten Commandments.

Reflect

Which of the commandments concern doing no harm? In each, what kind of harm is prohibited? Who is being protected from harm? Do any of these commandments also protect the one who might do harm? If so, how?

Ultimate Loyalty

Central to understanding all of the Ten Commandments are the first two—which paradoxically seem to be the ones that do not directly say "do no harm." The first one, with preface, is key to all the others: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2-3). This is the declaration that God has acted out of love to give life and freedom to God's people. Their ultimate loyalty is to God alone. If they give their ultimate loyalty to someone or something else, they will do harm—to themselves and to others. The second commandment against idolatry flows from the first and basically reiterates it. We are to worship God and God alone, not things, not other people, not institutions, not governments, not our own power, and not our talents and ambitions. In other words, God comes first. Although in our time, we don't routinely see statues of gods in our towns, we do have the tendency to make gods of many things. The things we value most may function as our "gods." Sometimes it's been said that if we follow the first two commandments we're not as likely to break the other ones. If our highest loyalty is to God, then we will love what God loves, and that is the foundation of living so as to do no harm.

Reflect

What are your ultimate loyalties? What might your checkbook or credit card statement tell you about what you value most? To what goals do you give your greatest efforts? What does your lifestyle tell you and other people about your values? Are your ultimate loyalties doing harm to what God loves: the earth and all of creation, including human creatures?

CLOSING–A GUIDE FOR DAILY PRAYER

Welcoming God's Presence

Gracious God, open our eyes to love what you love so that we will do no harm.

Uphold and guide us during this season of Lent as we seek to follow your commandments and abide in your ways. Amen.

Scripture

"The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; ...

But who can detect their errors?

Clear me from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me."

— Psalm 19:7-8, 12-13a

Meditation

Reflect on Psalm 19:7-8, 12-13a in terms of the admonition to do no harm. Write down your insights from this reflection:

Conclude with
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer."

— Psalm 19:14

Prayer

Pray for seeing the potential for harm and for forgiveness for harm done. Intercede for those who have suffered harm, and pray for strength and wisdom to do no harm.

Blessing

"In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."

— Isaiah 30:15b

Do No Harm – Practicing the Rule

Focus Question:

How can we put into practice the rule of doing no harm? What difference can our practice make in our own lives and in the lives of others?

A Prayer

God of love and grace, when our anger, indignation, indifference, or greed cause us to want to do harm, give us strength and courage to resist. When we think you are asking the impossible of us, give us the mindfulness and strength to do no harm. Amen.

WHAT DOES THE RULE SAY?

What Would You Never Do?

My daughter Anne recently had a phone interview for a teaching position in another state from where she presently teaches first grade. Not being able to see the reactions of the principal and a committee of teachers made the conversation a bit of a challenge, but the biggest challenge was a particular question. Although she had been ready for questions about what she does in the classroom, this one came as a surprise: What are three things you would never do as a teacher?

Afterwards Anne told me, "Mom, I've never even thought about that before." I asked, "What did you say?" She responded, "I said I try never to model behavior that I don't want see in the children, never to come to school unprepared, and never to say 'You can't learn' to a child."