This review will analyze the author Wayne Grudem’s book “Business for the Glory of God”. The review will summarize the author’s exact position on the ideas that ping points primarily throughout the entire book. After summarizing the main points of the book the review will identify with a strong and weak point portrayed by the author within his book. The review will identify the strong point as the author’s viewpoints on borrowing, giving and lending in chapter nine. The low point of the review will address will be on chapter eleven concerning the effect business can have on the broad world poverty. The review will then conclude with thoughts pertaining to the book as a whole and whether or not the goal of the author has reached the readers. …show more content…
The world seems to look at business as the root and means of many forms of evil, even Christians. It is easier to see the lies and deceit behind many business deals and even successful business than it is integrity and honesty within the realms of business. Why is it that the business world seems so tainted by sin? These are the issues that Wayne Grudem addresses in his book, Bussines for the Glory of God: The Bible`s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business. Grudem specifically develops arguments for why 11 specific aspects of business are actually fundamentally designed to glorify God rather than cause evil. Grudem doesn’t only want believers to see these Biblical truths but also nonbelievers. His hope is that the business world be the one in which we see the world transformed by the Gospel. He hopes that each individual can and will take heed of the Biblical truths regarding business and hold fast to them, overcoming sin and temptation, in order to bring glory to the God who created it all. Two of the specific aspects he addresses are employment and borrowing and lending. Grudem develops an argument for each of these aspects as to why they are fundamentally good and why and how they each provide individually many opportunities for glorifying God. Grudem effectively fleshes out how employment is a biblical principle starting with Jesus words himself, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (Luke 10:7) Grudem uses …show more content…
Craig Ford states this in his article, Debt in the Bible. Is borrowing Money a Sin? that for the most part Christians who borrow in a sinful way only borrow through the means of impatience, materialism, and acceptance. There are many other means that a Christian can borrow that would be biblically acceptable. (Ford, 2010) Some Christians will take the words as a literal meaning from the Bible especially the verses from Romans and believe that no man should truly owe another man anything. This can pertain to a mortgage, car payment, and any other type of debt that may almost seem unavoidable within our current society. As long as the agreed amount of the mortgage payment is being met every month on the agreeable terms this is fulfilling the terms of paying the lender back and not owing anything. Although there is most definitely a line that can be crossed indicating that a Christian is not being a wise steward of God’s money, borrowing is in fact allowed and even a way to bring glory to
John Stapleford’s book, Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves, provides a thorough overview with a Christian perspective of economic and ethical analysis. He reviews the moral challenges of macro, micro, and international economic issues. Stapleford covers a variety of important public policy issues such as self-interest, economic efficiency, and private property rights. He begins the book by laying a foundation of ethical thought and an analytical framework. Stapleford provides a Biblical perspective on the practical issues facing our current society. For example, there are three billion people in the world who live on less than $2 a day (Stapleford, 2009). The wealthy Americans continue to get richer. The greed and lawlessness of America’s corporate boardrooms is increasing. Legalized gambling continues to increase every year. The expansion of pornography and its accessibility to America’s younger generations has become a rapidly growing epidemic (Stapleford, 2009). This text is grounded solidly in biblical principles. A number of the problems he discusses are not specifically addressed in the Bible, but one of the author's strengths is to develop a Christian rationale for contemporary issues, based on biblical principles. An example of this skill is found in his forceful chapter on "False Hope . . . The Boom in Legalized Gambling" (Stapleford, 2009).
...d ultimately helps to create a root system that digs deep into the soil of commerce. It places that organization on a firm foundation of good management principles and exhibits the true spirit of greatness that has been lacking in the corporate world for a long time. And I am firmly convinced that until American business leaders toss aside situation ethics and replace them with good old-fashioned morality, our nation will continue to slide down the proverbial rabbit hole into obscurity and decay. Until corporate America, and indeed the entire global corporate world, embraces this concept and operates upon its principles, we will not see any sort of economic revival until Jesus comes.
Jennings, Marianne M. Business: Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Henry Hazlitt states, “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups” (Hazlitt, 1979, p. 17). Leviticus 19:35-37 compels, “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. You shall thus observe all My statutes, and all My ordinances, and do them: I am the Lord.” According to Proverbs 22:7, people will always be slaves to the lender as demonstrated by the Federal Reserve System violating Biblical values in economic
He discusses the Protestant work ethic primarily examining Richard Baxter a Presbyterian and Methodists. There is a much more focus on wealth because a worldly self discipline is stressed as the morally and right way to live. You not only work hard in your calling but you are constantly productive and are mentally and physically rational. If one were lazy and/or waste their time by indulging themselves in joyful activities it is seen as sinful. Wealth itself is not a sin as long as it is connected to ones work only when it is used irrationally. Therefore, the spirit of capitalism takes form because rather than spending people are invesing. Consequently, the protestant work ethic eventually contradicts itself by separating from religion and increases the temptations that are supposed to be avoided. As capital continuously increases greed, pride, selfishness, sloth, and excessive wasteful spending increases (Barnes 2015). Resulting in western rational capitalism. In today 's society people continue to work hard in order to be successful and spend money on what they desire, as well as viewing those who are of lower class and receiving welfare as lazy and useless fueling those who are also poor to work harder in order to reach success and be viewed
The ideas of the gospel of wealth are a scary concept today. If you look at it with a revisionist viewpoint the idea that rich are rich because God said so leaves us open for so much discrimination. The thoughts of this time were not able to see this, and the business owners wanted to keep the power in their hands.
The Bible does not say that money is bad. However, what it does say is
Carnegie, Andrew. "The Gospel of Wealth." Mountain View College Reader. Neuleib, Janice. Cain S., Kathleen. Ruffus, Stephen. Boston: 501 Boylston Street, Suite 900. 2013 Print.
The stronger will do anything in their power to make a profit, leaving the weak with nothing. Kuyper says, “…the more powerful exploited the weaker by means of a weapon against which there was no defense” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 26). Additionally, he states that “…the idolization of money killed the nobility in the human heart” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 31). Kuyper talks about how Jesus felt bad for the rich and sided with the poor (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 32). Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Earthly materials mean nothing because the real treasure awaits in
Lawrence, Anne T., and James Weber. Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008. Print.
Schmeltekopf thinks the meaning and purpose of business, according to Judeo-Christian tradition, is to be the foundation of our economy which permits us to live, upgrades innovation. As per Judeo-Christian the importance and motivation behind business is to finished your calling or work furthermore Judeo-Christian profound quality anxieties human equity under the watchful eye of God and the law as opposed to financial balance through legislative command (www.peopleof.oureverydaylife.com). You ought to finish the mission that God has made arrangements for you in view of your abilities whether a creator, a specialist, or handyman, that is your way to fulfill God 's
Primarily, corporate America has begun to feel the wrath of the government’s excessive debt. Corporate America has felt the flames of increased tax rates, the potential for disruption of their salaries, and protests regarding the overall tradition of business proceedings. Fully, with the character and direction of the American businesses fluttering over the edge of heartache, Christian lawyers who possess admirable integrity are needed to uphold the standard of big business. I intend to aid the American system of corporations by providing all employers with the service of honorable representation. J...
In this way, the guidelines for the calling can perpetuate the idea that the exploitation of other peoples is still approved by god. In chapter 5 of his book Weber describes the calling, “favour in the sight of God, is measured primarily in moral terms… But a further, and above all, in practice the most important criterion is found in private profitableness" (2003: 162). The individual is able to decide what defines the “moral terms” as long as there is profitability within the work they do. Again Weber explains that private profit is the most important component of the calling: “Christians must follow the call by taking advantage of the opportunity. 'If God shows you a way in which you may [without wrong to your soul or to any other] '” (2003;
"The purpose of developing a Christian view of the world is not merely to evaluate and judge the world, but to change it," (Boa, 2004). Having a Christian worldview is hard enough in American but add in the entire world and it can be a little trickier. Thinking Christianly has a major impact on how someone would do business overseas, in a global economy. When it comes to a Christian worldview in a global economy there are numerous issues that can come up. Different countries and cultures have different things that they deem acceptable; however, when you are looking at it from a Christian standpoint you may have to handle things in a different manner. Just because something is acceptable or legal in the world does not make it acceptable to someone with a Christian worldview. John 17:17 says that, "The word is truth," so when one is looking for direction and guidance in any aspect of business he will always know that the word of God is truth that he can turn to. Although the field of business has many negative connotations with Christianity there are also positive ones. There are two main issues that this paper will address. The first issue, pollution, can be view negatively. The second issue, job opportunities, can be view positively.
Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2011). Moral Issues in Business (Eleventh ed., pp. 230-244).