Book Review For Business for the Glory of God By: Wayne Grudem October 10, 2011 The Review: Business for the Glory of God Wayne Grudem wrote the book ‘Business for the Glory of God,’ this book is based on biblical teachings. The book discusses issues such as ownership, productivity, employment, commercial transactions, profit, money, inequality of possessions, competition, borrowing and lending, attitudes of heart and effect on world poverty from a biblical standpoint, each are “fundamentally good and provides many opportunities for glorifying God but also many temptations to sin. (Grudem, 2003, p. 19) Grudem claims that business can glorify God. He states “I am going to argue that many aspects of business activity are morally good in themselves, and that in themselves they bring glory to God—though they also have great potential for misuse and wrongdoing. ” (Grudem, 2003, p. 12) He consistently defends the use of private property, profit and competition for the moral good as opposed to the moral neutral or evil. In each chapter he shows not only how business can be used to glorify God, but how it could also be misused and become sinful.
As the employee and employer work together they can bring goods and services to others, who in turn can provide for even more people, and continue a chain of provision. Both working for yourself and working for others can glorify God. The buying and selling of goods and services, otherwise known as “commercial transactions”, will also provide opportunities to glorify God. Grudem looks into verse 14 of Leviticus chapter 25 for justification for commercial transaction, “And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. (Thomas Nelson, Inc. , 1982) We can be morally righteous in our sales and payments so long as we are fair and do not wrong one another in the process, for as Grudem states “…commercial transactions are in themselves good because through them we do good to other people. ” (Grudem, 2003, p. 36) There is a parable that teaches about profits in Luke 19:17 “And he said to him,
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. ” (Thomas Nelson, Inc. , 1982) Money brings the inequality of possessions, also called “the haves and the have not’s. ” We may all be equal in the eyes of God, but here on earth some eyes grow green with envy. Children come home from daycare complaining that Little Jimmy’s truck was bigger than his, husbands and fathers are forever eying the Jones; new corvette, and entire wars have erupted over the “you have it and I’m gonna get it” mentality.
It is not money or our possessions that make us sinful people; it is us, ourselves that make money and our possessions sinful. If I, as a business owner and employer, chose to keep my employees living under the poverty level because I chose to pay them minimum wage, then it is I who is sinful, not my business or the profit I pocket. If as an employee I chose not to do my best no matter what my pay scale is or job, it is I who is sinful. I agree with Grudem, “We should be thankful to God for money and profit, but we should never love money or profit.
We are to love God and our neighbor instead. ” (Grudem, 2003, p. 76) Grudem writes that business can help to end world poverty, and that I agree. But how this can be done I do not agree. The Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, [even] to the end of the age. ” Amen. ” (Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982) Jesus calls on his disciples to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. This is what believer should do but it does not say that everyone must travel 10,000 miles and then teach and not everyone can go thousands of mile away to preach of God’s goodness. Some should stay at home and show God’s love to the poor and working poor that live just down the street. I think businesses here in the United States need to look towards home for ways to improve world poverty just as much as in other countries. People go hungry in this country every day.
It’s not just the homeless (who for one reason or another do not get government or state assistance), but those that work too. The person that took your money the last time you bought gas, the person who checked you out at your local grocery store, or even the sales person at everyone’s favorite superstore could have missed a meal or two just this week. The working poor is growing in this country and many have to chose between food, rent, power, water, auto insurance and even medication because there is “too much month at the end of the money”, as a the Food Lion commercial once said.
fighi diud di
This week you were introduced to several decision-making tools in the course content. Using the Decision Matrix Analysis along with the Decision Matrix Analysis video, make the following decisions relative to the case study about Euro Disneyland (p. 262):
The first section of your paper should be an explanation of this process and how you decided on each of the factors in the matrix.
List all of the cultural challenges posed by Disney’s expansion into Europe. (Side of matrix.)
Next, list the variables that influenced these challenges. (Top of matrix.)
Decide on a score (1-5) for each of these challenges according to the relative importance of the factors. Multiply each of these scores by 2 to find the weighted scores for each option/factor combination.
Next, respond to the following questions in the rest of your essay:
Using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions as a point of reference noted in the case, what are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and France?
In managing its Euro Disneyland operations, what are three mistakes that the company made? Explain your response with examples.
As a conclusion, reflect on your overall thoughts on this case.
Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements:
Be 5-6 pages in length, which does not include the title page, abstract, or required reference page, which are never a part of the content minimum requirements
.Refrences need in APA style