THE BIBLE AND YOUR BUSINESS

Absolutely not. Religion plays no part in the running of my business. As for what I believe in... that is no ones business but my own. Not to be snarky in any way but I dont discuss religion or politics as each person believes what they believe and one is neither right or wrong in their beliefs.

In 21st century and in an era of internet,GOOGLE,only somebody who is not forward thinking/progressive/rational will resort to finding solutions to his/her business needs based on religion or some religious book...

I guess not. In my opinion religion and business are two very separate entities which in no way can/should influence each other...

May I be the first to recommend if you want an intelligent discussion of a potentially very disagreeable topic, don't put the title in all caps. Its basically along the lines of yelling.

And to answer you question, no. The christian canonical texts don't offer valuable business insight.

There's a separate previous thread on mixing business and religious beliefs which I think covered the issues inherent in such actions.

Richard,

The Bible and my religion form my beliefs, my beliefs form my attitudes, my attitudes drive my thoughts and words, which result in my actions. I'd say the Bible helps define my code of conduct, and also helps me view circumstances in a certain light. Do I go to the Bible as a direct source for business - no. Does the Bible influence how I conduct business and my affairs - most certainly!

I find a lot of pertinent information in the bible. Without even going into what I believe from a personal viewpoint, the bible represents a huge chunk of the fundamental beliefs of my potential clients.

For me, understand personal issues is a key to doing business. Most people base decisions in business on personal interaction and find common points of interests with people who can relate to them.

From a business perspective, it is almost like comparing the bible to "the worlds largest book of the month club" where I can instantly have topics to relate to.

I actually do this for any large group that I interact with from a business development standpoint, whether it is the bible, the better business handbook, Fortune Magazine, USA Today, and the newcomers guide to Seattle.

Richard.... Sorry if I came across offended... I was not offended in any way what so ever. Religion just does not play any part in the effectiveness of my business. And I dont like to discuss religion (or politics) because it usually it ends up being a heated discussion due to the many different views and beliefs.

The questions of "Do values play a role in business "and "Is the Bible a pertinent resource by which to find answers to your business issues" are so different. Richard, it is unfortunate that you made the mistake of not clearly stating your question in your initial post.

As a matter of fact, your real question hardly related to religion as ones values are formed from many experiences with practicing religion as being only one of them.

My tongue-in-cheek response to your values affecting business question is if ones values DO NOT effect his everyday actions such as conducting business, then these values are not very important to him. If values are not important, then how can they be values? Therefore, ones values must play a role in business.

i think that if one really wants to think of oneself as having an open mind, one would do well to remain open to information regardless of the source. i don't consider myself to be an adherent of any mainstream faith. rather i am student of all faiths. i believe all human experience has value and potentially appliable lessons within my own experience.

The Bible is no exception. It has many lessons that are useful. Matthew 25:14-30 contains the Parable of the Talents.. it's basically a story about 3 men who were given money to look after.. 2 invested and profited..one buried his..guess who got yelled at? good story..

that's just one anecdote. Also i think the Bible does have some good suggestions for living. You reep what you sow sounds a lot a like how Karma works. Proverbs is good for reminding us the value of knowing when to keep our mouth shut and not partying to excess just to name a few.

The Tao Te Ching is another great work with appliable lessons. Would love to study a bit of Quran and Bhagavad Gita. Bet they both have some good lessons too.

I think there may be some kneejerk reactions to the Bible due to the militant flavor of Christianity that was started by a certain Roman emperor a few ages back. Subsequent to that it became quite fashionable for authority figures to utilize a biblical justification for whatever policies and bloodshed they felt were convenient for their interests. Quite sad really. I choose to avoid having the the wickedness of a few skew my view to such a degree that I am unable to see Truth where ever it lays.

You are quite welcome. Thanks for starting an interesting thread.

It really makes me laugh.. so many who fancy themselves as modern, open minded people get so easily inflamed when someone brings up the Bible.

Dogma seems to dog even the self proclaimed "Free Thinkers"..

Now while i am on a roll... Allow me stir the semantic pot a little by rhetorically testing an earlier statement made by a friend of mine.. If Religion(btw i kind of dislike that word..how bout we substitute"the Spiritual"for the word Religion?) and Business are both a part of Life..how can they really be seperate? Isn't the very act of breathing..the inhale and the exhale an exchange with the All Oneness of Creation?

I'm just saying being meek and hanging out with lepers is no way to run a business ;)

Ah, but Kevin doesn't the Torah say in Ecclesiastes 3 :

Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (1917)
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

So perhaps there is a time for everything, and it's all just a matter of timing. I know a lot of businesses have met success and in the process shared it through philanthropy..funny thing is often times their philanthropy brings them even more business.

Could it be there is a time to be meek and hang out with lepers? Just because your meak..that doesn't make you weak. King David played his harp, and looked after his little lambs but he still had no qualms with hurling that stone at Goliath and conquering his enemies.

Btw, the story of David and Goliath..isn't that a pretty potent metaphor for what we face as indies? Many of us are trying to carve out a little niche of marketshare against mighty Megacorps as they scoff and boast of their own greatness.. Rather than trying to cross swords with them directly, we can follow David's example who instead used his head to crack Goliath's and triumphed accordingly. Encouraging to know, no matter how big your opponent is, if you apply yourself with courage victory can find you.

Sure got Jesus good press Kevin (;

What a great discussion folks, and I love how its evolved into a more mutual-understanding and edifying tone -a great sign of the quality of people on Biznik (it could easily have escalated into ANOTHER DIRECTION!!! ) (;

A lot of this depends on how one defines 'religion'. I like to tease some of my certain-kind-of-friends by saying "Everyone is religious and believes in God."
"What!" they react, "I'M not religious and I certainly don't believe in God." And then I explain that if one defines religion as "The set of beliefs and values one has that spring from what one holds to be most central" (or something like that). And "God" as "that which one holds most central" (ie energy, not-yet-entirely-explained laws, everything, a personal being, Love, one's self, money, etc) then it seems to hold true: we are all religious and we all have our God(s). Now that the playing field is level (no more illusionary 'secular/sacred' division) we can talk about our commonalities and differences and learn from each other.

So I agree: a)it's impossible to separate your 'religion' (as defined above) from your business practice and yet b) one should be sensitive as to how one practices and preaches about those kinds of subjects when talking with others.

On a sidenote, my story is an inverse one from many other folks and thus might be interesting. I grew up v. liberal, became a serious evangelical in high school, and then had that conservativism break down while getting my masters in theology around 2000. If you are interesting in hearing somebody's 'deconstruction' and gradual reconstruction to a more 'purple' (from blue to red) point of view, you might want to check out this paper I wrote (deconstructing many of what I consider to be 'toxic' Christian beliefs into a more hopeful and generous perspective. Though I've changed much since writing it as well). You might also be interested in some of the podcasts I've done related to these kinds of issues like this A Christian/Pagan Dialogue or other older podcasts over at Bleeding Purple Podcast.

wow, leif..gonna have to check that stuff out when i have time. you certainly are a multi-faceted/talented guy.:)

Oops, bad link above and I missed my edit time apparently.... Here is my 'deconstructing hell' paper: The Final Forum
Thanks Justin. You know the saying, Jack of all trades, master of none (; And having a 'masters' in theology is, in my current opinion (though v. valuable experience for me) kind of a horrific term when you believe the whole point of life/faith/theology is self-surrender and trust! (:

well, leif trust is great. one thing i have found about human beings..you can usually trust them to serve themselves (with the occasional all too rare exception)..

But then it seems the whole universe is wired that way.. I mean look at the Darwinistic behaviors of creatures in Nature. Our self is just a smaller part of the bigger Self. As we serve our own interests it seems somehow it makes everything improve and progress.

That said, Man has learned to take care of his own kind and prosper in the process. However, there will always be that dynamic tension between the advantages of assisting others and personal interests.

I'm unsure what part of the bible could be used in business? Which bible. In the christian bible, Mark 11:15 would certainly screw up business financing.

I'm unsure what part of the bible could be used in business? Which bible. In the christian bible, Mark 11:15 would certainly screw up business financing.

Or perhaps Leviticus 18:6-18 warns of the perils of family business?

Michael,

interesting you should cite Mark 11:15 as screwing up Biznik financing. That's the incident where Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers/merchants who had set up shop in the temple. Basically, Jesus was just enforcing the zoning rules per Jewish law. The fact is that we have Zoning laws today exactly because they can be pretty good for business as well as maintaining real estate values. While Jesus' taking exception to Merchants in the temple was certainly bad for the business owners who were there that day, that by no means indicates that he was anti business nor does that suggest any conflict with his faith and the conduct of commerce.

Lol! I looked up Leviticus 18:6-18.. I think the family business Leviticus seems to refer to is of the incestuous nature. I don't think any body here is gonna defend that kind of behavior..(certainly not publicly anyway).. but you must have brought that one up for the sake of humor.